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Mrs Sally Hunter, Secretary, People for the Plains Inc presented evidence at the second hearing of “The implementation of the recommendations contained in the NSW Chief Scientist's Independent Review of Coal Seam Gas Activities in New South Wales”. Opening Statement I grew up on a property north of Roma and watched as our district became a gasfield, ultimately driving out those families that could not bear the changes that were forced upon them. My parents’ beef business was rendered unworkable. This played out badly for their mental health, their marriage and our farm.…continue reading →

The Public Health Communiqúe is the first in a series to be published by North West Protection Advocacy to inform the public about critical matters concerning the unconventional gas industry in NSW, in particular the Narrabri Gas Project. The 4 page Communiqúe can be downloaded here or read on. What is the Narrabri Gas Project? This is the name given to the first stage of an audacious plan to introduce widespread coal seam gas (CSG) mining to New South Wales. This first stage, which would comprise 850 gas wells in the Narrabri area…continue reading →

Welcome to Part 2 of Ian's Fact Finding Tour beginning just south of St. George and then focused on the area around Mungindi – The Northern Basin. Day 11 – January 15th, 2020 Video 14 - Water Lord's – Nobody owns the water https://www.facebook.com/ian.sutto/videos/10217964598199804/ Day 13 – January 17th, 2020 Disclosure 9 - Australians have been lied to: Murray-Darling Basin Authority acted unlawfully. John Williams is an Adjunct Professor at the Crawford School of Pubic Policy at The Australian National University and the Institute of Land Water and Society at Charles Sturt University.…continue reading →

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 →