News

The meeting was convened to discuss the third (draft) Underground Water Impact Report (UWIR) since 2012 and was part of a broader group of meetings held across the region. (Submissions to this draft are due and close on 1 July 2019.) The information and analysis of the data available regarding our underground water and the declared Surat Cumulative Management Area (SCMA) – in response to the Coal Seam Gas Industry impacts – has never been more detailed.  The Office of Groundwater Impact Assessment (OGIA) are to be congratulated on their work and the…continue reading →

Santos recently submitted their Supplementary Response to Agency Submissions (SRTS) to the NSW Government. The document took over 12 months to formulate but flat out refuses to address several major requests by government agencies. NSW Planning released the document the day before the Santos AGM held in May and since then CEO Kevin Gallagher has been shamelessly pressuring the NSW government to expedite the assessment process despite Santos being the ones who’ve dragged the process out for many years. The pressure is being applied by Santos, some industry groups, the Australian Workers Union…continue reading →

A revealing document detailing the estimates of rehabilitation of Pel 238 & Pal 2. The costing includes: Decommissioning of coal seam gas wells and associated headworks and rehabilitation of the land disturbances at the well pads.Rehabilitation of disturbances associated with gas and water gathering pipeline easements and access roadways.Decommissioning and rehabilitation of gathering lines between the facility at Dewhurst facility and the boundary of Petroleum Assessment Lease (PAL) 2.Decommissioning and rehabilitation of a yet to be built water flow line between Tintsfield and the Bibblewindi Transfer Facility.Decommissioning and rehabilitation of dams at Tintsfield…continue reading →

Image: Rocglen Mine, situated on the floodplain with the Nandewar Ranges to the east (top) and Vickery State Forest to the west (left of pic) Pic courtesy of Wando Conservation and Cultural Centre Inc, Maules Creek. Rocglen mine pollution fine reduced due to “good character” of Whitehaven… but Court did not hear the full story … The NSW Land and Environment Court has decided the case of Environment Protection Authority v Whitehaven Coal Mining Ltd [2019] NSWLEC 27, a prosecution of the Rocglen Coal mine over a blasting violation from 2016. Whitehaven Coal…continue reading →

This document now has a broken link: https://resourcesandgeoscience.nsw.gov.au/miners-and-explorers/applications-and-approvals/current-titles-reports-applications-and-services/title-status-reports/Petroleum-TitlesCurrent-2018-05.pdf It can be viewed here. The department have indicated that they are updating these documents. NWPA have contacted the department to ask when this might be occurring. Community would have remained better informed if the older Titles document had remained whilst updating occurred.The mapping here has not been updated since 2016 and the link to the Titles is also broken. https://www.resourcesandgeoscience.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/691234/161207PELSAPPSPGH.pdf This is a map detailing the expired petroleum titles in NSW. The impacted communities have been calling for these titles to be cancelled for…continue reading →