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."

Coal Seam Gas and mineral exploration are issues in the NSW state election of 28 March 2015 right across Northern Rivers catchment areas

On Twitter 10 March 2015

MEDIA RELEASE: 9^th March 2015

Licence cancellation another cynical vote grabbing exercise by NSW Government

Gasfield Free Northern Rivers have responded with ambivalence to the announcement today that a petroleum licence in the south of the region has been cancelled. Resources Minister Anthony Roberts travelled to Grafton to announce that gas company Clarence Moreton Resources had agreed to hand in PEL 478.

“This is the cancellation of a small inactive licence. The fact remains that the current Liberal-National Government is actively supporting the roll out of the CSG industry across large parts of our region,” said Gasfield Free spokesperson Elly Bird.

“This government has already renewed Metgasco’s most active CSG licence areas (PELs 13 and 16), as well as the largest licence area in the region (Igas’s PEL 445), which covers Lismore, Nimbin and Kyogle and parts of the water supply area of major towns across the region, including Ballina and Byron Bay.”

“This is a cynical and tokenistic attempt by the Liberal-National government to look like they are doing something on this issue when they could have acted decisively long ago by refusing to renew the Metgasco and Igas licences that were quietly renewed despite repeated calls from the community for their cancellation.”

“The communities of this region are not stupid and will not be deceived by this latest gimmick from the government. They are angry that our local Nationals MP’s have the audacity to repeatedly ignore the community’s wishes over many years only to mock them with token actions at election time,” she said.

MEDIA RELEASE

Janet Cavanaugh

Greens Candidate for Clarence

m. 0429 479 968; e. clarence@nsw.greens.org.au

www.nsw.greens.org.au/clarence

9 March 2015

PEL CANCELLATION TOO LITTLE TOO LATE

The Greens have criticised the Government’s announcement that two Petroleum Exploration Licences (PELs) held by Clarence Moreton Resources Pty Ltd will be cancelled.

Greens candidate for Clarence, Janet Cavanaugh said:

“Today’s announcement is too little, too late. It is merely tinkering around the edges.

“The timing is just cynical electioneering. Both PELs expired in 2012 and could have been cancelled at any time.

“I am concerned that the Government is wasting taxpayers money on this electioneering stunt. Under the Petroleum Onshore Act*, no compensation is payable for the cancellation or suspension of exploration licences.

“Why is the Government paying off their mates in the mining industry?

“There can be no basis for compensation, particularly if there has been insufficient investment in exploration works in the licence area or any other breaches of licence conditions. The Clarence Alliance Against CSG is not aware of any onground works in PEL478.

“In PEL479, there have been substantial complaints about the drilling of the Annvale Borehole in 2011,” she said.

Greens spokesperson on mining, Jeremy Buckingham MP said:

“The Greens are not impressed by the cancellation of these PELs. “We would have been more impressed if Metgasco's PEL426 had been cancelled. It expired more than 12 months ago and should also be cancelled.

“PEL426 is the PEL with the Glenugie drill site. Metgasco’s attempts to drill here were met by concerted community action and a lengthy blockade. Drilling only proceeded after the

riot squad was brought in, at great expense to taxpayers.

“The Greens are the only party to have a position of being totally opposed to all unconventional gas mining and exploration in NSW - that's coal seam gas, tight sands

gas and shale gas. It just isn't worth the risk to our land and water,” he said.

* Section 22(5) of the NSW Petroleum Onshore Act 1991 states:

“No compensation is payable by the Crown for or in respect of the cancellation of, or a suspension of operations under, a petroleum title.”

MEDIA RELEASE

Meet the Candidates at Dundurrabin

The Blicks River Guardians invite you to attend an afternoon tea with NSW election candidates at Dundurrabin Community Centre, 4pm on Sunday 15^th March.  This event, on the beautiful Dorrigo Plateau, provides a great opportunity for you to come and meet the candidates from both the Oxley and Clarence electorates.  There will be time for Q & A about the issues that are important to you and following at 6pm will be a community dinner (bring a plate to share) and a fundraiser for the Blicks River Guardians with local musician and songwriter Noam Blat.

Mineral exploration on the Dorrigo Plateau and across the New England fold belt has increased in recent years.  The Clarence catchment has a number of active exploration leases for gold, antimony and other minerals, with Anchor Resources prospecting near the Blicks River at Dundurrabin and at Wild Cattle Creek near Dorrigo.  Also on the Clarence,  Australia United Mining (Altius) is exploring for gold in the Orara Valley near Coffs Harbour.  The Hillgrove mine in the Macleay catchment has plans to reopen with a proposal for a second mine awaiting approval.  Other large gold and mineral exploration leases are active at Uralla and Armidale.

The increase in mineral exploration above coastal water catchments across our region concerns local residents.

“Some of this exploration is being supported with taxpayers money by the state government, despite the list of contamination events that have polluted regional waterways in recent decades,” said Blicks River Guardians’ spokesperson Meredith Stanton, “Major rainfall events have led to heavy metal contamination polluting the Clarence River at Timbarra in 2001, the Macleay River at Bellbrook in 2009 and at North Parkes a gold and copper mine spill killed birds in 1995.  There are many more documented examples across NSW and more than 500 derelict mine sites that companies have walked away from leaving a legacy for NSW taxpayers.”

The Blicks River Guardians consider mining to be an inappropriate land use on the Dorrigo Plateau and aim to protect our high rainfall area from future mining development.  Local communities rely heavily on tourism and the local agricultural industry.  The risks that an open cut mine would bring to our catchments are not worth the few jobs that might be available to local people if mining development were to be approved. 

BRG will be asking the NSW election candidates where they stand on mining in our water catchments.  To learn more about BRG visit www.blicksriverguardians.org.

To ask the candidates about important local issues come along to the public event at:

Dundurrabin Community Centre,  Armidale-Grafton Road,  Dundurrabin.

Date:  Sunday 15th March 2015

4 - 6pm - Meet the Candidates.  Afternoon tea provided

6 - 7pm - Dinner.  Bring a plate to share.

7 - 9pm - Music. Noam Blat 

For event information call  02 6657 8040.

BACKGROUND

http://youtu.be/WjfmKpEH0Jg

"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

That not-so-stellar progress of the Australian gas industry

The Australian 14 January 2015:

PLUNGING  prices for liquid natural gas are dashing state and federal expectations of a revenue bonanza from the country’s massive new gas projects, with at least $2 billion being stripped from tax and royalty forecasts.

The seven giant projects being built at a combined cost of about $200bn represent the largest capital investments made in ­Australia and are still expected to be financially viable.

But as prices tumble, the ­industry’s export revenue could be as much as $20bn a year lower than was expected a year ago.

The mid-year budget update released just before Christmas had factored in the oil price falling by a third, with the drop feeding through to LNG prices. The fall has surpassed 50 per cent.….

From a sovereign risk perspective, it is essential that these projects continue to be able to service the foreign debts that have largely financed their construction. Industry analysts believe the projects will still be able to cover their operating and financing costs at current prices, but they believe they would not have been built if current ­prices had prevailed when they came before boards for approval.

“If you knew then what you know now, some may not have proceeded because the rate of ­return on our estimates are below what we think is needed to justify going ahead, but when you’re half-way through the construction, you’re also half-way through the money and there’s no going back,” UBS energy analyst Nik Burns said.

The recent round of state and federal budget updates downgraded estimates of royalty and resource tax revenue from the gas industry, to reflect the weaker price outlook, but prices have fallen a lot further since budgets were ruled off before Christmas…..

For the very junior cowboys in the coal seam gas section of the industry this is not good news.

Some, like Metgasco Limited, are already facing strong headwinds and share price continues to reflect this.

Three month chart ordinary shares sold on the Australian Stock Market (ASX)

Twelve month chart ordinary shares sold on the Australian Stock Market (ASX)

Ten year monthly average ordinary shares sold on the Australian Stock Market (ASX)

The Goings On In Gloucester OR The Case Of The Coal Seam Gas Fracking Flowback Water

This little tale, told in excerpts from news articles and media releases, illustrates how changing a sum of money from a "penalty" to a "tradewaste charge" gave unpopular coal seam gas miner AGL Energy an excuse to deny that it had been involved (through its waste water treatment contractor Transpacific Industries) in dumping coal seam gas waste water into a Hunter Water Corporation sewer system.

What this change in wording did not do was stop its contractor from refusing to take any more AGL waste water from its Gloucester coal seam gas project in the foreseeable future.

Newcastle Herald 9 March 2014:

HUNTER Water has refused to dispose of waste water from AGL's Gloucester coal seam gas project because of concerns about chemical contamination.

AGL, which is yet to receive final state-government approval to frack four pilot wells, approached Hunter Water last year about transporting waste water from the site to a treatment plant.

But Hunter Water has told AGL that the waste water produced from hydraulic fracking would not meet its criteria for tankered waste water.

''Hunter Water's waste water works are designed and licensed for the treatment of human effluent,'' its letter to AGL states.

''Waste water (flow-back water) from hydraulic fracturing has the potential to adversely impact the waste water treatment process and therefore Hunter Water's ability to meet its environment protection licence conditions.''

Hunter Water's manager of government and media relations Jeremy Bath said the utility was specifically concerned about chemical additives likely to be in the waste water.

Waste water produced from coal seam gas extraction often contains a range of fracking and drilling chemicals and heavy metals including arsenic, mercury, lead and cadmium. It is also typically highly saline.

It was revealed on Saturday  that energy company Santos was fined $1500 after 

contaminated waste water  seeped  from a holding pond at its Pilliga forest project near Narrabri into an aquifer.

As a result the aquifer had increased concentrations of  lead, aluminium, arsenic, barium, boron, nickel and uranium.

An AGL spokeswoman said the company would dispose of waste water from the Gloucester project at an appropriate licensed facility, in accordance with its assessment of environmental impacts.

Gloucester Advocate 12 August 2014:

GLOUCESTER Shire Council has called on the State government to retrospectively introduce a 2km setback for coal seam gas wells in the valley following the decision to approve AGL’s Waukivory Pilot Program.

Resources Minister Anthony Roberts approved AGL’s plans to frack four coal seam gas wells at Gloucester last Wednesday, along with a renewal of AGL’s Gloucester Petroleum Exploration Licence (PEL) 285 for six years.

Council said it was ‘frustrated and angry’ the Minister had renewed the licence and approved fracking in the valley.

It called on the State to follow the science and not allow fracking until the federal government’s bioregional assessment, AGL’s numerical model to enable assessment of water impacts and council’s water study coordination report were complete.

 “Council acknowledges that the Waukivory Pilot is part of AGL’s research program, but has not been given compelling reasons as to why the test wells need to be located where now proposed,” deputy mayor Frank Hooke said.

Newcastle Herald 31 October 2014:

MIDCOAST Water "strongly oppose" AGL's plan to release recycled water from its Gloucester coal seam gas project into the area's waterways.

AGL's draft water management policy proposes releasing water used during coal seam gas drilling into nearby river systems when wet weather makes irrigation impossible.

The company said its preferred method of management is irrigation, and the discharges of desalinated water would only be made "during periods of high rainfall".

It said the water would only represent "a very small addition, less than 1 per cent, to the average annual flow of the Avon River of approximately 110,000 million litres".

But in a submission to AGL's draft water management strategy for the Gloucester gas project, Midcoast Water states it does not support the company's plans.

"We believe the proposed scheme will be very complex with a number of risks associated with its operation," general manager Robert Loadsman said.

"We strongly oppose the idea of using waterways as transportation routes for recycled water - such water has to be transported by pipelines."

MidCoast Water is also calling for a comprehensive risk assessment to be undertaken and contingency measures designed as part of any extracted water management scheme.

It said the water monitoring plan proposed by AGL was "highly inadequate".

Newcastle Herald 18 December 2014:

POTENTIALLY contaminated wastewater used to frack AGL's Gloucester coal seam gas project has been dumped unlawfully into the Hunter's sewer system by the private company hired to treat it.

Transpacific, one of the nation's largest wastewater management firms, has been fined $30,000 by Hunter Water for releasing treated "flow-back" fluid from the gas project into the region's sewer network.

It comes after AGL and Transpacific were both explicitly warned by the water regulator that releasing the flow-back fluid was a breach of its wastewater criteria.

Hunter Water asked Transpacific for a please explain after the Newcastle Herald revealed on Thursday that it was the company treating flow-back water for AGL.

Both AGL and Transpacific had refused to state what was happening to the water once it was treated, but when approached by Hunter Water, the company admitted to dumping the water into the sewer network…..

In a statement to the Herald, Hunter Water said it was "extremely disappointed" by AGL's "seeming inability to control flow-back water originating from its CSG mine".

"AGL has also previously committed to having measures in place to ensure that waste management companies would not attempt to discharge flow-back water into the Hunter Water sewer system," chief customer services officer Jeremy Bath said.

ABC News 18 December 2014:

There are renewed concerns over a coal seam gas fracking operation in the Hunter Valley, after a contractor was fined for dumping wastewater into Newcastle's sewer system.

AGL recently completed fracking at four CSG test wells just outside Gloucester, but has been vague on the detail of what would happen to the flow-back water from the operation.

Hunter Water says in October it refused an application from waste contractor, Transpacific to discharge treated flow-back water from the AGL site.

But it says it recently became aware that Transpacific had discharged a prohibited substance into the sewer system from its treatment site on Newcastle's Kooragang Island.

The company has since been penalised $30,000 and warned that any further breaches would result in the termination of its commercial agreement with Hunter Water.

Community group, Groundswell Gloucester says it is outrageous and AGL's licence should be suspended.

  

AGL 19 December 2014:

At our Gloucester Gas Project, as with all our operations, AGL's Upstream Gas team places the highest priority on meeting our environmental and community engagement obligations. 

So, it was deeply disappointing to read the Newcastle Herald's report yesterday (19 December) which wrongly claimed that "fracking wastewater" was being "dumped" in Hunter Water's sewers.

The story went on to claim this was being done 'unlawfully' and that our trade waste contractor Transpacific had been "fined" $30,000.

These incorrect claims unfortunately have caused concern and once again our project, where we are meeting the highest environmental and regulatory standards, has been tarred by misinformation.

Not one drop of untreated flowback water has gone to Hunter Water from the recent operations at Gloucester by AGL or our contractor, Transpacific, as far as AGL is aware. 

AGL 5 January 2015:

Recently you may have seen news reports raising concerns about AGL Energy Limited's (AGL) arrangements for the proper disposal of flowback water from our Waukivory Pilot at the Gloucester Gas Project.

We understand your concern for the safety of local water resources and we take our responsibility to protect water very seriously. So, please allow me a few moments of your time to set the record straight.

The water in question, 'flowback' water, is retrieved from a gas well after being used in the hydraulic fracturing of a coal seam. It is mostly water, with some sand and very small amounts of highly diluted additives from our hydraulic fracturing fluid. The quality of this water is monitored frequently and the monitoring results are reported to the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and published on our website.

AGL is required to transport this flowback water to an appropriately licensed facility. After reviewing our options, AGL engaged Transpacific to lawfully treat and dispose of this water under its licence with the EPA for wastewater treatment and disposal.

The Transpacific facility is the closest wastewater treatment provider to the Waukivory Pilot, which means that traffic movements and distances are minimised.

As far as AGL is aware, there is no justification for claims that AGL's flowback water was inappropriately disposed of and we are now providing details of these arrangements to the EPA for review.

It's also important to understand that there was no "$30,000 fine" involved. It is our understanding that Transpacific was being levied a trade waste charge under the normal terms of its trade wastewater agreement with Hunter Water.

Transpacific has advised us that it has suspended taking our flowback water while it is clarifying operational issues with Hunter Water. We have engaged Worth Recycling, a Sydney-based resource recovery and waste treatment company. Worth Recycling, which has Environment Protection Licences with the EPA, will transport and treat AGL's water and then recycle it for industrial purposes.

I would like to assure you that at no stage has flowback water been "dumped" into the Hunter Water sewerage system. Rather, it has been treated at a facility licensed by the EPA, and as far as AGL is aware, lawfully disposed of.

Finally, I assure you that all of our actions in relation to the Waukivory Pilot Program have been, and will continue to be, undertaken in accordance with our approvals and with the highest respect for the community and the environment. For further information please visit our online community, www.yoursayagl.com.au.

Newcastle Herald 5 January 2015:

In a full-page advertisement in today's Herald, AGL states there was no $30,000 fine issued.

In its initial statement to the Herald, Hunter Water said it had issued a $30,000 ''penalty'' and then re-worded that to call it a ''tradewaste charge''.

ABC News 8 January 2014:

Hunter Water imposed a $30,000 charge on AGL's contractor Transpacific for accepting the wastewater from the four CSG test wells without its approval.

Transpacific has been warned that any further breaches would result in the termination of its commercial agreement with Hunter Water.

According to the NSW Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), Transpacific Industries Pty Ltd was issued with four penalty notices in 2014 for contravention of licence conditions at its Homebush NSW liquid treatment plant and, in 2013 AGL Upstream Investments Pty Limited was issued with three penalty notices for contravention of licence conditions at its Menangle NSW gas plant.

One suspects that the EPA may become rather interested in the goings on in Gloucester in the coming year.

Many Northern Rivers residents are watching AGL Energy with interest - seeing its inability to effectively deal with pollution risks as a problem Metgasco Limited would also fail to deal with should the Baird Government allow it to continue exploration and/or grant it a production licence on the NSW North Coast.

Clarence Valley Council calls for NSW Government to revoke all coal seam gas exploration licences in the Clarence Valley

From Clarence Valley Council ordinary monthly meeting minutes of 9 December 2014:

So what has former Howard Government Minister Peter Reith been doing since he was exposed as lobbyist for the gas industry

When No Fibs reported this on 1 November 2013 it probably surprised very few people:

It was interesting to see the opinion piece written by Peter Reith for The Drum – Fracking scare campaigns threaten our prosperity – especially considering Reith is a paid political lobbyist and chairman of the Victorian Government’s task force on the eastern gas market.

“The public debate is soon mired in myriad false claims, partly because government has not ensured the public is fairly informed and because some activists have other political agendas,” writes Reith.

To ensure that the public is fairly informed, and agendas and vested interests are properly tabled, it should be noted that Peter Reith is a lobbyist for First State Advisors and Consultants Pty Ltd.

Who does First State Advisers lobby for?           

A full list of Reith’s clients is published on the government website.

Two major players in the coal seam gas industry are Reith’s clients: Thiess and the NSW Aboriginal Land Council.

Thiess has won a $1.8 billion contract from CSG producer QGC for the construction of gas compression facilities in Queensland’s Surat Basin.

Another of Reith’s lobbying clients, the NSW Aboriginal Land Council has applied to explore for coal seam gas beneath 40 per cent of the state, sparking outrage from indigenous and non-indigenous people alike….

It made the Gas Market Task Force final report predictable in its pro-unconventional gas conclusion:

Overall, the Taskforce considers that governments and industry should take collective action and adopt a greater sense of urgency to ensure the eastern gas market can adapt and take advantage of the significant structural changes occurring.

The focus of the Taskforce’s proposals for immediate action include facilitating new gas supplies and making the most of the sizeable gas resources available in eastern Australia. The Taskforce also supports a greater coordinated effort to implement existing national gas market reforms.

Potentially, a more ambitious package of integrated gas market reforms with the objective of increasing competition, liquidity and transparency in the eastern market could build on the existing national gas market reforms, but this requires more work and rigorous cost benefit analysis.

Finally, as unconventional gas makes an increasingly significant contribution to eastern market gas supply, strong leadership and community engagement is required. This will help to build confidence in the gas industry, which is becoming a leading national economic opportunity for Australia over the coming decades.

So what has Peter Keaston Reith arch-lobbyist been up to since then?

Well, he appears to no longer be a listed special counsel for First State Advisors and Consultants at federal or states level.

However, he remains a lobbyist for Bechtel Management Company Ltd, a company which has been on his client list at least since the time he headed the Victorian task force.

Bechtel Management Company Ltd is a civil engineering/construction subsidiary of the Bechtel Corporation which has coal, oil and gas projects around the world. Including in the Pilbara region of West Australia and the Gladstone region in Queensland. 

The parent company claims its Curtis Island LNG project off the Gladstone coast; represents the greatest concentration of Bechtel projects anywhere in the world.

In its 2012 annual report Bechtel explained that; On Curtis Island, in eastern Australia, we are building three world-scale plants to process the region’s vast coal seam gas reserves.

Bechtel Corporation though the Bechtel Power Corporation is also a member of the UK Nuclear Industry Association.

Reith continues to talk up ‘natural’ gas and remains misleading about his relationship with the industry, as his 25 February 2015 article in The Sydney Morning Herald reveals:

I became interested in natural gas at the request of the Victorian government, which was concerned at the impact of gas sales to China and its implications for the eastern Australia gas market. The massive developments in Queensland are already imposing transitional effects. There is a real prospect Sydney could suffer gas shortages causing major dislocation to business. Gas prices are already rising and it could take at least three years to supply additional gas to Sydney if everything goes well and if the government holds its nerve.

So who really owns coal seam gas exploration tenement PEL 445 recently renewed by the NSW Baird Government in the face of regional opposition?

Dart Energy (Bruxner) Pty Ltd registered in Brisbane, Queensland, in February 2013 has successfully applied to have its coal seam gas exploration licence PEL 445 renewed for a further six years by the NSW Coalition Government.

On 4 December 2014 the Minister for Resources and Energy Anthony Roberts cited the company’s financial and technical capacity, good record of environmental management and rehabilitation as reasons underpinning this renewal.

According to the minister; Dart Energy is only permitted to undertake low impact exploration activities including data review, mapping and technical evaluation. Any other activities require further approvals and are subject to the Government’s strict new conditions and regulations.

As required by legislation the company had to relinquish 25 per cent of its original tenement (choosing sections which contained no identified commercially viable gas deposits) when applying for the licence renewal and this is the amended 5,868 sq km exploration lease:

The Dart Energy group was spun off from Arrow Energy Pty Ltd in 2010, when that company was taken over by Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina. Most of Dart Energy’s current management team was originally with Arrow Energy.

Dart Energy acquired PEL 445 then covering approximately 7,100 sq km centred about 39 km WNW of Lismore (containing 15 wells) from Arrow Energy in 2013.

On 12 May 2014 The Sydney Morning Herald reported:

Dart Energy has abandoned hopes of emerging as a global player in non-conventional gas, agreeing to a scrip merger from a UK operator that will see it dump all its non-UK assets.

Dart has agreed to merge with IGas Energy, which is listed on London's secondary AIM market, via a scheme of arrangement.

Dart shareholders will receive 0.08117 IGas shares for each Dart share held, which values Dart shares at just 18.98¢ and the entire company at $211.5 million.

Dart shares last traded at 12.5¢, a far cry from their levels above $1 three and four years ago.

Agreeing to the merger will see longstanding Dart shareholders lose out following a series of changes of strategy as the group has floundered in recent years.

Its most recent raising of $20.7 million at 9¢ will see shareholders who took up that offer last September come out in front, although its 2011 raising of $100 million at 75¢ a share has left shareholders with bruising losses.

Soul Pattinson's New Hope Corp has a 16.3 per cent stake in Dart and has backed the merger proposal in the absence of a rival offer emerging, as have shareholders with a further 14 per cent of Dart's capital.

Dart has sought to undertake a series of changes over the past few years to put its operations on a viable footing, which included listing offshore assets in Singapore and, after that failed, seeking a listing in London, which now has been abandoned.

Dart was spun out from Arrow Energy in 2010, when Arrow was bought by Shell. Dart took the offshore assets of Arrow, which it bolstered by acquiring Apollo Gas, giving it a suite of domestic assets. But the company has struggled, making limited progress in developing its extensive asset portfolio despite high gas prices.

It recently booked $43.5 million of impairment charges, mostly relating to the writing down of assets in NSW and the UK. It also has sold some offshore assets, such as in India.

In October 2014 IGas Energy announced:

As part of the October 2014 acquisition of Dart Energy, the Group holds a number of Coal Bed Methane (CBM) exploration licences across Australia, Indonesia, India and Germany.

IGas will continue to progress Dart’s previously announced divestment plan. IGas will Operate non UK assets where it is contractually obliged to do so…..

In Australia we hold our licences under a care and maintenance basis.

We currently hold seven petroleum exploration licences all located in the state of New South Wales.

PEL 445 is one of those exploration licences.

IGas Energy Plc is a leading British oil and gas explorer and developer, producing approximately 3,000 barrels of oil and gas a day from over 100 sites across the U.K. IGas assets are predominantly 100% owned and operated by this corporation

The only reasonable conclusion to be drawn from the NSW Baird Government’s renewal of the exploration title PEL 445, is that the application made through IGas subsidiary Dart Energy (Bruxner) Pty Ltd sought to increase the value of this asset ahead of any sell-on of the title.

Therefore, the assurances given by the NSW Minister for Resources and Energy as to the character of the nominal owner of PEL 445 are as ephemeral as a burning sheet of paper.

Gasfield Free Northern Rivers has echoed the sentiments of many communities across the Northern Rivers, from the NSW-QLD border down to the Clarence Valley:

Gasfield Free Northern Rivers has welcomed Dart’s surrender of twenty five per cent of PEL 445, which it says ‘covers the Ballina electorate’.

But it describes the move as, ‘only a small step in protecting our area from the practice of invasive and dangerous unconventional gas extraction’.

‘This is only a part relinquishment and a very large area of PEL445 and the rest of the Northern Rivers remains open to unconventional gas exploration and fracking,’ said Gasfield Free spokesperson Dean Draper

‘It’s crucial our region’s water supplies and our agriculture and tourism industries are protected. Our community is calling for a full cancellation of the entire PEL 445 and all of the petroleum Exploration Licenses in the northern rivers.’

‘We need to have certainty in protection, until all of the licenses are cancelled the future of our regions clean and green image remains at risk.’ he said

‘It seems this announcement by minister Roberts is motivated by the fact that the Ballina electorate is considered a vulnerable seat by the NSW government in the lead-up to the NSW election.

‘However, the impacts of invasive gasfields stretch across electorate boundaries, and our community will not rest until the entire northern rivers receives the protection it deserves.’ Mr Draper said.

In which Labor's Walt Secord and The Greens' Jeremy Buckingham nail NSW Nationals' hypocrisy in relation to coal seam and other unconventional gas exploration and mining in the state

The NSW Legislative Council Hansard recorded a seconding reading debate on the Petroleum (Onshore) Amendment (NSW Gas Plan) Bill 2014 which began at 12.50am and ended just before 2am on 19 November 2014.

Here are excerpts from that debate:

The Hon. WALT SECORD  [1.24 a.m.]: As the shadow Minister for the North Coast I speak on the Petroleum (Onshore) Amendment (NSW Gas Plan) Bill 2014. My observations on the bill will centre on North Coast issues. On Thursday 13 November at 10.05 a.m., without warning, the Liberal-Nationals Government introduced this bill in the Legislative Assembly. For a start, the title of the bill is a complete and absolute deception. The bill does not abolish current coal seam gas [CSG] and unconventional gas production licences currently in operation and it does not protect the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales. Furthermore, the Liberal-Nationals Government has put on the table the possibility of reopening the special area of the Sydney water catchment for CSG operations. 

If the purpose of the bill's title is to convey the Government's intention at law, then the bill should have been called the "Unlock the gate and roll out the red carpet for Metgasco on the North Coast after March 2015 bill". That is because that is the intention of this bill. It will allow CSG and unconventional gas exploration to return on steroids on the North Coast after the March 2015 State election. The bill provides no guarantee to the communities of New South Wales, particularly those on the Northern Rivers, that have made their views abundantly clear. But that is no surprise. The Liberal-Nationals Government has already flagged that it will back big corporations over the people of New South Wales every time.

That is why Labor will be moving a number of amendments to the bill to bring it into line with Labor's policy, announced by Opposition leader John Robertson on 29 October. Our amendments will ban coal seam gas from the special areas of Sydney water catchment and from the Northern Rivers, encompassing the local government areas of Ballina shire, Byron shire, Kyogle shire, Lismore city, Tweed shire, Richmond Valley and Clarence Valley……

If the Liberals and The Nationals were interested in responding to community concerns they would have proceeded with a second reading speech by the Minister and then adjourned the bill, allowing the Opposition and crossbenchers to consider it. But their motivation is simple. If the North Coast community had time to consider the bill they would find it lacking in any detail and teeth, and they would see that it was an attempt to dupe them. But what is even more shameful is that not a single member of The Nationals spoke on the bill. I say that again: not a single Nationals member of Parliament spoke on the bill. That is a big betrayal of their electorates—not a word from the member for Tweed, not a word from the member for Ballina, not a word from the member for Lismore, and not a word from the member for Clarence. And out of left field, on 14 November the member for Tamworth popped up in his local media and said he wants to protect the Liverpool Plains. After months of absolute silence, he enters the fray. It was like a scene out of Muriel's Wedding: "Deidre Chambers, what are you doing here? What a coincidence!" It is no wonder that the local community have dubbed The Nationals "Team Metgasco"……        

Mr JEREMY BUCKINGHAM [1.03 a.m.]: I contribute to debate on the Petroleum (Onshore) Amendment (NSW Gas Plan) Bill 2014. What a long and winding road it has been to get to this wafer-thin bill. After nearly five years of policy development, promises, posturing and touting their wares across the countryside the Government came up with a Petroleum (Onshore) Amendment (NSW Gas Plan) Bill that is nothing of the sort. There is no gas plan in this bill; there is no response to the Chief Scientist in this bill. This bill is a thin veneer of the Government's plan to sneak coal seam gas through the next election and launch it onto the countryside. This is more spin, more carpet-bagging, from a government that the people of New South Wales do not trust. 

The Hon. Duncan Gay: Take your koala suit off.

Mr JEREMY BUCKINGHAM: It did not take long to get a rise out of you. The Strategic Regional Land Use plan failed, the Aquifer Interference Policy failed, and the people of New South Wales do not believe a single word those opposite say on this issue. Not even the Government's backbenchers, parliamentary Secretaries or Ministers believe a single word Minister Gay says.

The Hon. Matthew Mason-Cox: Point of order: The member should direct his comments through the Chair and should stop pointing at people across the table. He should take a moment to take a deep breath, relax and be calm.

DEPUTY-PRESIDENT (The Hon. Natasha Maclaren-Jones): Order! The Minister was referring to relevancy. There is no point of order.

Mr JEREMY BUCKINGHAM: We are debating the Petroleum (Onshore) Amendment (NSW Gas Plan) Bill. Where did this bill start? It started with the Hon. Chris Hartcher introducing an onshore petroleum bill back in May 2013. Do members remember him introducing that bill and saying ad nauseam, "These are the toughest rules in Australia"? He went on to say, "These are the toughest rules in the world". What a joke that is! We heard announcement after announcement after announcement and that bill, which passed the Legislative Assembly on 28 May 2013, then disappeared; it was pulled off the Notice Paper on 10 September this year. It died an inglorious death; slowly and quietly culled—euthanased—because it was an absolutely pathetic bill that did nothing to placate the people of New South Wales who have concerns about coal seam gas.

The Hon. Steve Whan said this bill is not very broad. I have seen needles with more breadth and depth than this bill. Talk about pinpoint legislation—it is pathetic. The Government is expunging a handful of titles—and it very nearly could not bring itself to do that—when the people of New South Wales wanted substantive action in this area. They wanted, as the Government promised, areas ruled out of coal seam gas activity. We got some very sensible recommendations from the Chief Scientist that should be applied to extractive industries across the State.

The Hon. Duncan Gay: We're going to do the whole lot.

Mr JEREMY BUCKINGHAM: No you're not. There were dozens of pages in the Chief Scientist's report—I read them—and the Bret Walker report, but did their recommendations turn up in the gas plan? No they did not. Some key things are missing from the gas plan. One of the most important things missing is the recommendations of Bret Walker, SC: The rights of farmers, the rights of communities, to be empowered in arbitration and land access. It says in the Government's response to the review in the most Yes Minister type language I have ever seen:

On 15 April 2014, the NSW Government commissioned Mr Bret Walker SC to undertake an independent review of the land access arbitration processes relating to exploration under the Mining Act 1992 and the Petroleum (Onshore) Act 1991.

The Walker Report … made 31 recommendations to improve the arbitration land access framework. The NSW government has endorsed all the recommendations in the Walker Report relating to the current arbitration framework and committed to a process of implementation commencing immediately where possible."

The Government is committed to a process of implementation commencing immediately, where possible. What an absolute joke! This Government is a farce. No-one trusts this Government and no-one believes this Government. The gas plan is an absolute joke. It is just a blueprint to turn a beautiful State into a toxic gas field. No-one believes this Government.

Do Government members know who does not believe this Government, in particular? The Minister for Mental Health, and the Assistant Minister for Health and member for Wollondilly, Jai Rowell, Gareth Ward, Lee Evans, Mark Speakman, Mark Coure, Stuart Ayres, Chris Patterson, Brian Doyle, Russell Matheson, Rosa Sage, Barry O'Farrell, Don Page, Kevin Anderson, Thomas George, Chris Gulaptis and whoever the Coalition has running as a candidate in Ballina. They all rushed out within 24 to 48 hours of the announcement to state on the public record, "We're banning it. We're banning it." They knew what the community's interpretation of the NSW Gas Plan was. 

It is a carpetbagging exercise by snake oil salesmen who have come into New South Wales communities to sell them a story that New South Wales is running out of gas and this State must have coal seam gas. How many Holdens does New South Wales produce and how many mangoes? Are we completely self-sufficient concerning mangoes? Do we have to have a mangoes industry? We are a federation, a commonwealth, and this issue should be dealt with at the Council of Australian Governments [COAG], not through some carpetbagging exercise by the New South Wales Government. In the context of the most outrageous, erroneous and egregious untruths, I will refer to the Minister's second reading speech, which states:

For example, we appointed a New South Wales Land and Water Commissioner to provide independent advice to the community about exploration activities.

When referring to the framework for community engagement, the Minister stated:

We have also established the Gloucester Dialogue, chaired by the Land and Water Commissioner. The Gloucester Dialogue brings together community, industry and local and State governments to explore issues surrounding the exploration and extraction of coal seam gas in the Gloucester Basin.

This is this the first time in New South Wales this type of dialogue has occurred. Through the dialogue there is regular contact between senior departmental officers and Gloucester Shire Council. Any topic is up for discussion. A community liaison officer from my department operates out of the council chambers two to three days a week. The tenth dialogue meeting was held last Thursday. I commend the Gloucester Shire Council, particularly the mayor, Councillor John Rosenbaum …

Through the dialogue the community has access to all materials relevant to licensing decisions and approvals about AGL's Gloucester gas project.

That is unadulterated rubbish from the Minister because in that very week the man who had the idea for the Gloucester Dialogue, Aled Hoggett—a former councillor of the Gloucester Shire Council—resigned from the Gloucester Dialogue. He did that in the very week when the Minister was spruiking it as the way forward for engagement and the way to sell the Government's gas plan. Aled Hoggett stated in his letter of resignation, "The dialogue was initiated at my suggestion in February this year."…..

Mr JEREMY BUCKINGHAM: Thank you, Madam Deputy-President. "The dialogue was initiated at my suggestion in February this year", Mr Aled Hoggett stated in his letter of resignation from the Gloucester Dialogue to which the Minister referred in his second reading speech. "I hope that Mr Roberts' current assertions would become reality, that we could find a new path to coexistence between coal and gas projects in local communities. Instead I resigned my position on the dialogue early this month. In my opinion, the dialogue has failed and has become an overbearing monologue directed at our tiny and underresourced council. It is being managed to satisfy the requirements for consultation while delivering no such thing. More fundamentally, the dialogue cannot address three major problems in the New South Wales planning system that undermine coexistence between rural communities and the coal and gas industries. The first problem is that the New South Wales planning system disempowers local communities."

Mr Hoggett went on. He resigned from the committee that was his idea and that the Government enshrined in the heart of the Government's NSW Gas Plan because it is a farce—like the rest of the Government's plan. The gas plan is based on a false assumption around economics and on a belief that the Government can say just anything to the community and get away with it. I will read onto the record what Mr Jai Rowell declared in the Wollondilly Advertiser to his community in relation to the announcement of the gas plan: "'It ain't happening, it's over, we won', Wollondilly MP Jai Rowell declared last week", after the gas plan was released. Yet the gas plan refers to the very fact that the AGL gas development in Camden will remain an integral part, in the Government's opinion, of gas delivery in New South Wales. That completely contradicts what Mr Jai Rowell said—"It ain't happening, it's over, we won"; there will be no coal seam gas in Wollondilly. The community is not stupid.

The Hon. Matthew Mason-Cox: It is in Camden. It is not in Wollondilly, mate.

Mr JEREMY BUCKINGHAM: I acknowledge the interjection. The expansion plans of AGL are clearly into the Camden electorate. The member for Camden knows it. The community knows it and they are not being sold a pup on that one. Another very important element of the recommendations made by the Chief Scientist and Engineer that did not make it into the Government's NSW Gas Plan. It should serve as a warning to all people in New South Wales that the Chief Scientist and Engineer concluded her report with these words:

There are no guarantees
· All industries have risks and, like any other, it is inevitable that the CSG industry will have some unintended consequences, including as the result of accidents, human error, and natural disasters. Industry, Government and the community need to work together to plan adequately to mitigate such risks, and be prepared to respond to problems if they occur.

They are wise words by any measure in regard to risk management. How did the Chief Scientist and Engineer suggest that those risks be managed? By Recommendation 9, which states:

Recommendation 9
That Government consider a robust and comprehensive policy of appropriate insurance and environmental risk coverage of the CSG industry to ensure financial protection short and long term. Government should examine the potential adoption of a three-layered policy of security deposits, enhanced insurance coverage, and an environmental rehabilitation fund.
That is a very sensible recommendation. It is something that I would recommend in relation to any extractive industry, in all industries and most undertakings…..

Mr JEREMY BUCKINGHAM: Clearly, there is enormous concern in the community. Does the recommendation to which I have referred turn up in the gas plan bill? No. What we have from this Government is a suggestion that all this will be done after the election—just like after the 2011 State election the Government had strategic regional land use plans that covered the State and protected areas, such as water catchments—"no ifs, no buts, a guarantee". Where did that go? It went the way of the premiership of the Hon. Barry O'Farrell. Those promises were not kept and people will hold this Government to account on its word. People do not believe for one instant that this promise from the Government will be kept. That is clear from the words of Mr Kevin Anderson who, straightaway after the announcement of the gas plan, rushed out to say that he wants the Liverpool Plains to be protected. Other members on the North Coast have said that they want those areas protected. I join them in saying that those areas should be protected. This coal seam gas industry is unnecessary. As the Chief Scientist said, it has major issues in terms of risk.

The Government may argue that it did not have time to do this. Why has it not implemented the recommendations of the Bret Walker review? I would like to hear from the Minister in his reply why the recommendations have not been implemented. There is a massive configuration in the community about land access and arbitration. The Government commissioned one of the best legal minds in the nation to deal with the issue, and he made fantastic recommendations about how to deal with it. The recommendations are widely supported by the environment movement, people in social justice, the legal fraternity and all sides of politics. Yet the Government has not moved. That shows that the Government is not serious and cannot be trusted on the recommendations of the Chief Scientist; otherwise some of the low-hanging fruit in the recommendations would have turned up in this wafer-thin petroleum bill. All the bill does is set out to cancel or expunge—

Mr Scot MacDonald: Finally we can talk about the bill.

Mr JEREMY BUCKINGHAM: I will cover the whole bill in my remaining two minutes. The Government will expunge a number of petroleum title applications, which simply could have been rejected. Will the Government cancel the petroleum exploration licences [PELS] that are up for renewal? As promised, will it protect areas such as water catchments? No, it will not. With this bill, the Government thinks it can erect a thin veil and hide behind it and sneak through to the next election. However, the electors of Lismore, Ballina, Tamworth and Barwon do not want to be guinea pigs in the Government's toxic coal seam gas experiment. They understand that we are a country rich in natural resources. Former Federal Labor and Coalition governments have signed up to a massive export of LNG without proper socio-economic analysis. 

There is a parliamentary inquiry into gas supply and demand. I look forward to that inquiry. We have seen some of the submissions to the lower House inquiry from companies such as Jemena, which say there is no gas supply crisis, there is lots of gas in Bass Strait from conventional sources and all it needs to do is build a pipeline. There are other suggestions for pipelines, et cetera. The Greens are not opposed to fossil fuels…..