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This blog is a carbon copy of Ian's Facebook Page. Come on a journey from the Headwaters of the Murray Darling Basin travelling downstream. Ian is investigating the many issues facing the Basin. Day 1 – January 5, 2020 – Spring Creek, Queensland – Headwaters of the Murray Darling Basin Video 1 – Investigating the truth. https://www.facebook.com/ian.sutto/videos/10217877168894126/ Video 2 – Clearing of watershed forests. https://www.facebook.com/ian.sutto/videos/10217877488542117/ Video 3 – Queen Mary Falls. https://www.facebook.com/ian.sutto/videos/10217877698427364/ Day 2 – January 6, 2020 Video 4 – Condamine River, degraded at its source. https://www.facebook.com/ian.sutto/videos/10217877953633744/ Video 5 – The floodplains…continue reading →

Narrabri councillors voted 5-1 to inform the IPC and NSW Government that the council does not support the planned Vickery coal mine on 17th December. Farmers have welcomed the decision on the highly contentious and destructive project. The vote at the meeting follows a scathing council report of the project, which queries the reliability of Whitehaven’s projected job numbers and notes the lack of trust in the company from the local community at Boggabri. This community is grateful to the council for taking seriously the social damage inflicted upon them by large mining…continue reading →

Live free of the delusion that the Narrabri Gas Project will create jobs and prosperity. Live free of Santos’ propaganda that CSG can be mined without permanent damage to artesian water and air quality. Live free to compare Narrabri now (population about 6000) with similar towns such as Roma and Chinchilla already under gas; look at the tiny spike in 2011 and the decline since. Look at the number of irrigation bores lost to drawdown. Over 5,000 wells have been drilled in SE Queensland in 14 years with thousands more to come. The…continue reading →

Your chance to comment (read the letter to Mr. Jim Betts first). Main points: Resource Assessments branch of DPIE has waited until pipeline network and ancillary infrastructure completed, before retrospectively calling for Modifications of Maules Creek mine approvalDuring the construction period, DPIE relied solely on Whitehaven Coal’s alleged legal advice that the development did not require planning approvalBy doing so, the DPIE has granted Whitehaven a benefit, in that they are now claiming a “continuing use” which would not have been possible had the DPIE conducted itself in accordance with its own Compliance…continue reading →

Part 1 of this report talked about the need for baseline water monitoring prior to coal seam gas (CSG) mining. We discussed the Plumb Rd site and the concerning levels of methane and hydrogen sulphide, amongst other analytes, that were recorded by government contractor StreamlineHydro. We also looked at the history of the site, the implications of historic gas mining activity on the water monitoring bores and how tax payer dollars are being spent. We will now examine the location of the 'control' sites and government implementation of the $22.8 million dollar project.…continue reading →

Santos have upgraded the Wilga Park Power Station with 2 new 3MW generators to increase capacity at the power station from 16MW to 22MW, these are due to be commissioned in early December 2019. This finalises the community-named "Production by Stealth" modification to licence status that enables SANTOS to use exploration gas for production whilst paying no royalties | Image courtesy of Wando Conservation & Cultural Centre In total there are 6 modifications to the original approval. This is a good example of the piecemeal approach to acquiring approval for projects that community…continue reading →

Threats of gasification of groundwater and resulting contamination, as well as groundwater depletion, are foremost in the minds of objectors to Santos’ Narrabri 850+ coal seam gas well (CSG) project. In theory, baseline monitoring can help prove if gas mining changes the existing groundwater conditions and if a contamination incident can be attributed to industrial activities. Baseline monitoring is a sensible and necessary activity. The fact is, the experience in Queensland has seen a dramatic drop in groundwater levels since the coal seam gas industry started  in Queensland in 2008 with documented cases…continue reading →

Coal Seam Gas in NSW Coal seam gas (CSG) is methane (CH4) gas that is held in coal seams. It differs from conventional gas, which has been Australia’s primary gas source, because it requires unconventional methods to extract.These methods involve removing the groundwater from the coal seam, producing enormous volumes of waste. A cocktail of dangerous chemicals is used to drill, with or without fracking.New South Wales has been under threat from coal seam gas expansion for many years. The NSW Government recently released it’s “Future of Gas Statement1” and cancelled several Exploration…continue reading →