The wilfully blind cast their vote at Lismore City Council's ordinary monthly meeting of 10 December 2024

 

If there is one thing that can be relied on when it comes to Lismore City Council's elected representatives, it is that Cr. Big Rob, formerly known as Robert Bou-Hamdan, will seek to tear down rather than build on past community achievements.

This is yet another case in point.....

ECHO, 13 December 2024:

Lismore councillors Big Rob and Andrew Bing have led the charge to remove all CSG (coal seam gas) and nuclear free area signs from the Lismore local government area (LGA).

Speaking to the motion at the December 10 council meeting Cr Rob made it clear he wasn’t happy with what he sees as the negative messaging that the ‘CSG and nuclear free’ statement on the welcome to Lismore signage.

‘I even don’t like the signs on the bins, it has like 20 different things you cannot do,’ said Cr Rob emphasising his point.

Supporting the motion Cr Electra Jensen told the meeting that while she had supported the ‘No CSG’ campaign at the time but ‘we don’t want to rehash history [we want to] look to the future… it is time to move on.’....

Councillors voted six to four in favour of removing the CSG signs with Crs Gordon, Battista, Rob, Bing, Jensen and Krieg in favour and Crs Dalton-Earls, Knight-Smith, Guise and Waters opposed.

Following the meeting a rescission motion has been lodged by Crs Knight-Smith, Guise and Waters.

‘The fact that 87 per cent of LGA voted to be CSG free means the Krieg team would have their own constituents who would have supported the referendum,’ Cr Guise told The Echo.

‘I’d like them to listen to the sentiment of the community and recognise that they should proudly display those signs as a symbol of community pride and what we have gained from being gasfield free.

‘We’ve got a united, powerful community, we have protected our farmland, we have clean air and water. These signs are something that a farming and a food growing region should be proud of as it is essential to a food growing and agricultural region to have clean farmland and water,’ he said.

‘CSG is still a clear-a-present danger. You have communities fighting against gas fields across NSW and Australia right now. CSG is a dirty fossil fuel on par or worse than coal.’.....

Crs Gordon, Battista, Rob, Bing, Jensen and Krieg have chosen to ignore the long history of exploration and mining in north-east New South Wales from the 19th century to the present 21st century - gold, silver, copper, tin, antimony, coal, asbestos, mineral sands & coal seam gas being the principal commodities sought by the mining industry.

These councillors turn their eyes and minds from those maps showing current mining titles and exploration leases, as well as from maps pockmarked with coal seam gas drilling holes that Northern Rivers communities fought hard to stop proliferating ahead of then proposed gas fields.

Mining industry history across Australia clearly shows that mining titles can endure across many lifetimes, often changing hands down the years as long-term investments. History also shows us that state governments can and do grant new exploration licenses in areas where mining leases have lapsed or been dissolved by previous governments.

There is no binding 'never ever' promise on the part of governments when it comes to minerals, ores & metals that can still be found in the ground.

BACKGROUND

All current north-east NSW mining titles & applications for mineral and energy resource exploration, assessment and production, where a company or individual has the right to explore for or extract resources including petroleum, minerals and coal. All current titles for mineral and energy resource exploration, assessment and production.

MinView Geoscience Planning Portal mapping

All current & past north-east NSW exploratory drilling sites. Past coal seam gas drilling sites marked in yellow.

MinView Geoscience Planning Portal mapping

3.GEOLOGICAL SETTING, excerpt from Assessment of Mineral Resources in the Upper North East CRA Study Area:

The Upper North East Region (UNER) has a complex geological history extending from about 600 million years ago to the present. Rocks in the region have been brought together from sites of deposition as far away as sub-Antarctic areas. The region has undergone massive upheavals and some rock sequences which now abut were formed in different parts of the globe in settings ranging from volcanic island arcs to swampy basins. The area has been relatively stable as part of the Australian continent since about 200 million years ago but there have been periods of considerable volcanic activity most recently about 40-15 million years ago. Large parts of the region are now in an active erosional cycle but deposition of new sediments is occurring in many coastal lake and river systems. 

The UNER covers rocks of the New England Orogen (or New England fold belt), the Clarence-Moreton Basin and associated sub-basins, and younger rocks of Tertiary and Quaternary age which overlie these major provinces. The New England Orogen is a major geological zone which extends from the Newcastle area north to Far North Queensland. The Orogen comprises many rocks which formed in highly active geological regions where sediments from the deep ocean were being subducted and thrust into the Australian land mass at that time. They were mixing with sediments formed from the eroding mountains and volcanoes which existed on the margins of the continent. The Orogen has a complex structural history and the sedimentary rocks are generally folded and regionally metamorphosed. The Orogen includes a major plutonic province and there are numerous intrusive units, generally felsic in character, as well as extrusive volcanic rocks of similar age and composition.

In the north eastern part of the UNER the Orogen rocks are overlain by relatively flat-lying sediments of the Clarence-Moreton Basin (C-MB) and underlying sub-basins. This major basin formed after the crust had stabilised. This basin covers the New England Orogen rocks completely just north of the Region and sedimentary units can be traced across to the west to join with units comprising the vast sedimentary basins of central Australia.

During the Tertiary Epoch basaltic volcanism occurred along eastern Australia and was related to the formation of the Tasman Sea. Remnants of very large continental basaltic shield volcanoes are present in the Region, the major one being the Tweed volcano centred at Mount Warning. There has been substantial erosion throughout the region since these volcanoes formed.

Erosion has produced a major escarpment which extends through the UNER. Huge gorge systems have developed and the material removed has been deposited in coastal regions in rivers and lakes and out to sea.

[Assessment of Mineral Resources in the Upper North East CRA Study Area: A project undertaken as part of the NSW Comprehensive Regional Assessments, November 1999, p.4]

NSW Deputy Premier & Nationals MP for Monaro John Barilaro proves once again that he doesn't understand that mining & overdevelopment has marked downsides for communities in north-east NSW

On 3 February 2021 NSW Deputy Premier, Minister for Regional New South Wales, Nationals MP for Monaro and apologist for unrestrained land clearing, logging of our remaining native forests, barely regulated urban development and mining in sensitive water catchments, John Barilaro, relaunched the government’s three-year-old 20-Year Economic Vision for Regional NSW at Sanctus Brewing Company, in Townsend in the Lower Clarence Valley.

Now that so-called economic vision for the North Coast originally relied heavily on expansion & diversification of tourism and agriculture – but with Barilaro’s ‘vision refresh’ of this 20-year plan he is now pushing the barrow for his mineral ore mining, coal seam gas drilling, native timber logging and land developing mates.

Under the guise of a state government response to the CVOVID-19 pandemic the push to overturn the moratorium on coal seam gas mining in the Northern Rivers region from the Clarence Valley up to the NSW-Qld border no longer talks of “gasfields” but hides the intent behind the terms “resources for regions” and the stealthy push to divert Clarence River catchment water is secreted behind the term “water security” and a Mole River dam.

Last year north-east NSW discovered one of the legislative mechanisms Barilaro plans to use to lay waste to this region and it wasn't pretty - involving as it does the possible extinction of a unique Australian species, the Koala.

His speech of 3 February 2021 confirms he still intends to lay waste.

Clarence Valley Independent, 10 February 2021:

Deputy Premier John Barilaro kindly allowed the Independent to ask two questions before he adjourned to the media wall, where the press corps awaited.

GH: In November 2020, Clarence Valley Council resolved to, and I quote, “oppose mining in the Clarence River catchment [and] … seek the support of both state and federal governments, to impose a moratorium on further mining exploration licences and to cancel existing licences”, largely due to the threat it poses to the Clarence River (the lifeblood of the valley’s key industries, tourism, agricultural and fishing): how will the NSW Government protect the valley’s tourism, fishing and agricultural sectors from any potential mining disaster if the government continues encouraging miners to explore for minerals that will be in demand as we transfer towards renewable energy?

JB: If you were listening to what I said earlier, that is going to happen naturally. We’ve always had coexistence with mining, agriculture [and] our coastal and environmental habitats – we’ve always done this, protect the environment and find ways to do it. The whole mining world is going to change in time; we’ll go with that. We’ve identified where coal mining will continue in this state; other areas have been ruled out. It was our party that ruled out coal seam gas.

GH: The minerals of interest in the Clarence Valley are those you spoke about regarding renewables.

JB: And it’s very possible, but you talk about mining in a way that it is bad, that it can’t be done in a safe way. So my answer is we’ll continue to do what we’ve always done: work with the communities, work with the mining sector and make sure that we only mine in areas we are comfortable with.

GH: But I said it was Clarence Valley Council that made the [no mining decision] decision.

JB: Sorry, I missed that.

GH: And soon there will be a 10,000-plus signature petition tabled in parliament on the issue, from local people.

NOTE: Mr Barilaro made no comment regarding the petition.

GH: You also talked about keeping kids in the community. Your ‘Economic Vision for Regional NSW’ emphasises moving more people into the regions, however, yesterday’s ABS figures show there has been a record amount of city to region migration. This, in turn, has exponentially increased property prices (as MC Mat Moran alluded to in his speech), which, in turn, increases the cost of rental properties. Given that people in the regions earn substantially less than their city counterparts, how will the government address the property market imbalance as cashed-up city dwellers purchase properties and make it harder to find affordable accommodation or purchase property in certain regions?

JB: With property comes jobs, with industry comes jobs. You want to attract more people into the regions; councils have got to unlock more Greenfield sites, more supply, to put downward pressure on prices. What we’ll do and have always done…. And I’ve been speaking with the planning minister about his work with local government, about the supply side of the development arm of residential property. The reality here is we want to see the future of the regions grow; to do that you have to attract the people to the regions. Otherwise, government services are cut, or government services are not invested in – this is the fine balance. I’m not going to limit the opportunities for the regions because we have an issue around the price of property, when we know we can resolve that through more Greenfield sites. Again, good planning gives better outcomes.

GH: So it’s a long-term strategy?

JB: Yes, long-term, thank you.

Australian federal & state governments are preparing to exploit large gas resources that are still in the ground

The Australia Institute, “Weapons of gas destruction: Lifting the lid on greenhouse gas emissions from Australian fossil gas projects and resources” September 2020, excerpt from Discussion Paper summary:

The fossil gas industry in Australia tripled production from 1990 to 2010 and then from 2010 to 2019 production tripled again. Nearly all of the new production was exported. Australia has become the world’s largest exporter of liquified natural gas (LNG) and one of the world’s biggest gas producers. Australia’s gas and coal exports make Australia’s the third largest exporter of fossil fuels in the world, after Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Over the decade to 2018 Australia was responsible for most of the growth in LNG, and a third of the growth over the last 20 years, more than any other country Australia’s share of global gas production soared in recent years, even as its share of global proven gas reserves levelled out.

Australian Government publications list 22 new gas production and export proposals across Australia with an estimated gas production capacity of 3,368 PJ pa. Governments and companies are preparing to exploit further gas resources in the ground that are larger still.

Despite calls for decarbonisation be central to the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, the Australia government is proposing policies and subsidies for what it calls a “gas fired recovery”. From an economic and employment perspective, this makes little sense. There are many low cost ways to reduce gas consumption, and the industry, despite its size, employs few Australians. Expanding fossil gas production also threatens to release large amounts of greenhouse gases.

Burning fossil gas releases carbon dioxide (CO2). In addition, extracting, processing transporting and exporting fossil gas is also highly emissions intensive, and already responsible for more than 10% of current Australian emissions, on official government data. A large portion of these emissions come from gas burned by LNG facilities.

Australian LNG facilities burn around nine percent of all gas they receive to help liquify the remaining gas for export. Gas consumption in LNG facilities is double the size of whats consumed by Australian households and about as large as what is consumed by Australian manufacturing.

Another major climate impact is ‘fugitive’ emissions from flaring, venting and leakage. The true impact of these emissions is larger than officially reported. Fossil gas is made up mostly of methane, itself a greenhouse gas with much greater heat trapping potential than CO2. While methane is more powerful than CO2 over a 100 year timeframe, which is the conventional basis for comparison, methane traps far more heat over the nearer-term (a 20 years horizon). A small amount of methane loss greatly increases the climate impact of fossil gas.

Many recent studies show rates of methane loss much higher than the Australian government’s official figures, especially in unconventional gas production, such as coal seam and shale gas where techniques like hydraulic fracturing are required. Methane loss at rates observed in recent studies of large US shale gas fields range from 2.3% to 3.7%, at the higher end delivering a near-term climate impact equivalent to doubling the emissions of the burnt gas. Reducing and avoiding the release of methane emissions is essential to meeting the Paris Agreement climate goals.

There are 22 major new gas projects proposed by companies and listed by the Australian Government’s Office of the Chief Economist. The analysis here converts the supply capacity into common units for comparison and aggregation. The proposed projects are spread across the country and are of various sizes, types and stages. The largest projects are offshore fields designed for gas export, especially off Western Australia’s coast. The single largest project, Woodside’s Browse / Burrup Hub Extension, would involve piping gas from a large new gas field nearly 1000km through new undersea pipelines to an onshore facility for export…...

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Will Scotty From Marketing's pet National COVID-19 Coordination Commission recommend lifting the Coal Seam Gas Moratorium in place across the NSW Northern Rivers region?

"Nev Power: The Prime Minister 'rang me ... and said your country needs you.' "  [Financial Review, 3 April 2020]

On 20 March 2020 Australian Prime Minister & Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison created the National COVID-19 Coordination Commission (NCCC) to “ coordinate advice to the Australian Government on actions to anticipate and mitigate the economic and social impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic” and “advise the Prime Minister on all non-health aspects of the pandemic response”.

This is a list of NCCC commission members and key staff for the period 23 March to 22 September 2020 with remuneration for their services where known:

Chairman

Neville Power, Deputy Chairman of Strike Energy Ltd an oil and gas exploration company – remuneration by PM&C contract $294,079.50. Power has announced he is temporarily stepping aside from his position at Strike Energy to avoid perceptions of conflict of interest. However, he appears to be retaining 12,612,885 fully paid Strike Energy shares (worth in the vicinity of $2.4 milllion) & options on 6 million more held by his own Myube discretionary investment trust.

Deputy Chairman

David Thodey, Chairman CSIRO – paid expenses only

Commissioners

Greg Combet, consultant, Chairman of IFM Investors and Industry Super Australia - remuneration by PM&C contract $118,800

Jane Halton, board member ANZ, Clayton Utz, Crown Resorts, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, US Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation and

chairman of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, COTA, Crown Sydney and Vault Systems - remuneration by PM&C contract $118,800

Paul Little, property developer, Chairman and Founder of the Little Group, Chairman of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation and Skalata Ventures - remuneration by PM&C contract $108,000 for 2 days per week

Catherine Tanna, Managing Director of EnergyAustralia, board member Reserve Bank of Australia and Business Council of Australia – remuneration by PM&C contract $54,000 for 1 day per week

Key Staff

Peter Harris, public policy adviser, CEO of NCCC – remuneration N/K

Executive Assistant to Chairman NCCC – remuneration by PM&C contract $73,000 paid into the same Myube discretionary investment trust as the remuneration received by NCCC Chairman.

Advisors

Andrew N. Liveris, special advisor to NCCC, board member IBM, Worley Parsons, Saudi Aramco, on advisory board of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and NEOM, controversial former Chairman & CEO of Dow Chemical and Trump supporter– remuneration N/K

For the more than $885,479 in taxpayer dollars spent on this commission over a six month period, Australia gets a website of sorts pmc.gov.au/nccc along with a Twitter account NCCCgovau and, what is shaping up to be a lack of transparency and accountability concerning advice this commission gives behind closed doors to government.

According to The Guardian on 21 May 2020:

A leaked draft report by a manufacturing taskforce advising the National Covid-19 Coordination Commission (NCCC) recommends the Morrison government make sweeping changes to “create the market” for gas and build fossil fuel infrastructure that would operate for decades.

Its vision includes Canberra underwriting an increased national gas supply, government agencies partnering with companies to accelerate development of new fields such as the Northern Territory’s vast Beetaloo Basin, and states introducing subsidy schemes for gas-fired power plants.

It says the federal government should help develop gas pipelines between eastern states and the north, and potentially a $6bn trans-Australian pipeline between the east and west, by either taking an equity position, minority share or underwriting investments.

The taskforce, headed by….Saudi Aramco board member Andrew Liveris, positions lower-cost gas as the answer to building a transformed manufacturing sector that it says could support at least 85,000 direct jobs, and hundreds of thousands more indirectly.

But it does not consider alternatives to gas, or what happens if greenhouse gas emissions are cut as promised under the 2015 Paris climate agreement. Gas is usually described as having half the emissions of coal when burned, though recent studies have suggested it could be more.

The Liveris report does not mention climate change, Australia’s emissions reduction targets or the financial risk, flagged by institutions in Australia and overseas, of investing in fossil fuel as emissions are cut.

While several assessments have found renewable energy backed by storage is now the cheapest option for new electricity generation, the report says gas is “key to driving down electricity cost and improving investment in globally competitive advanced industry”.

Its focus is consistent with the NCCC chairman, Nev Power, a former Fortescue Metals chief and current board member at gas company Strike Energy, who has said in interviews that cheap gas would be critical to Australia’s future. Gas has been strongly backed by the prime minister, Scott Morrison, and the energy and emissions reduction minister, Angus Taylor, who has argued for a gas-fired recovery from the pandemic.

According to Friends of the Earth Australia the leaked document also suggests lifting the coal seam gas moratorium in New South Wales, which is an issue I’m sure the Northern Rivers region will be keeping a close eye on. 

UPDATE 

The Guardian, 5 June 2020: 

Officials from Scott Morrison’s department are refusing to release conflict of interest disclosures from members of the National Covid-19 Coordination Commission so they can be scrutinised by the public because the declarations are provided “in confidence”. 

The departmental pushback has come in responses to questions on-notice from the Senate committee examining the government’s response to the pandemic. 

Controversy has been escalating about the potential for conflicts of interest among the commissioners handpicked by the prime minister to provide advice at the height of the coronavirus crisis. 

The high-powered coordination commission, headed by the former Fortescue Metals chief Nev Power, has a broad remit, advising the government on all non-health aspects of its pandemic response. 

But concerns have been raised about the lack of transparency of the group’s deliberations, and the absence of a conventional governance framework for a taxpayer-funded enterprise. 

The NCCC has a budget of more than $5m.... 

The Guardian, 3 May 2020:

When the Daily Telegraph reported last week that a fertiliser plant in Narrabri being advanced by a West Australian businessman had topped the list of the projects being promoted by the National Covid Coordination Commission, there was some surprise. 

Vikas Rambal and Perdaman Chemicals and Fertilisers are not exactly household names, and the controversial Narrabri coal seam gas project – which would provide the cheap gas that the fertiliser project depends on – is yet to be approved by the New South Wales government.... 

Rambal has not yet sought planning approval of the $1.9bn project and the only tangible signs are press releases promising 700 jobs and a non-binding agreement with the coal seam gas project’s owner, Santos..... 

The Daily Telegraph, 24 April 2020:

Mr Rambal’s plant would create up to 800 jobs during construction and 70 to 80 permanent­ roles in Narrabri, supplying farmers in a 300km radius. “It’s a huge project,”  Mr Rambal, who is also advancing a $4.5 billion fertiliser plant in WA, told The Daily Telegraph. 

He said Mr Power’s Commission could help by picking up the phone to politicians to remove roadblocks and speed up approvals. 

Mr Taylor said making more fertiliser was a “cracking opportunity” for Australia and would help achieve the government’s goal of growing agriculture to a $100 billion-a-year industry by 2030. 

He said he was focused on making more gas available. 

“I like to think of the other side of COVID-19 as being a gas-fired recovery,” Mr Taylor said. 

“We want to see the NSW government get on with (the approvals process for the Santos project).”  In January, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she wanted a final decision on the proposal by June 30. 

That now looks unlikely. The Independent Planning Commission is yet to receive a referral from the NSW Department of Planning. The IPC will take 12 weeks to make its ruling. 

It is unclear if the COVID-19 Commission is now attempting to hurry up the Department­ of Planning.....

Lock the Gate & Knitting Nannas Against Gas sound a warning over Berejiklian Government's sly move to take advantage of the current pandemic in order to further coal and gas industry interests

Knitting Nannas Against Gas, Fossil Fools Bulletin, 25 March 2020:

NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes’ push for the Independent Planning Commission (IPC) to proceed with public hearings during the covid-19 pandemic is has alarmed groups opposed to the Narrabri gasfield and the Vickery coal mine.

Stokes has instructed the IPC to continue with public hearings during the coronavirus crisis.

Lock the Gate NSW spokesperso Georgina Woods said people could not be expected to fully engage in the assessment process of major resource projects during a health crisis.

She called on the Berejiklian Government to suspend the IPC assessments of Narrabri and Vickery until the pandemic was over.

“It is deeply disturbing Planning Minister Rob Stokes expects the

Independent Planning Commission to press ahead with a public hearing for controversial projects like the Narrabri gasfield and Vickery coal mine in the context of a global pandemic,” she said.

People will miss having say on projects

“The Covid-19 outbreak is upending the lives of people globally and New South Wales is no exception.

People are frightened, and understandably so – the last thing many want to do is gather publicly, or miss out on their opportunity to have their say on these highly damaging projects.

“The Planning Minister cannot possibly expect the Commission can

adequately or fairly undertake public consultation in this context.

“People in rural New South Wales have limited internet capacity and in towns and cities we are bracing for further disruption while we put all our efforts into limiting the spread of this virus.

“The Planning Minister needs to put public health and basic fairness first and allow the IPC to suspend its consideration of the Narrabri gasfield and Vickery coal mine until the pandemic has passed and people are able to fully participate, as is our right.”

Read the full article at https://knitting-nannas.com/fossil_fool.php?id=138

A reminder that the NSW Nationals do not have the best interests of Northern Rivers communities at heart

This was the NSW Nationals Member of the Legislative Council Ben Franklin (left) on the subject of a particular fossil fuel whose by-products, flaring and fugitive emissions contribute to Australia's rising greenhouse gas emissions and poor water security...... 

Echo Net Daily, 21 February 2020:

A recently announced bilateral energy deal between the NSW and federal coalition governments – which includes expanding the gas industry – has the full support of local Nationals MLC Ben Franklin.

Franklin replied to the question of whether he was supportive of the expansion of the gas industry, despite it contributing to anthropogenic climate change.

He said, ‘The bilateral deal on energy signed between NSW and the federal government is a wonderful step forward’.

‘As the minister for energy and the environment Matt Kean says, “It is the single biggest state-based financial commitment to emissions reduction in the nation’s history and represents a massive Green deal for NSW”.’

It’s a statement rejected by The Greens and environmental groups.....

* Photograph from www.parliament.nsw.gov.au

Berejiklian Government attempts to stall parliamentary inquiry into rules & regulations governing coal seam gas?

The Northern Leader, 22 November 2019:

A PARLIAMENTARY inquiry in to the rules and regulations around coal seam gas had to be postponed when, in an unprecedented move, government departments refused to allow public servants to appear before the committee.

Spearheaded by independent politician Justin Field, the committee is investigating if the state government has implemented the recommendations made by NSW Chief Scientist five years ago, to ensure the CSG industry operates safely. However, the committee found itself in uncharted waters, as witnesses from a government agency have never refused a request to appear before a parliamentary inquiry, and were forced to postpone it.

The witnesses, mostly from the various agencies under the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE), were re-invited and warned further powers such as summons could be used.

The Leader understands most have agreed to appear and the hearing has been rescheduled for December 3. Mr Field said the government's written submission claimed it had responded to 14 out of 16 recommendations, however many other submissions suggested otherwise.

"It is essential that key officials front the inquiry so the committee can interrogate the government's claims on behalf of all those in the community who are concerned," Mr Field said......

BACKGROUND

An inquiry titled "The implementation of the recommendations contained in the NSW Chief Scientist's Independent Review of Coal Seam Gas Activities in New South Wales" was self-referred to Legislative Council Portfolio Committee No.4 - Industry on 3 October 2019.

The Inquiry's terms of reference can be found here.

Lock The Gate, 15 October 2019:

Deputy Premier admits CSG review recommendations ignored

The NSW Government has admitted it ignored a major recommendation from the Chief Scientist’s Independent Review of Coal Seam Gas Activities in New South Wales.

Deputy Premier John Barilaro made the admission during Senate Estimates, throwing doubt on the state’s regulatory framework for the damaging and highly controversial industry.

The revelation that the government does not intend to create the state-specific Standing Expert Body as recommended by the Chief Scientist comes as an assessment is being finalised for Santos’ controversial 850 well coal seam gasfield proposal at Narrabri. 

The Chief Scientist recommended the Standing Expert Body in order to monitor, inform and review the impacts of the CSG industry. 

Instead, the Deputy Premier cited the Commonwealth’s Independent Expert Scientific Committee on Coal Seam Gas and Large Coal Mining Development (IESC), a body that was already in existence when the recommendation was made, and which does not have the functions or capacities the Chief Scientist identified as necessary to safeguard New South Wales from coal seam gas risks. 

Mr Barilaro said, “The government decided to continue working closely with the Independent Expert Scientific Committee on Coal Seam Gas and Large Coal Mining Development rather than to establish a duplicate expert body in NSW." (see the top of page 96 in this doc)

The revelation also comes as a parliamentary inquiry begins to examine the Government’s implementation of the recommendations from the five-year-old review.

NSW Lock the Gate Alliance spokesperson Georgina Woods said “The Government relies on the Chief Scientist’s review to claim coal seam gas can be safely managed in New South Wales, but now admits it has ignored one of the key recommendations of that review. 

“Without the Standing Expert Body that was recommended, independent oversight and safeguards to protect the groundwater that drought-affected communities rely on for their existence just aren’t there. 

“This is a big admission, particularly as the controversial and deeply unpopular Santos Narrabri gas field is expected to be referred to the Independent Planning Commission any day now. 

“The NSW Government has admitted its coal seam gas regulations are incomplete. The coal seam gasfield in the Narrabri area must not be allowed to proceed.

“Lock the Gate Alliance calls on the Berejiklian Government to immediately establish the  Standing Expert Body on coal seam gas developments recommended by the Chief Scientist."

Background

The functions of the authority recommended by the Chief Scientist are very different to that of the IESC and were to be to advise the NSW Government:

• on the overall impact of CSG in NSW through a published Annual Statement which would draw on a detailed analysis of the data held in the Whole-of-Environment Data Repository to assess impacts,
•  particularly cumulative impacts, at project, regional and sedimentary basin scales;
• on processes for characterising and modelling the sedimentary basins of NSW 
• on updating and refining the Risk Management and Prediction Tool;
• on the implications of CSG impacts in NSW for planning where CSG activity is permitted to occur in the state;
• on new science and technology developments relevant to managing CSG and when and whether these developments are sufficiently mature to be incorporated into its legislative and regulatory system;
• on specific research that needs to be commissioned regarding CSG matters;
• on how best to work with research and public sector bodies across Australia and internationally and with the private sector on joint research and harmonised approaches to data collection, modelling and scale issues such as subsidence;
• on whether or not other unconventional gas extraction (shale gas, tight gas) industries should be allowed to proceed in NSW and, if so, under what conditions.

Meet some of Meet Scott Morrsison's "indulgent" environmental "anarchists" as they sing about 200 weeks of continuous protest

Terrifying bunch aren't they? One can just see they have molotov cocktails in their back pockets and are planning violent chaos. 

Scott Morrison is such a fool.  

Sign the petition below if you want to be alerted when the Narrabri Gas Project is referred to the IPC for a public hearing and a decision. And here's the Knitting Nannas in Martin Place today - 200 wks of protests! Sign the petition: https://t.co/F1iJfSj9HO?amp=1

— Lock the Gate (@LockTheGate) November 1, 2019

Coal Seam Gas: Queensland supplies a timely lesson for the rest of Australia

ABC News, 26 May 2016:

The risk of spreading toxic groundwater from one of Queensland's worst environmental contaminations has prompted a ban on coal seam gas drilling in an area where companies are already extracting gas.

The State Government quietly created a no-go zone for gas extraction 10 kilometres around the former Linc Energy site in the Southern Inland, at Hopeland, burying the decision in an environmental approval issued to Arrow Energy in December.

Despite the ban, Arrow and QGC still have permission to extract gas within the zone.

On a separate, neighbouring mining lease — approved in August — Arrow gained approval to ramp up six existing "pilot" wells for commercial production.

Farmers said they were alarmed by the revelation and want state officials to come clean about the risks of groundwater contamination spreading under prime grazing and cropping land.

The ban is the first public admission that a burgeoning CSG industry could aggravate the Linc contamination, where toxic gases were released into groundwater by a now-illegal process called underground coal gasification.

Cotton grower Brian Bender's Hopeland property is split by the two Arrow tenements — where CSG extraction is banned on one side but not the other.

"I think it's a bit of a joke, really — there are no lines underground," Mr Bender said….

The ABC understands tests on groundwater contamination were being examined by a trio of experts who would be called as state witnesses in a criminal prosecution of five former Linc executives next month.

The failed company was convicted and fined a record $4.5 million last May for causing serious environmental harm through its underground coal gasification (UCG) plant.

The District Court heard in that trial that it could take up to 20 years for groundwater to recover from Linc's attempts at the now-illegal UCG process, which allowed toxic gases to escape through fractured rock.

At the time, the state's then-environment minister described the contamination as "the biggest pollution event probably in Queensland's history".

A week before Christmas, Arrow gained approval for 70 wells on a gas tenement to the north-east of the former Linc site.

It is part of its $10 billion Surat Gas Project, which Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk promoted in a February media release as Queensland's "biggest resources project since 2011".

Ms Palaszczuk's release made no mention of the gas extraction no-go zone.

But the state's Department of Environment and Science approval said Arrow "must not locate any [CSG] production wells within 10 kilometres [of the Linc site]".

"The extraction of groundwater as part of the petroleum activity(ies) from underground aquifers must not directly or indirectly influence the mobilisation of existing groundwater contamination on [the Linc site]," the environmental authority said.

It said the department may force Arrow to model CSG impacts on "groundwater contamination around [the Linc site] at any time" and present its findings within a month.

But there were no such conditions for gas drilling in the neighbouring Arrow tenement that surrounds the former Linc site, where six wells were approved in August…..

But will the Morrison federal government or the remaining seven state and territory governments learn from Queensland's disasterous mistakes?

Apparently not.........

2GB Radio, 24 May 2019:

The Minister for Resources is urging the New South Wales government to approve the state’s biggest gas project.

Santos Narrabri Gas Project is aiming to develop gas reserves in northwest New South Wales that could supply half of the state’s gas needs.

The Resources Minister Matt Canavan tells Ray Hadley almost all of NSW’s gas comes from other states.

“The problem with that is, of course, it costs a lot of money to transport gas long distances, so that has pushed the price up for Sydney based users of gas.

“Things have changed and we need to reflect that.”

The Canberra Times, 18 April 2019:

Federal Resources and Northern Australia Minister Matt Canavan was in Darwin on April 17 to publicise an April 2 federal budget announcement of $8.4 million in funding to fast-track development of gas reserves in the Northern Territory's Beetaloo Basin.

"We want to get on with the job. We want to get the gas up out of the ground and into people's homes and businesses as quickly as we can," Senator Canavan said in a statement….

The Beetaloo Basin is about 500km south-east of Darwin in the Sturt Plateau region between the towns of Katherine and Elliott and includes pastoral land and indigenous communities. Around 70 per cent of the Territory's shale gas resources are estimated to lie in the Beetaloo Basin, reserves that could potentially raise Australia's global ranking of gas resources from seventh to sixth. Farmers, businesses and industry are divided over whether fracking should be permitted because of the risk of pollution to rivers and bores. Pro-fracking advocates argue it will be a boon for jobs and economic growth.