A reliable food surplus is what holds villages, towns, cities and the nation that governs them together

These are the food producing women of the NSW Liverpool Plains:

http://youtu.be/ul2ItfwqUnE

What is not as well known is that the NSW 100 km wide coastal strip historically produces 20 per cent of the state’s agricultural product each year.

This strip includes much of the NSW Northern Rivers regions.

A reliable food surplus is what holds villages, towns, cities and the nation that governs then together and, this surplus is dependent on uncontaminated soils and clean water.

Coal seam gas and other unconventional gas mining places soil and water at risk in the rural and regional areas miners choose to industrialise.

Something to think about as we mark our ballot papers on 28 March 2015.

Baird Government and NSW North Coast Nationals continue to betray Northern Rivers communities and their sustainable regional economies

Gasfield Free Northern Rivers Media Release, 11 March 2015:

Northern Rivers under even greater threat of invasive gasfields.

                   

Today’s announcement that AJ Lucas has bought PEL 445, shows that they have set their sights firmly on the Northern Rivers for gas exploration. 

AJ Lucas is the biggest drilling company in Australia, they own seventy seven drill rigs, and have the capacity and resources to commence exploration drilling operations as soon as necessary approvals are in place. 

Ian Gaillard, Spokesperson for Gasfield Free Northern Rivers said "Our region is now threatened more than ever with Queensland drillers probably looking to the Northern Rivers to meet export gas shortfalls at Gladstone. 

"This development makes it more likely that the instant the election is over, if the Liberal National Government is returned to power, Northern Rivers communities will be facing the spectre of a gas drilling invasion. 

"Lismore, Kyogle, Nimbin, Coraki, out west past Urbenville and right down to Maclean will all be up for grabs. As will the regional water supply areas that service major population 

centres like Ballina and Byron Bay. 

"The transfer of PEL 445 to AJ Lucas makes the outcome of the upcoming election even more critical for the future of our region. 

"This news will galvanise people in the region to redouble their efforts over the coming weeks to demand a commitment from local National Party candidates who are the only party refusing to support community calls for a Gasfield Free Northern Rivers."

"We want a gasfield ban, not a gas plan!"

Letter to the Editor in The Daily Examiner, 27 February 2015:

Election and gasfield

The State Election is fast approaching. On March 28 we go to the polls again to cast our vote to decide who will run the State of NSW for the next four years.

In the Northern Rivers, the biggest political issue over the past four years has been the threat of industrialisation and destructive and polluting activities which inevitably accompany invasive gasfields.

We have fought to save our region - at Glenugie and Doubtful Creek and then at Bentley. The famous Bentley Blockade resulted in the suspension of Metgasco's exploration licence which was to allow drilling to a depth of 2.1km through the soils, rocks and aquifers of this beautiful and productive valley, so typical of the Northern Rivers.

It was the pressure exerted by the community on the NSW Liberal National Government which caused them to suspend activity. It was not an act of benevolence on the part of the NSW Government- without people-power the drilling rig would have moved in.

Over 95% of people in the Northern Rivers do not want to live in a gasfield. Tourism and primary industries in our region will suffer irreparable damage and our properties will become devalued and unsalable - who would buy a house in or near a gasfield?

Now is our chance once again to have our voices heard loud and clear - in NSW we have a system of Optional Preferential voting.

Under this system, numbering one box is permitted. However, there is a very good reason why this is not a good choice. If you do number only one box and your choice of candidate does not receive 50% + one of the total votes in the first count, your vote is "exhausted'" and you have, in effect, wasted your vote.

To ensure that your vote counts, you must number every box.

You do not have to follow the how to vote card of any political party or independent candidate.

You are the one who is allocating preferences. Your preferences are the ones that matter.

Who you vote for on election day is, of course, your personal choice. However, to vote for a gasfield-free Northern Rivers, you will need to give your LAST preference to the party who is least supportive of the community's clearly expressed wishes to remain gasfield free.

We want a gasfield ban, not a gas plan!

Rosemary Joseph

Nationals MP for Clarence Chris Gulaptis has just been knotted by a group of nannas

North Coast Voices was sent this copy of a letter which forms part of a lengthy engagement in the political process by one hardy and dedicated group of Knitting Nannas Against Gas.

Nationals MP for Clarence Chris Gulaptis can be in no doubt that his lack of political spine has been noted.

ERM Power would like to bail out of coal seam gas miner Metgasco Limited ?

Metgasco Limited's largest shareholder appears to be losing interest in the fate of this coal seam/tight gas explorer and wannabe production company.

Unfortunately with the ordinary share price being firmly in the 2 cents range, ERM Power will have to wait before any move to sell off its interest in this company.

Argus Media

ERM Power mulls future of NSW gas assets

22 Feb 2015, 11.48 pm GMT

Sydney, 22 February (Argus) — Australian power and gas group ERM Power is still considering the future of its gas interests in New South Wales (NSW), which include an interest in independent coal-bed methane (CBM) gas developer Metgasco and some exploration areas.

ERM bought a 13pc stake in Metgasco in 2013, but the CBM exploration group has been hampered by a NSW government ruling halting further exploration at the company's Casino project because of community concerns and there has been no resolution to the issue.

"These assets are being impacted by regulatory uncertainty in NSW which, at this point, seems far from being resolved. We will continue to keep these assets on minimum expenditure until investment conditions materially improve," ERM said.

The company also operates its 100pc owned 332MW Oakey peak demand gas-fired plant in Queensland, which was only used 3pc of the time during July-December last year. Oakey reported a 3.8pc fall in its asset value from a year earlier to A$223mn ($174mn) in the six-month period. There were increased opportunities for Oakey because of higher volatility in electricity prices in Queensland during the 2014-15 summer, ERM said, with electricity spot market prices reaching the maximum price cap of A$13,000/MWh on numerous occasions.

km/rjd

On 24 February 2015 Metgasco Limited released its Financial Report For Half Year Ended 31 December 2014.

In the last six months of 2014 it recorded a loss of $2,105,164 with $955,547 of this figure listed as professional fees.

Presumably these fees are associated with its court case Metgasco Ltd v Minister for Resources & Energy which has been waiting judgment since the end of October 2014.

Since announcing its script merger with Elk Petroleum on 22 December involving a convertible loan facility for Elk of $2.5 million, Metgasco has lent Elk a further $1.4 million this year.

Metgasco's ailing fortunes will not have been helped by the fact that one of the main planks in its argument for the establishment of Northern Rivers gasfields - ie. that these gasfields would bring down the cost of gas for business and residential users - has been contradicted by the Select Committee on the Supply and Cost of Gas and Liquid Fuels in New South Wales (25 February 2015) report which states gas prices; will rise regardless of whether there is an indigenous supply...Eastern Australia is becoming part of a single global market for commodity gas, and wholesale prices are being increasingly set by international prices. In the future, it is likely that NSW gas retailers will have to compete with offshore demand and pay export parity prices for wholesale gas.

Metgasco Limited: one picture is worth a thousand words

The Australian Stock Exchange, 11 February 2014:

Metgaso Limited (MEL) ordinary fully paid share $0.025 11 February 2015
Price $0.025 Volume 201,874.00 10 February 2014
Price $0.027 Volume 2,035,560.00 9 February 2015
Price $0.030 Volume 267,328.00 6 February 2015

The chart of daily prices over 1 year for security MEL

Are the punters finally abandoning coal seam/tight gas explorer and wannabe production company Metgaso?

Coal seam gas explorer Metgasco Limited's small shareholders are talking to the Australian Stock Exchange?

HotCopper MEL thread, 27 January 2015:

I have just sent my email to ASX (Elvis) as suggested by previous posters.

My concern has been increasing as I watch my other Oil Co investments slowly dribble down the toilet and I really have no interest in having more capital tied to the oil industry at present (Gas & Iron Ore are bad enough).

The text of my email is below.

"Dear Sir,

I have recently become aware that MEL intends to become involved with a US based oil company ELK Petroleum Ltd, by way of a merger of script. There has been significant disquiet amongst shareholders of MEL, as the MEL Board has determined that the transaction need not be put to shareholders for approval.

A number of shareholders (via HotCopper shareholder site) have suggested that the ASX should be requested to use their discretion under Section 11.1.2 of the Listing Rules to consider whether to call upon MEL to seek shareholder approval via a vote on the proposed MEL/ELK merger.

I believe that you may have received emails from some of MEL's shareholders and I would like to add my voice to their request for your consideration of a review of the proposed transaction, or at a minimum request MEL to explain why they have decided to exclude shareholders in the making of this significant move into the US shale oil industry away from domestic gas.

Yours faithfully

(Name included)
Concerned shareholder"

Banned BTEX chemicals found at AGL coal seam gas drilling site

The NSW Government prohibited the use of BTEX chemicals in coal seam gas activities on 6 March 2012, yet it may have been used in 2015 or alternatively the gas industry is allowing naturally occurring underground benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene to escape into the above ground environment:

NSW Environmental Protection Agency

AGL operations suspended and EPA investigating after BTEX chemicals detected in Waukivory well

Media release: 27 January 2015

                            

AGL operations at Gloucester have been suspended and the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) is investigating after the company informed the authority that it had detected BTEX chemicals at its Gloucester coal seam gas project.

AGL suspended operations today after announcing BTEX chemicals were found in samples from its Waukivory operations, said EPA Chief Environmental Regulator Mark Gifford.

“AGL informed the EPA that it was aware of these elevated levels of BTEX chemicals on 15 January, but it did not make these results known to the EPA or the public until today,” said Mr Gifford.

“The EPA is very concerned at AGL’s lack of timeliness and transparency in informing us of these results and we will be conducting a full investigation.

“The EPA can confirm that fracking fluid additives used at the Waukivory operation were sampled and analysed by Government environmental officers in November 2014 before fracking activities were allowed to commence.

“These samples were analysed for BTEX chemicals, which were not detected. Identifying the source of the elevated levels of BTEX chemicals found in AGL’s samples will be part of the EPA’s investigation.”

BTEX is a group of chemicals known as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene. These chemicals can occur naturally in coal seams. The Government banned the use of BTEX chemicals in hydraulic fracturing and are prohibited in Environment Protection Licences issued by the EPA.

Contact: EPA Public Affairs

UPDATE

Newcastle Herald 29 January 2015:

AGL will not be allowed to resume work at its Gloucester coal seam gas project until it can prove its operations do not pose an environmental threat.

The state government ordered the company cease operations at the pilot project on Wednesday until joint investigations triggered by the presence of toxic BTEX chemicals have been finalised.

Office of Coal Seam Gas and Environment Protection Authority investigators are working to determine whether the toxic chemicals found in water samples from wells are naturally occurring or were introduced by the company.

‘‘I want to know exactly what has happened,’’ Energy and Resources Minister Anthony Roberts told a parliamentary inquiry that is looking into gas supplies in NSW…….

NSW Coalition Government reveals its political sensitivity concerning the Gas Plan

The NSW Baird Government reveals its political sensitivity concerning its Gas Plan via this exchange in the letters section of The Daily Examiner, a regional newspaper in the Clarence Valley.

The first brief letter by a Lower Clarence resident elicited a misleading official comeback within days.

Letter to the editor published on 15 January 2015:

Gas Plan an insult

IT WILL take more than a picture of a young girl testing the waters of what seems to be a pristine dam, to convince the NSW taxpayers that their money is well spent on these full page NSW Gas Plan advertisements.

Such propaganda will not work as people are far too intelligent to be fooled into thinking we don't need to worry about CSG mining now that the NSW Government has created a website.

It is an insult to the intelligence of the community who have overwhelmingly voiced their opposition to unconventional gas mining in the Northern Rivers.

The "NSW Gas Plan" does nothing to stop landholders and communities being forced into giving access to their land against their will and has no improved safeguards for human health in the plan.

Every council on the North Coast has now asked for petroleum exploration licences to be revoked. It is obvious the Government is NOT listening to the voters of NSW and spending huge amounts of taxpayers' money to advertise something they do not support is disappointing to say the least.

Annie Dorrian

Iluka

                         

Letter to the editor published on 19 January 2015:

Gas Plan defence

I AM writing in response to a letter published in your newspaper (15/1) headed: "Gas Plan an insult".

The author claims that an advertorial outlining the NSW Government's comprehensive Gas Plan is an insult to the intelligence of the community.

It is unfortunate that the reader has interpreted the advertorials in this manner. The aim is to raise awareness amongst the community that this State, for the first time, has a plan for the safe and sustainable development of our local gas reserves.

The advertorials will hopefully stimulate people to try to learn more about the plan, the debate and the evidence we have in relation to the risks, the science, the industry and the actions being taken across Government, as we try to balance the economic, environmental and social needs of our State.

This includes a range of actions, which contrary to what is claimed in the letter, cover water, environment, community and landholders' interests.

For example, the use of evaporation ponds and BTEX has been banned. New guidelines for community consultation practices have been set. New codes/standards for well engineering and fracture stimulation practices have been set and peer reviewed by the NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer, Professor Mary O'Kane.

Groundwater studies have been completed on the Gunnedah, Gloucester and Clarence- Moreton basins, and the list goes on.

In total, more than 30 measures were introduced before the Gas Plan, and the Gas Plan itself adds a significant number of additional measures, including the NSW Government's acceptance of all of Professor O'Kane's recommendations.

The plan also outlines new measures aimed at ensuring community and landholders can share more directly in the benefits of gas exploration and development in their areas.

Again, the plan builds on advances already made in this area, such as the review of the arbitration system for land access agreements and the public commitments made by Santos and AGL not to seek access to a landholders' property if the landholder does not want them on their land.

So much has been done in recent years to better balance the economic, social and environmental issues of this industry. The advertorials simply aim to raise awareness of this fact and encourage people to learn more.

Lastly, it is also important to note that it is not correct to imply all people in NSW oppose this industry.

As with all industrial activities, there are those who support it, those who oppose it ... and those who are not interested in the debate or have not yet made up their minds.

Hopefully, for those who are curious about learning more, the Gas Plan will be a helpful place to start.

For more information, please visit gasplan.nsw.gov.au

Kylie Hargreaves

Deputy Secretary, Resources & Energy, NSW Trade & Investment

UPDATE

Bite back at Gas Plan propaganda in The Daily Examiner letters section on 23 January 2015:

Gas plan hard sell

THE NSW Government is spending thousands upon thousands of taxpayer dollars in advertisements to try to sell their so-called NSW Gas Plan to the residents of the Northern Rivers.

This is an obvious attempt to shore up votes for the coming State election in those seats where National Party candidates are most likely to suffer voter backlash from many disillusioned members of the community.

It is not a genuine attempt to inform, educate and consult.

Many citizens would like the right of reply to these advertisements but we do not have the vast amount of dollars required to buy the necessary newspaper space and radio time to counteract the misleading statements in this patronising propaganda.

The main avenue for us, the voters, to have our say regarding our concerns, is by writing letters to the editors of our local newspapers. We are grateful for this opportunity; however, there is limited space in the newspapers to publish our letters - certainly not a full page plus one bonus advertorial half-page.

So it is unjust and inappropriate that Kylie Hargreaves, deputy secretary, resources and energy, NSW Trade and Investment, should write a 457-word letter (19/1) to The Daily Examiner to refute the written opinion of a member of the public (15/1).

The Government is already bombarding us with advertisements - we open a newspaper or other local publication, we turn on the radio or, worst of all, in the privacy of our own home we log into our Facebook page to connect to our friends, and up pops a NSW Government Gas Plan ad.

Please, Ms Hargreaves, leave us at least one forum where we can have our say without interference from the Government.

And while I have this opportunity, may I point out the NSW Gas Plan is not about "Keeping our water pure", "Securing farming future" or "Protecting future generations."

It is all about ensuring that the gas industry proceeds throughout NSW.

Rosemary Joseph,
Bentley

Lifting the veil on Yes2Gas

This advertisement has been in the news in 2015:

If examined closely, readers can see that it is authorised by Louise Tout, Narrabri.

There is little information about Ms.Tout on the Internet, other than she is the spokesperson for Yes2Gas.

However, there is one short ABC radio interview with her on 2 December 2014.

In this interview Ms. Tout claims that the Yes2Gas group is one hundred percent local, one hundred percent independent. She also admits to talking to Santos all the time and that the ‘group’ doesn’t have an identifiable membership.

Ms. Tout stated in the radio interview that a few local businesses fund the group. A suspicion that these few may be Santos contractors raises its head.

Despite the lack of members,Yes2Gas does have a Facebook page (which has a subversive clone run by another person/group) and a website.

Website details:

The website was created on 29 September 2014, the registrant is listed as Kate Campbell (a Narrabri-based freelance photographer who is also the tech contact for this website), but its physical address is in the Sydney metropolitan area at 11 Colgate Street, Balmain NSW 2041:

There is a second registered website titled Yes2Gas - a parked site yes2gas.com whose purpose is unknown. This site was registered by Kate Schwager of Wee Waa on 2 October 2014:

____________________

UPDATE:

In an email dated 26 February 2016 Kate Schwager informed North Coast Voices that she no longer owns yes2gas.com and that she initially registered this domain so that it could not be used to promote the gas industry.

                                                     ____________________

So it is possible that the claim that Yes2Gas is a genuine grassroots community group may not hold up under scrutiny; having an unverifiable membership, shadowy funding and an Internet presence created hundreds of miles away from the Narrabri district.

The Yes2Gas quotes Max Davis of Rosewood, Narrabri, who ABC News tells us has a farm which is just a few kilometres from Leewood, a property south of Narrabri that's owned by Santos, and the location of what the company is calling a 'state of the art water treatment facility'. Leewood is a 246 ha property fronting the Newell Highway at Narrabri.

Mr. Davis' address may possible host this business:

Hopefully Max Davis’ cropping property is more than a few kilometres away from Leewood, as Santos proposes up to 850 production wells will be drilled across its Narrabri tenements:

WeeWaa.com

Wells not drawn to scale and positioning potential only

But what of the claims in the advertisement?

Santos is an Australian company

Yes, Santos Ltd was established in Adelaide SA in 1954.

According to its Annual Report 2013 it had 112,397 shareholders and 970,270,108 fully paid ordinary shares listed on the Australian Securities Exchange at 28 February 2014.

However, despite the large number of shareholders, Santos states it is the top 20 shareholders who represented 65.09% of the total voting power in Santos by February 2013 and, these predominately institutional shareholders are not necessarily “Australian”.

Indeed the two largest shareholders, with a combined share percentage of 37.74% of all ordinary shares, are large U.K. and U.S. based investment banks.

HSBC Holdings plc (UK based, located in 75 countries and reportedly Europe’s largest banking group) is the largest shareholder through its subsidiary HSBC Custody Nominees (Australia) Limited (HSBC Bank Australia Limited) and, JP Morgan Chase & Co (US based international investment banking group) is the second largest shareholder through its subsidiary JP Morgan Nominees Australia Limited.

Santos is an excellent neighbour

as professional as Santos

So is Santos an excellent neighbour and professional in its business activities?

This is the area in which the Santos Pilliga/Narrabri gas project operates:

http://sore.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/image1.jpg

http://www.santos.com/library/PEL238_PAL2_and_PPL3_Produced_Water_Management_Plan.pdf

In 2014 the NSW Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) issued Santos NSW (Eastern) Pty Ltd with one clean up notice (29 July 2014) for its Narrabri NSW gas fields and one penalty notice for water pollution at its Bibblewindi Water Transfer Facility.

EPA Media release: 18 February 2014

The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has issued a $1,500 fine to Santos NSW (Eastern) Pty Ltd following a pollution incident at their Narrabri Gas Field operations in the Pilliga.

In March 2013 Santos notified the EPA after results from routine ground water sampling around the Bibblewindi Water Treatment Plant showed elevated levels of total dissolved solids and slightly elevated levels of others elements.

EPA Chief Environmental Regulator, Mark Gifford said EPA staff immediately began an investigation into the cause of the elevated readings.

“Our investigation into the matter revealed the installation of the liner within Pond 3 was of poor quality which resulted in the integrity of the liner being questionable.

Pond 3 had historically been used to contain the water and brine generated by the gas field. Water quality testing by Santos of the surrounding aquifers showed elevated levels of total dissolved solids and other elements outside the average readings for the aquifers in the area,” Mr Gifford said.

“Further investigation showed the pond had been installed in 2007 by the site’s previous owner, Eastern Star Gas. A report Santos provided to the EPA showed there was no evidence that contractors, engaged by Eastern Star Gas, had carried out the necessary field testing, quality control or quality assurance during the installation, as is required by current government standards.

Santos has applied to the EPA for an Environment Protection Licence for this site. The EPA is close to finalising this application and has put in place strict conditions to ensure an incident of this nature is not repeated.

The EPL includes a legally binding Pollution Reduction Program requiring Santos to develop and implement a Groundwater Remediation and Monitoring Plan that is aimed at remediating that affected aquifers,” Mr Gifford said.

Contact: Emily Boyle

Further waste water non-compliance issues came to light.

EPA Media release: 28 March 2014

The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) is investigating a release of about 500 litres of produced water which entered a diversion drain at the Santos Narrabri Gas Field on Tuesday March 25.

The produced water entered the diversion drain during transfer from an assessment well to a holding pond.

Immediately following the release, the diversion drain was blocked to prevent the produced water leaving the site.

The produced water was captured and returned to the pond.

The EPA is undertaking further investigations.

The Government has designated the EPA the lead regulator of environmental and health issues associated with coal seam gas, and established the Office of Coal Seam Gas in NSW Trade and Investment to regulate other important issues, including petroleum titles, rehabilitation, safety and engineering standards.

Contact: Pamela Wilson

Newcastle Herald 5 January 2015:

A NEWCASTLE City Council-owned waste facility has been  receiving  contaminated coal seam gas waste from far-west NSW, and little is known about where it ends up. 

Environmental Protection Authority documents from 2013 accessed by the Newcastle Herald reveal the council-owned Summerhill Waste Depot was the destination for contaminated soil and waste from the Santos Gas Project in the Pilliga Forest.

Santos says the waste includes ‘‘soil, sediment and pond liner materials’’ removed as part of its $17million rehabilitation of the site following its takeover from Eastern Star Gas in 2011.

But the council won’t say what happened to the waste when it got to Summerhill, where it ended up, or whether it is still receiving the waste.

A spokeswoman said in a statement that Summerhill ‘‘operates as a landfill facility with basic recycling activities’’ and is ‘‘not a treatment facility for contaminated wastes’’, but did not say where the waste ended up. 

‘‘Council is not prepared to discuss any commercially confidential arrangements it has with any of the customers that use the Summerhill Waste Management Centre, this includes any details around waste and revenue receipts,’’ the spokeswoman said.

With the lesser known issue of air pollution being raised.

World Coal 7 January 2015:

Astronomers at the Siding Spring observatory in Australia have warned light pollution from a planned coalbed methane (CBM) development may force the observatory to close.

Siding Spring is the country’s premier observatory. The site of the Australian National University’s observatory, near Coonabarabran in New South Wales (NSW), currently benefits from clear, dark skies above it.

This environment allowed the observatory’s powerful SkyMapper telescope to discover the oldest known star, at 13.6 billion years old, in 2014.

Yet astronomers have voiced concern that CBM developments at gasfields around 50 km away could produce so much light pollution the observatory is rendered useless.

Dark skies are vital if astronomers are to pick out stars and other celestial objects in space.

Mining firm, Santos, plans to tap the area, known as the Gunnedah Basin, for gas sourced in coal seams.

Astronomers are also worried that material dispersed from CBM mining operations will prove corrosive to telescope lenses.

Peter Small, a technical support engineer for Siding Spring, said an existing CBM operation at Boggabri already gives off more light than the neighbouring towns of Narrabri and Gunnedah.

“We get light pollution from that – we even get light pollution from Sydney, which is 400km away, so you don’t have to be that close,” he said.

“This will reduce visibility. If there’s light pollution from anywhere, never mind about the gasfields, this site becomes unviable. It would shut down and all those local jobs would be lost,” he added. “I’d hope there would be a compromise, but no dialogue has taken place with Santos as yet.”....

Santos does not appear to be quite as good a neighbour and not as professional a corporation as Yes2Gas would have us believe.

Whoever the principal or principals of Yes2Gas are, they may have to be very active in 2015 if they are to support their favourite coal seam gas miner Santos Ltd through this.

The Sydney Morning Herald 8 January 2015:

Billions of dollars worth of projects face an uncertain future amid write-downs and job losses across Australia's battered oil and gas sectors as the global oil crash deepens…..

"You have to believe you're going to see enormous write-downs in particular from Santos and Origin – BG have already taken an initial write-down on QCLNG and alluded to the fact it could take a larger one."

Carrying values for some acquisitions made over recent years could also be at risk.

"I don't see how Santos could still carry Narrabri at the book value of the acquisition of Eastern Star Gas," Mr Samter said of Santos's NSW coal seam gas business, based on its $924 million takeover of Eastern Star in 2011.

Santos shares dropped another 1.3 per cent to $7.45 on Wednesday and are now 51 per cent down from their August high.

Steps it took last month to relieve pressure on its balance sheet, including a 25 per cent cut to its 2015 capex budget and an extra $1 billion loan facility, have failed to calm investor fears that it will eventually have to raise equity to protect its investment-grade credit rating. It is also considering asset sales.

Illustrating the extent of the impact of the lower prices on Santos, Mr Samter released research that found the company's equity is worthless if current oil prices and foreign exchange rates are assumed to persist forever.

The Australian 12 January 2014:

STANDARD and Poor’s has cut its oil price forecast for the third time in five weeks, in a move that will increase concerns Santos will be forced to raise equity to keep its investment grade credit rating.

The ratings agency already had Santos (STO) and Origin (ORG), which both have BBB credit ratings, on negative watch and has said further cuts to oil price forecasts could lead to downgrades for the two companies, which are both building LNG plants at Gladstone. The price of LNG is linked to crude oil prices.

“Over the coming weeks, we will be updating our assumptions, and we anticipate a number of corporate rating actions,” Standard and Poor’s said.

NSW Premier Baird, Energy & Resources Minister Roberts and local MPs Gulaptis, George and Page are spinning the Northern Rivers a dishonest unconventional gas tale

This is the advertisement which appeared in local newspapers this month spinning the pro-coal seam gas line that the NSW Baird Government and National Party MPs in North Coast electorates would like us to believe.

The NSW Gas Plan is the government’s new strategic framework to protect our water and environment while delivering vital gas supplies for the state.

Our water resources are protected through the most comprehensive regulatory controls for the gas industry in the nation.

The NSW government has introduced important protections, including an Aquifer Interference Policy, code of practice for well integrity and fracture stimulation and banned the use of harmful volatile organic compounds, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX chemicals), and evaporation ponds.

The NSW Gas Plan is the next step. It outlines the path to achieving a world class system to protect our water, environment, critical agricultural land and communities.

The NSW government has adopted all the recommendations by the independent NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer, Professor Mary O’Kane, to ensure the new regulatory framework for the gas industry is based on science and is world’s best practice.

This new science-based regulatory framework adopts a strong compliance and enforcement regime, enhanced environmental monitoring, improved protections and benefits for landholders and communities.

The NSW Gas Plan introduces a new strategic release framework, which is a system that puts the government back in control of the release of title areas for exploration. 

This will allow the government to identify the most appropriate areas for exploration through a careful examination of economic, environmental and social factors with community consultation conducted up-front. 

Exploration for gas will be done on our terms.

The Environment Protection Authority, Office of Coal Seam Gas and the NSW Office of Water all monitor and supervise gas operations to ensure companies comply with the high engineering and environmental standards which now apply in NSW.

The independent Environment Protection Authority (EPA) will be proactive and fearless in its new role as the lead regulator for compliance and enforcement of conditions of approval for gas activities.

A project to provide baseline information about the state’s groundwater has been started by the government. The Groundwater Baseline Project is mapping and gathering data on the water used by agriculture, industry and mining.

This will ensure we have the critical data to ensure the use of our water is sustainable and available for future generations, while ensuring any changes to our water supplies are detected early.

The first areas to be analysed are the Gunnedah, Gloucester and Clarence Moreton basins. More information on these and other water projects are available from water.nsw.gov.au 

The NSW Gas Plan signals a new era for the gas industry and NSW. 

The government’s new science based regulatory framework protects our precious water and environment, ensures communities have a voice and we have a world-class regime to secure vital gas supplies for the state’s manufacturers, businesses and households that rely on gas every day.

For more information, please visit gasplan.nsw.gov.au

This is the reality for the Northern Rivers – under the NSW Gas Plan coal seam gas exploration tenements cover most of its land mass and span all its major river systems.

NSW Government Trade & Investment: Energy & Resources mapping as of 8 January 2015
Click on map to enlarge

The state government’s pro-coal seam gas advertisement states that; This new science-based regulatory framework adopts a strong compliance and enforcement regime, enhanced environmental monitoring, improved protections and benefits for landholders and communities. Actually there is no new science-based regulatory framework in place. This is something the Baird Government says it will start to put in place at an as yet unspecified time, which may possibly be in the second half of 2015.

It asserts Exploration for gas will be done on our terms as though this is a new and innovative stance. Mineral and petroleum mining within the state has always been done on the government of the day’s terms. The government’s right to decide is found in the NSW Constitution and state legislation, particularly the Mining Act 1992.

It goes on to say that the NSW government has adopted all the recommendations by the independent NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer. In fact the current NSW Gas Plan clearly shows it has not. 

In particular it has not fully explained the rationale/need for CSG extraction beyond a cursory attempt to talk about non-existent gas shortages and, the advertisement avoids that issue entirely.

The Baird Government’s gas plan certainly doesn’t fully encompass this recommendation in the NSW Chief Scientist’s September 2014 Final Report of the Independent Review of Coal Seam Gas Activities in NSW:

Recommendation 3

That Government investigate as a priority a range of practical measures for implementation (or extension of current measures) to allow affected communities to have strengthened protections and benefits including fair and appropriate:

• land access arrangements, including land valuation and compensation for landholders

• compensation for other local residents impacted (above threshold levels) by extraction activities

• funding (derived from the fees and levies paid by CSG companies) for local councils to enable them to fund, in a transparent manner, infrastructure and repairs required as a consequence of the CSG industry.

Nor is there any adequate mention of this:

Recommendation 4

That the full cost to Government of the regulation and support of the CSG industry be covered by the fees, levies, royalties and taxes paid by industry, and an annual statement be made by Government on this matter as part of the Budget process.

In fact where the gas plan briefly speaks of royalties, it does so in terms of ensuring that these are favourable to the advancement of the commercial interests of mining companies.

As for the recommended appropriate and proportionate penalties for non-compliance, apart from one 21-word 'motherhood' sentiment, the concept of penalties is missing in action.

The Liberal-Nationals broadly-worded Gas Plan also appears to deliberately avoid this statement contained in the Chief Scientist’s Independent Review:

There is a need to understand better the nature of risk of pollution or other potential short- or long-term environmental damage from CSG and related operations, and the capacity and cost of mitigation and/or remediation and whether there are adequate financial mechanisms in place to deal with these issues. This requires an investigation of insurance and environmental risk coverage, security deposits, and the possibility of establishing an environmental rehabilitation fund. Doing this is essential to ensure that

the costs and impacts from this industry are not a burden for the community.

A promise of community consultation conducted up-front is found in the advertisement, but the Gas Plan itself is silent about how and when this will occur in any instance.

The one thing I can say with certainty about the Baird Government’s intentions towards the Northern Rivers region is that its Gas Plan is nothing more than a document without force of law. It is a public statement of intent vaguely promising a fair go, which was obviously written with the March 2015 state election in mind.

* The Daily Examiner image courtesy of Yuraygir Coast and Range Alliance