News

Independent film ‘The Pilliga Project’ set to launch this Friday in Redfern

Independent film ‘The Pilliga Project’ set to launch this Friday in Redfern

‘The Pilliga Project’ film by Natalie Haddad is about the threat of Santos’s destructive Narrabri gas project to the Pilliga forest and Australia’s food and water. The gas project will have ripple effects across NSW and Australia, threatening our food and water supply. Protecting the forest will protect Australia’s water supply for generations. During the hot summer of December-January 2020/21 humans from Extinction Rebellion traveled on multiple occasions to the Pilliga forest, attending events, tours and workshops in an effort to immerse themselves into understanding of the diverse, complex and multi-layered Pilliga campaign.…continue reading →

NSW Industrial Footprint Map (December 2022)

This map shows the combined footprint of gas pipelines, coal seam gas PELs, inland rail, renewable energy zones, special activation precincts, proposed gas-fired/hydrogen power stations and floating LNG terminals in NSW. Some of this infrastructure is in the proposal stage. Mapping of the coal seam gas PELs in NSW is now complete and there has been a 77% reduction available in the area available for coal seam gas mining with four of the twelve PELs renewed. Narrabri Gas The project involves the progressive development of a coal seam gas field over 20 years…continue reading →
Serial polluter Santos vents methane and is not charged for extra emissions

Serial polluter Santos vents methane and is not charged for extra emissions

By Johanna Evans Load based licensing is a way of charging for polluting. Some activities cause more pollution than others and are therefore charged accordingly. You would expect the licence fee (Environmental Protection Licence or “EPL”) to fluctuate, as in some years more emissions may occur due to different activities undertaken by the operator. One example of this is when a gas company operates a workover rig on its existing wells. These types of rigs perform maintenance such as clearing downhole blockages and pump replacement and are known to generally increase emissions. North…continue reading →
UPDATED: EPA tells Whitehaven Coal to go-ahead and bury tyres, on Aboriginal Land

UPDATED: EPA tells Whitehaven Coal to go-ahead and bury tyres, on Aboriginal Land

UPDATE: Since we published this blog article on Whitehaven Coal tyre landfill scandal, the NSW Aboriginal Land Council has been reported by ABC News Tamworth as having APPROVED the burial of mining tyres in land owned by Gunnedah’s Red Chief Local Aboriginal Land Council. Read the ABC News update on the outrageous decision of the NSW Environmental Protection Authority giving the all-clear to Whitehaven Coal for this preposterous development HERE The NSW EPA has been captured by the coal industry in north west NSW, giving the OK to conduct mass burial of mining…continue reading →
GFCQ Review of RPI – missing one letter – A for Agriculture

GFCQ Review of RPI – missing one letter – A for Agriculture

By Shay Dougall – Principle of Molliwell, Shay is a landholder advocate and Chinchilla resident. Molliwell is a health and safety consultancy specialising in all aspects of workplace health & safety for small to medium businesses. Shay completed her Masters in OHSE (ACU) 2019. The Gas Fields Commission Queensland have released their report on their limited scope review of the Regional Planning Interests Act (RPI).  The review was recommended by the Queensland Audit Office’s (QAO) Performance Audit Report “Managing Coal Seam Gas Activities”.  AcronymFull NameGFCQGas Fields Commission QueenslandQAOQueensland Audit Office’sRPIRegional Planning Interests ActCCAConduct…continue reading →
Fast-tracked assessment of mines in NSW as state expands high-tech metals mining

Fast-tracked assessment of mines in NSW as state expands high-tech metals mining

The last 12 months has seen a marked increase in Exploration Licence Applications in NSW for Group 1 (Metallic Minerals) covering dozens of resources and including gold, copper and lithium. Many of these metals are crucial to the renewable energy revolution that the NSW Government is determined to foster at an export capacity. Whilst bringing revenue and much needed investment and jobs to regional Australia the scale of what is proposed has many communities worried about their water and how it will be impacted. The assessment process for these types of mines is…continue reading →
Repeat offender, Whitehaven Coal, now knocking on Narrabri’s door

Repeat offender, Whitehaven Coal, now knocking on Narrabri’s door

While repeat offender Whitehaven Coal is being prosecuted again in the Land and Environment Court, this time on water theft charges, the company is seeking to benefit from the “Future of Coal” policy announced by Deputy Premier John Barilaro during the Upper Hunter by-election. Last week there were mixed reactions from the public following a $372,500 fine against Whitehaven Coal’s Narrabri Coal Mine in the NSW Land and Environment Court on Friday, 13th August 2021. Whitehaven Coal subsidiaries which operate the mine pleaded guilty to the offences, all of which relate to illegal…continue reading →
Not wanted, and not needed – APA’s Western Slopes pipeline on again

Not wanted, and not needed – APA’s Western Slopes pipeline on again

Feature image: Coonamble community rounded up trespassing gas employees and consultants in November 2017 and sent them packing Santos contractor the APA Group ($APA:ASX) has quietly revived its East Coast gas ambitions after an earlier failed attempt to begin the Western Slopes Pipeline. The company faced united community opposition from Coonamble and surrounds in 2017-2018 as it tried to conduct surveys to inform its Environmental Impact Assessment. Accused of trespass by landowners along the proposed pipeline route and of breaching the Agreed Principles of Land Access Memorandum of Understanding entered into by Santos…continue reading →
Barilaro attempts to push NSW into Queensland-style “co-existence” with gas

Barilaro attempts to push NSW into Queensland-style “co-existence” with gas

While the NSW Government continues to face trenchant opposition to the coal seam gas industry from all quarters of society, close attention should be paid to the regulatory scheme in Queensland which the Government is likely to attempt to adopt. According to sources close to the NSW Nationals Leader and Minister for Resources John Barilaro, at the centre of the proposed scheme is a GasFields Commission style of statutory body coupled with legislation that will remove rural land from the planning system and thus eliminate the requirement for environmental impact assessment of gas…continue reading →