By KEA BROWNING
PHOTO CREDIT: Lock the Gate, copyright D. Sewell
At 9am on Wednesday 30 September, the NSW Independent Planning Commission (IPC) announced their approval of the controversial Narrabri Coal Seam Gas (CSG) Project.
Confoundingly, the news came less than 24 hours after NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean said that gas was ‘on the clock’, and that the future of energy in NSW is ‘wind, solar, pumped hydro and batteries’.
Santos have been approved to construct 850 gas wells and associated infrastructure across 95,000 hectares of the Pilliga State Forest and privately-owned farmland near Narrabri.
While the project was warmly strongly supported by Narrabri Shire Council and Narrabri Chamber of Commerce, there has been widespread community opposition.
The project received a record number of public objections during the approval process; there were almost 23,000 public objections during the first exhibition period and the IPC received 10,720 written objections with just 460 in support of the project.
Out of the 364 public hearing speakers, 346 were opposed and only 18 were in support.
The IPC say that this is not necessarily a strong enough reason to refuse the project.
“The number of objections to a development application is not in and of itself the sole measure of the public interest nor necessarily a determinative reason for refusal,” the IPC states.
“It’s gobsmacking – 23,000 submissions opposing it and they said it’s in the public interest to have this… whose public interest?” said Coonamble farmer and Great Artesian Basin Protection Group (GABPG) member Kerrie Hanigan.
The IPC says that the Narrabri Gas Project will improve gas security for NSW, ‘deliver economic and social benefits to the people of NSW’ and provide employment opportunities.
The local response
On Wednesday evening, hours after the project’s approval was announced, a small group from the GABPG gathered at Coonamble Bowling Club to commiserate the IPC’s decision and discuss the implications on the community.
They say the IPC’s dismissal of the level of opposition to the project is a ‘cop out’.
“That was a huge thing, submitting and writing things and personally, just to submit the verbal one was two weeks of stress,” said Rowena Macrae.
“We’re not paid to do that, unlike the company that we’re up against.”
The group said that although the project’s approval is ‘devastating’, they’re not giving up.
“I think we need to regroup and decide what we’re going to do,” said Pam Goldsmith.
“Certainly, that result was utterly predictable, devastating but utterly predictable,” said Mrs Macrae.
Today’s the day to be sad about it and tomorrow we all get up and pull on the big girl undies and off we go again.
Anne Kennedy, Coonamble farmer and grandmother says that although she’d rather be with her grandchildren on the farm, she’s going to be fighting the Narrabri Gas Project.
“This gasfield threatens our entire way of life,” Mrs Kennedy said.
“Santos will drill through the recharge zone of the Great Artesian Basin to get to the coal seam gas, risking the groundwater that our farms and towns rely upon.”
Local nurse and GABPG member Teresa Trindall says decisions like the Narrabri Gas Project undermines any work done to ‘Close the Gap’.
“The government does all this stuff trying to engage Aboriginal people and to try and break that cycle and all the money that’s gone into Closing the Gap, but then they turn around and do this?” she said.
Aboriginal people were told a long time ago that they can’t go and hunt and gather in the Pilliga because it’s a State Forest and that’s a protected area, but then they approve this massive project.
Ms Trindall says the approval of the Narrabri Gas Project is another ‘kick down’ to Aboriginal people and their culture.
“Aboriginal people have to feel more empowered before you actually start working on anything else, but after all this, they can shove their ‘Closing the Gap’.”
The conditions
The IPC has imposed 134 conditions on the Narrabri Gas Project before it can begin Phase 2: construction.
Some of these recommendations include improving the groundwater impact modelling, greenhouse gas emissions to be ‘fully offset’, the establishment of an Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Advisory Group and Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Management Plan and a safety flare stack height of 50m to reduce the risk of bushfires in the Pilliga Forest.
They have also recommended that waste, including drill cuttings, drilling fluids and 840,000 tonnes of crystallised salt, to be disposed of in line with NSW regulation, ‘with landfill disposal being the last resort’.
“It makes you wonder why, with so many conditions, why they would approve it,” said Mrs Macrae.
“But I think the conditions are good for us, I think that’s the silver lining – nothing else can happen because there’s so many stipulations on Phase 2.”
But there are concerns about how the IPC’s conditions will be monitored and enforced.
“Who’s going to enforce [the conditions] is the scary part,” said Mrs Macrae.
“The clauses on emissions were something I found really interesting but it all comes down to who’s going to monitor that. If they’re going to put the government in charge of monitoring, we might as well sign it off now, it’s a waste of everyone’s time.”
What’s next?
Although the project has been approved, the communities, groups and individuals opposing the Narrabri Gas Project say the fight has only just begun.
“I think the government is going to see how united and strong that we are,” said Teresa Trindall.
Mrs Kennedy says that in order to proceed, the project needs approval from the state government, funding from banks and investors, a decision by their Board and a pipeline to take their gas to market.
“Our Governments are not prepared to stand up and protect our scarce and precious water resources and our farm businesses from big CSG companies,” Mrs Kennedy said.
So we have no choice but to stand strong together, and to protect the country ourselves.
There are also mental health concerns within the community, especially regarding all of the people who have been fighting against the Narrabri Gas Project for years, if not decades.
“It’s another dimension on your rollercoaster,” said Mr Macrae.
“As if there aren’t enough with farming and being a parent and just life in general, and then you put this thing on top, and we choose to engage, absolutely, because you have to, but that just makes the lows lower. There’s been no highs.”
And for the people around the district, many are willing to go further to protest the Narrabri Gas Project.
“It’s about direct action, this is the only way that we’re going to be able to change the course of events,” said Mr Macrae.
“There’s a lot of people talking some pretty serious things,” said Mrs Macrae.
But I think today is the day to be devastated and tomorrow is when we get up and go, ‘you know what? Game on.