Over 300 people from Narrabri and surrounding districts rallied on the banks of the Narrabri Creek on Sunday to protest against the development of a CSG industry in the area.
A variety of different stakeholders were represented, with business men and women, farmers, teachers and local indigenous people in attendance, organisers said.
“Of the 336 people who registered, 203 were from the Narrabri Shire, 323 from the North West region, and 13 inter-regional visitors.”
Organisers estimated there were a further 50 people in attendance who did not register.
Presentations were made by two farmers from the Narrabri Shire, Sally Hunter and Jeff Carolan, before the group posed for a photo to illustrate their opposition to Santos’ Narrabri Gas Project planned for the Pilliga.
Mr Carolan owns an irrigated cotton farm west of Wee Waa in the Narrabri shire and said he was deeply concerned about the effect CSG extraction may have on ground water and alluvial flows.
He said the anti-CSG movement is ‘making a difference’, citing recent comments from the Energy Minister Anthony Roberts.
“Minister Roberts said this week that the program for gas and its roll out across the state has been a shambles, and he’s ashamed to be involved with it,” he said.
“He’s not showing signs that he’s going to change, but at least he’s acknowledged that we have every right to be concerned about what’s going on.
“I’ve been involved in water politics in the valley for 40 years, in terms of the underground water and the surface water, and this is a classic set up to have a large scale contamination of the underground aquifers that run right through the lower Namoi.”
Mr Carolan wants highly productive agricultural land to be ruled a no-go zone for CSG.
“There’s plenty of gas in places that aren’t as high risk as here,” he said.
“Some of the pro-gas people around Narrabri, I can understand that they feel threatened because they might lose their jobs, they don’t seem to understand that I might lose my business, and the people who work for me will lose their jobs, if we get our water contaminated.
“There is no greater building block in the world for life than water, and here it’s being given scant regard, it’s a disgrace.
“The world will talk about this in years to come, and they will see how short sighted people were and the lack of governance there was.”
He also referred to Santos’ recent Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) submission to the Department of Environment, which outlines potential impacts of the Narrabri Gas Project and how those impacts will be mitigated.
He was particularly concerned by the company’s admission that “the duration and wider geographic extent of depressurisation of groundwater head within the coal seams and adjacent strata will cause a significant impact to the groundwater resources of the Gunnedah-Oxley Basin.
“If the company made a statement like that it’s only the tip of the iceberg,” he said.
“Shires west of Narrabri, like Walgett, Coonamble and Dubbo, all need pressure to let that water flow to the surface, and this draw down will handicap that and drop the pressure.
“State and federal governments, and farmers, have just spent $115 million capping and piping the ground water system, the Artesian Basin, to build up the pressure and reduce wastage, and now we’re going to pump it out and lower the pressure.”