Yes, Virginia, methane and other pollutants do enter water supplies as a result of drilling gas wells

Wall Street Journal 28 August 2014:

Records on the 243 U.S. cases can be found here.

This is a  specific instance where the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection sets out the risks of beyond saturation-level methane contamination to one household:

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection sets out the risks of methane contamination to one hous... by clarencegirl

Even without the risk of serious water contamination, it is obvious that Australian authorities recognize that coal seam/tight/natural gas mining/production poses risks to nearby residential properties, because emergency services were called out at the beginning to the week to attend what was obviously the emergency venting of explosive gases from a coal seam gas well at the AGL Camden Gas Project 144 well field in the immediate vicinity of a housing estate.

Watching the weather with bated breath......

Photograph: Queensland Country Life 24 January 2014

The Sydney Morning Herald 17 June 2014:

The world’s meteorologists and climate experts are watching closely for another burst of westerly winds across the Pacific that could trigger the first El Nino weather pattern since 2009-2010.

“Basically it is primed for a strong El Nino, but it needs the final push,” said Axel Timmermann, the professor of oceanography at the international Pacific research centre, University of Hawaii. “This is perhaps the most-watched El Nino of all time.”

The weather watch comes as winter remains largely at bay for much of Australia. Sydney and Melbourne broke heat records during autumn and maximums in both cities have been about 2-3 degrees above average for June.

This week, Sydney can expect tops most days of 20-22 degrees, or about 3-5 degrees above normal, while Melbourne's maximums will be 1-2 degrees above the June average of 14 degrees, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

An El Nino could make this year another warm one for Australia. Last year was the country's warmest in more than a century of records.

El Ninos form when waters in the eastern Pacific turn unusually warm compared with the west, stalling or reversing the easterly trade winds. The pattern is a major driver of the world’s climate and can trigger droughts and bushfires in Australia and east Asia, while bringing heavy rains to countries bordering the eastern Pacific……

National Climate Centre Drought Statement 4 June 2014

The Guardian discovers the Battle for Bentley

The Guardian 10 April 2014:

Bentley farmers who support the movement against mining, from left, Robert Lowrey, Peter Neilson, Colin Thomas and Charles Wilkinson. Photograph: David Lowe

There is a strange political alliance building in this country, one that governments and major parties will do well to consider.

It is the alliance between farmers and the environmental movement on land use issues around coal seam gas and mining.

It has the capacity to change the political landscape in rural Australia and leave a scar as gaping as an open-cut mine on the (predominant) Coalition support.

In rural towns, farmers are joining fellow community members, environmentalists and, yes, the hippy fringe to stop developments of coal and unconventional gas extraction in their neighbourhood. The hot spots are around Bentley, the Pilliga, Gloucester in New South Wales and the Coonawarra in South Australia.

It has become clear the opposition is not coming just from a tie-dyed fringe but also includes very conservative people who do not join the political fray easily. Farmers are now chaining themselves to mining equipment to make their point, a tactic associated by farmers in the past with the “feral” end of the green movement....

Consider the story of one farmer, one of many, who has decided to speak out. Robert Lowrey lives at Bentley in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, upstream of Metgasco’s gas exploration on a farm belonging to a near neighbour Peter Graham, a former Lismore councillor and National party member.

Lowrey’s father, the elegantly-named Dunbar Lowrey, was chairman of the Bentley National party branch. Robert Lowrey and his wife, Nanette, have the family farm that transitioned from dairy to cattle during deregulation. He describes the farming community around the town as extreme conservatives, “old school” farmers who are reluctant to take a stand.

Yet he has joined up with a friend and fellow farmer Tony Davis to write a letter to the local paper. Davis initially agreed to have a test well on his place, based on Metgasco’s claim the gas would be used for a power plant for Casino. However, once he discovered larger plans, including plans for export, he backed out…..

“When we first heard about the gas, it was about a few wells, a power station for Casino and long-term jobs,” the letter says. “Some of us accepted, even welcomed, test wells on our properties.

“Now we hear about hundreds of wells, pipelines over the ranges, fracking, suspicious chemicals ruined farms, polluted waters and valleys destroyed. Could our valley end up looking like an industrial wasteland? This makes us worry about a lot of things.

“We are worried about the Graham family. They have been our fellow farmers, workmates and friends for decades. Their farm may be the centre of the dispute, but it could easily be one of ours. They need our support, they do not deserve abuse.

“The drilling must stop, the risks are too great. We only have one chance and, if it goes wrong, it is our children, not the mining company, who will bear the consequences.”

Lowrey’s argument is there is no need for gas in the region, given the area’s “good fortune” that provides an environment for clean food production and tourism. Gas extraction development will be such a shame, he says, especially given the Northern Co-operative Meat Company has just started certifying grass-fed beef and the company is “just 10 miles away from the dirty thing”. The closest large town to Bentley is Casino, which markets itself as the beef capital of Australia…..

In some ways the anti-mining campaign has the hallmarks of any big power battle. Governments and large companies came into small communities offering jobs and riches. Football teams were sponsored. Social compacts were made. Then when resistance was met, they tried shouting, which only made things worse. Lowrey says former New South Wales Liberal minister Chris Hartcher came to town for a public meeting.

“Chris Hartcher told us we were anarchists trying to wreck the state’s economy,” Lowrey says. “Nanette was angry. I would just say this household’s personal response is we have been contributing to the economy for 150 years.

“We don’t consider ourselves an elite group. We are just here doing what we set out to do over 100 years ago.”

Just this week, another New South Wales government representative came to town to test farmers’ knowledge, to check they were not reading silly fear mongering on social media.

“I don’t even know how to turn a computer on,” Lowrey says. “I can read Joseph Conrad but not a computer manual. I assured them I was not swayed by social media.”….

The kicker in the story is what this episode has done to political support. Of the farmers and smaller block owners I’ve spoken to, all were National party voters. All say they will be looking to shift their vote elsewhere. They feel like they have been betrayed after many years of support. Lowrey’s response is typical. His father was proud to have a visit from National party leader Sir Earle Page in his little Bentley branch. Now the son has forsaken the party. All parties.

“The political process is being broken down by nepotism and other interests able to bring to bear power through lobbyists, large amounts of money and very persuasive argument,” he says. “As our system becomes more dependent on money, it becomes vulnerable.

“I am sick of parliamentarians taking material they had access to as ministers and peddling it, taking up positions in industry.”

He names former Labor federal resources minister Martin Ferguson, now a director of British Gas, and former National party leaders John Anderson, a former chairman of Eastern Star Gas, and Mark Vaile, who is on the board of Whitehaven Coal.

“It’s moving people away from conservative ordinary politics and interest in National party [here] is waning,” said Lowrey. “People are weighing up alternative parties. Some, quite a few, are going to the Greens.”

They may not move their vote. As a National party MP said to farmers in the Pilliga: “Who else are you going to vote for?” But what is clear from this debate is it will not get easier for governments or mining companies.

For there is nothing so stubborn as a farmer.

A Northern Rivers' water authority does not want Metgasco & Dart gas exploration in areas it intends to source future water supplies

Echo NetDaily 25 March 2014:

Rous Water has called on the state government to prevent gas exploration in areas it is planning to explore for underground water sources.

The county council, which supplies Lismore, Ballina, Richmond Valley and Byron LGAs, has identified subterranean water in its future water strategy as the best and most cost-effective source to meet its increased needs in the coming decades.

But the recent pollution of aquifers in the Pilliga by Santos mining with uranium and a number of heavy metals has triggered serious concerns among the board at the prospect of something similar happening in the northern rivers.

At its most recent board meeting Rous Water unanimously passed a motion that the NSW government and all the relevant state members of parliament be informed of the specific areas Rous Water has identified as potential future water sources for region.

‘The motion requested that the government not approve any exploratory or production gas wells in the vicinity of those areas under investigation until such time as Rous Water’s future water strategy is fully determined,’ said one board member, Lismore councillor Simon Clough.

There are two petroleum exploration licences (PELs) – 16 (Metgasco) and 445 (Dart) – where drilling activity could adversely affect Rous’s future water strategy…

Read rest of article here.

Looking back at a time when the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association sometimes told the unvarnished truth

A time when the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) was honest with the people of New South Wales:

3 August 2011

Coal seam damage to water inevitable

Ben Cubby

THE coal seam gas industry has conceded that extraction will inevitably contaminate aquifers.

The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association told a fiery public meeting in Sydney that good management could minimise the risks of water contamination, but never eliminate them.

"Drilling will, to varying degrees, impact on adjoining aquifers," said the spokesman, Ross Dunn. "The extent of impact and whether the impact can be managed is the question."

The admissions came before the start of the first public hearing in NSW, held in Narrabri, of a Senate inquiry into the effects of coal seam gas mining.

The hearing was told that many farmers in northern and western NSW were angry about proposals to extract coal seam gas from their land, and some planned to join a mass campaign to lock their gates in the face of resources companies...

"The intent of saying that is to make it clear that we have never shied away from the fact that there will be impacts on aquifers," Mr Dunn said.

"I'm wanting to ensure that we are not seen as saying there won't be any impacts during the process. It is a matter of monitoring and managing those impacts."...

Of course, immediately after the publication of this article APPEA denied the published quotes of its spokesperson.

However, on 7 March 2014 The Sydney Morning Herald published an article which supported APPEA's original statements:

A coal seam gas project operated by energy company Santos in north-western NSW has contaminated a nearby aquifer, with uranium at levels 20 times higher than safe drinking water guidelines, an official investigation has found.

It is the first confirmation of aquifer contamination associated with coal seam gas activity in Australia - a blow to an industry pushing state and federal governments for permission to expand.

Santos was fined $1500 by the NSW Environment Protection Authority, which posted a media release on its website on February 18, without identifying the nature of the contamination.

Two days later, Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner signed a memorandum of understanding with Santos to speed up the project, in the Pilliga forest near Narrabri, guaranteeing a decision on its future by January 23 next year.

The EPA says it launched an investigation after routine testing in March last year by Santos of groundwater around the project - which remains in the test well stage - detected ''elevated levels of total dissolved solids and slightly elevated levels of other elements''.

The investigation concluded there was no evidence contractors engaged by the previous owner of the project, Eastern Star Gas, followed strict rules when building a pond to hold waste water and brine produced when gas is extracted. The investigation concluded the pond liner was of ''poor quality, which resulted in the integrity of the liner being questionable''.

On Friday, EPA chief environmental regulator Mark Gifford confirmed the contamination was caused by water leaking from the pond and that lead, aluminium, arsenic, barium, boron, nickel and uranium had been detected in an aquifer at levels ''elevated when compared to livestock, irrigation and health guidelines''.

Mr Gifford said the metals are ''not additives'' and occur naturally in the surrounding soil and water.

''However, the leaking pond has mobilised the elements and moved them into the aquifer, increasing their concentrations,'' he said...

Read more at : http://www.smh.com.au/environment/santos-coal-seam-gas-project-contaminates-aquifer-20140307-34csb.html

Note: My red bolding

Below average rainfall likely across Northern Rivers region January-March 2014

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology:

December catchment conditions

December rainfall was below to very much below average for most of Queensland and New South Wales. Parts of southwestern New South Wales and northern Victoria recorded above average December rainfall. The Murray-Darling Basin recorded only 21.3 mm of rain, the driest December since 2001. More information about December weather and climate conditions can be found in the climate summaries for Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Northern Territory.

Near median December streamflows were recorded at 23 of the 69 locations and low streamflows at 45 locations. High December streamflow was recorded only at Swanfels, located in the Condamine-Culgoa basin in southern Queensland.

Streamflow forecasts for January to March

Near median and low streamflows for the January to March forecast period are more likely at 25 and 18 locations respectively. High flows are forecast to be more likely only at Rocks Crossing, located in the Manning basin in northern New South Wales. The forecast is not issued due to very low skill scores or missing streamflow data at 25 locations mainly in Queensland, Northern Territory and New South Wales.

The tropical Pacific has remained neutral with respect to the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) since mid-2012, with all the main ENSO indicators remaining well within neutral bounds. International climate models surveyed by the Bureau of Meteorology indicate the persistence of this neutral ENSO phase through at least the austral autumn. The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) is currently neutral. It typically does not influence the Australian climate from December to April.

The chances of exceeding median rainfall during the January to March period are 30 to 40% over most of Queensland, parts of the eastern Northern Territory, most of New South Wales and northeastern Victoria. In other words, the chances of below average rainfall are 60 to 70% over these areas. Conversely, the chance of exceeding median rainfall is greater than 60% over parts of western Western Australia and most of Tasmania. The chance of receiving a wetter or drier than normal January to March period is roughly equal (i.e., close to 50%) over the remainder of the country.

Declaration of Registrable Interests of Clive Palmer MP - owner of Waratah Coal which has mining interests on the NSW North Coast

Because the new Federal Member for Fairfax and Leader of the Palmer United Party, Clive Palmer MP, appears to be the sole owner of exploration and coal mine development company Waratah Coal Pty Ltd and, because this company holds at least two exploration licenses  in the Nymbioda district of the Clarence River catchment area it would be wise for local residents to familiarise themselves with the diverse and often complex business relationships of this politician as set out in his Statement of Registrable Interests.

Clive Frederick Palmer MP - Statement of Registrable Interests, 44th Australian Parliament (10 December 201...

Will NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione risk another heavy handed political move against Northern Rivers anti-coal seam gas protestors in 2014?

Local landowners & others prepare for the arrival of Metasco at its Rosella-1 well site in early 2014

In 2013 Magistrate David Heilpern publicly took NSW Police to task over charges laid against coal seam gas protestors at Metgasco Limited’s Glenugie site.

Does NSW Police Commissioner Scipione want the world to see more media coverage similar to this because he was persuaded to do the bidding of a coal seam gas exploration company which to date has produced not a cent in profit for its investors or the State of New South Wales and is never likely to?

The Northern Star 6 November 2013

"In this case I find myself asking what could possibly be the reason for continuing on with such an innocuous charge in these circumstances? Why else would police risk cost orders against them, drive a prosecutor up from Sydney to run the matters, arrange police witnesses to travel from Sydney, all for an innocuous minor traffic matter. "It is in that context that the realistic suspicion of political interference arises," he said.....

Metgasco Limited is a mining exploration company which after fourteen years still has no social contract with local communities on the NSW North Coast, a spotty safety record and an unhappy shareholder base.

Say hello to the Blick River Guardians

Protecting the high country of the Clarence River catchment....

Go to http://www.blicksriverguardians.org/ for more information.

This is what Metgasco and other coal seam gas miners want to turn the Northern Rivers into....

http://youtu.be/1AeWYwBreEY

If you don’t’ want this to happen – at the next round of elections vote out those local government councillors and state or federal MPs who support (or fail to genuinely oppose) the coal seam gas industry.

NSW Farmers ask Abbott Government & Minister Macfarlane: "Why should CSG extraction take precedence over protection of land and water and basic needs like food and fibre?"

Media Release
18 September 2013	PR/121/13
Setting the record straight on CSG concerns in NSW NSW Farmers today expressed concern that newly appointed Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane was already dismissing opposition to the coal seam gas industry in NSW. Association president Fiona Simson said the minister’s comments were very concerning especially when he had not yet spoken to all relevant stakeholders on the CSG issue. “Farmers and communities in NSW have deep and genuine concerns about the effect this industry is already having and projected to have on agricultural land and water and we do not think it is fair for those concerns to be labelled politically nor emotionally driven,” she said. “We are however encouraged by the Coalition’s Policy for Resources and Energy in particular the CSG co-existence conditions which state that access to prime agricultural land should only be allowed with the farmer’s agreement and that there should be no damage to the underground water supply. “NSW Farmers does not deny that the Queensland CSG industry has progressed much quicker than in NSW. But the geography of Queensland is different and what works there will not necessarily work here and I can assure him that not everyone over the border is ecstatic about how the CSG industry has developed there. “The NSW legislative framework in relation to CSG is severely lacking – this is something we have been saying for years. “We are not against the industry but we are seeking balanced outcomes. Why should CSG extraction take precedence over protection of land and water and basic needs like food and fibre? “NSW Farmers wants adequate protections for agricultural land and water and we want our questions, legitimate questions, answered. Ms Simson said the federal Coalition’s agriculture policy about building better stakeholder relations was encouraging and she was keen to take them up on that. “However, comments like these are a concern so early on in a new government’s first term,” she concluded. ends

Metgasco Limited admits it's going to drill into NSW North Coast aquifers

I understand the concerns, and I know we're talking about drilling through aquifers to reach the gas, but everyone can be confident any future operations will be managed in a prudent, careful manner...[Metgasco Limited Chairman Nick Health, The Daily Examiner,19 September 2013]

Rather strangely the APN Parliament House Press Gallery journalist Daniel Burdon, who wrote the article, did not explore Metgasco’s open admission of an intent to pierce underground water storages and potentially contaminate or destroy these water reserves.

If he is going to report on the Northern Rivers he needs to actually research the issues. Such a shallow piece will win him no respect locally.

This is the environmental vandalism which occurs under Coalition governments in Australia

http://youtu.be/QEhZhMHMveg

Newcastle Herald 6 September 2013:

THE state government has been accused of allowing Glencore Xstrata to mine under Sugarloaf State Conservation Area without meeting all its licence conditions.

West Wallsend Colliery, responsible for destroying part of the reserve, appears to have been operating for more than 18 months in breach of a consent condition designed to monitor subsidence risk and protect the environment.

In what shapes as another embarrassing chapter in the environmental scandal for the government, documents show the mine was supposed to establish an independent review committee to monitor its operations.

Information obtained by the Newcastle Herald reveals the committee - which was never formed - was to have veto power over the mine in the event of unacceptable environmental impacts from subsidence.

Extensive subsidence damage, uncovered last week, occurred in October last year adjacent to longwall 41 during secondary extraction, but the public was never informed.

In June, more than 180 tonnes of grout was pumped into a stream during a botched remediation project run by the mine.

The colliery's project approval, authorised by Planning Minister Brad Hazzard in January 2012, states the committee should include "involvement and review by appropriate subsidence experts".

Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham described the lack of an independent committee as "another disgraceful element of this sad episode".

Mr Buckingham called on the government to explain exactly why Glencore Xstrata was allowed to continue mining without complying with its approval consent.

"It's clear the government has a crisis on its hands and the planning approval process is broken," he said.

"That independent body was a requirement of the mine's consent. The company plays lip service to this condition and there is no serious compliance. The system is broken, and it's not just this mine, it's mines across the state."......

If elected on 7 September Abbott and Coalition have plans to immediately push for coal seam gas industry expansion in NSW

So much for Nationals candidate Kevin Hogan’s assurances concerning coal seam gas exploration and mining on the NSW North Coast.....

Australian Mining 4 September 2013:

The Abbott government would also drive the expansion of NSW’s coal seam gas sector. Macfarlane would make the NSW domestic gas matter one of his top three concerns, The Australian reported.

Macfarlane has already set a Christmas deadline to resolve the issue, saying it may already be three months overdue.

He labelled the condition urgent “beyond belief”.

“It’s a massive problem and it’s going to cost jobs from Newcastle to Wollongong if we don’t get it sorted,” he said.

“The only situation short-term is to get the CSG industry going well enough to supply the domestic demand, which is going to start to exceed supply in 2015 and 2016 when they start turning on the LNG trains in Gladstone.

The Coalition government and Macfarlane also promised to bring in an exploration development incentive.

Under the scheme, junior mining companies with no taxable income can pass eligible exploration expenses on to their shareholders.

A Minerals Council of Australia spokesman said the pledge showed the Coalition understood the importance of exploration.

“The MCA has regularly highlighted the tax asymmetry in the treatment of exploration expenses for companies with no taxable income.”

The Australian Tax Office will decide on a part of the costs that investors can claim as tax credits.

It is aimed at junior mining companies with no taxable income and will be capped at $100 million over the forward estimates.

Association of Mining and Exploration Companies head Simon Bennison recently told Australian Mining juniors are operating without support and said if this continues, the future of the industry is in jeopardy.

NO CSG IN THE NORTHERN RIVERS: Swampy's not amused and on his way to Canberra with as many of your letters as will fit in his saddlebags

 

## OPEN LETTER TO THE COMMUNITY ## Facebook 26 July 2013

To whom it may concern,

My name is Michael Franklin (Turtle or Swampy). My parents, grandparents, and great grandparents have been breeding horses, logging and farming in the Grafton area since the 1800s. We have a great love for the land and everything has been done with consideration to the future viability of our property to sustain a decent lifestyle. I worked in Queensland after going to TOCAL Agricultural College. I started as a Jackaroo and went through to Head Stockman for AA Company. I loved the way of life up there, the attitude was, do what you wanted as long as it wasn't at someone else's expense.

I have just returned from the CSG Gasfields around Tara/Chinchilla on a fact-finding tour. I went to peoples properties, whose bores were contaminated. Not drinkable, and no idea of if, or when the water will ever be drinkable. They have admittance from the company to interfering with the Aquatard, not the Aquifer so no responsibility taken. They have now had to build dams and if you know Queensland, you would realise that dams are there in the good years but when it comes dry, it's all bore water. What happens then? It is not just one farm, there are numerous and any farmer worth his salt knows that clean water is our most valuable resource.

I went to the Wiembiella Estate where the blockies live. This is a motley crew of people, who have bought a piece of Australia to live and raise their families in peace and quiet, only to have it shattered by being turned into an Energy Hub. Thousands of vehicles a week, hundreds of trucks, I mean this is in your face 24/7, it just never goes to sleep. Its total disregard for your fellow man, the land and the water. We drove 15km around a dam just being built to fill up with toxic water to be cleaned and pumped back into the river that feeds the Chinchilla water supply. All they are taking out is the salts, not the radioactive materials or the heavy metal elements. The water is also used to irrigate crops and to water feedlots. I have done my Quality Assurance, Training and Assessment course for Beef Cattle Production and I am concerned about the quality of what the Australian consumer may be eating or drinking. I have never considered fertilising my paddocks with lead, yet The Land newspaper have reported that up to 90kg/ha annually is going onto the fields irrigated with produced water. I expect that the meat will be sold on the domestic/local market due to stringent export quality standards. You are what you eat.

I think that reusing emissions and renewable is the answer to our power problem. Septics/sewage, piggeries, dairies, sawmills, and rubbish tips and biofuel can all produce power. Then there is solar, solar-thermal, wind and tidal energies. Its more than enough and the proof is out there.

I am riding to Canberra against CSG. I believe in respecting thy neighbour. Even if you don't like your neighbour, I don't believe that poisoning them is justifiable. Common decency says that you do not have the right to interfere with or threaten the wellbeing your neighbours. I will also be promoting Australian Owned, Australian Made and Australian Grown because I believe that we should be supporting Australian business and farming as a sustainable future rather than the inevitable bust that will follow the mining boom. I would rather see Australia as a food bowl than a gravel pit.

Mick Franklin
Glenugie
NSW

 

#‪#‎LATEST ANNOUNCEMENT##

Franklin Horses will be running a postal service direct to Parliament House!
Departing from Grafton on the 21st of September 2013, and arriving in Canberra sometime in late November. All hand written letters of concern will be delivered direct to Parliament by way of Pony Express. Arrangements will be made for various collection points prior to departure and also along the way. Further announcements will be made regarding collection.

Tell 'em what you think and we'll take it to 'em!
Cheers
The Franklin Horses Team

So Barnaby Joyce is in the Clarence Valley today

Barnaby Joyce  (right) with Opposition Leader Tony Abbott

Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce, the Coalition’s candidate for New England at the forthcoming federal lower house election, while clinging on to his senate seat until the last possible moment is down in the Clarence Valley today opening fellow Nationals Kevin Hogan’s Grafton campaign office.

It is a wonder Joyce would show his face in the Valley, given he sat on the Senate RRAT Committee inquiry into additional water supplies for south-east Queensland where he made it plain at that time that he was not adverse to any proposal to steal Clarence freshwater so that his Queensland mates could continue their unsustainable irrigation practices [April-August 2007].

He also voted against The Greens motion in the Senate which read in part:

"That the Senate:....(b) calls on the Federal Government to: (i) abandon plans for damming the Clarence, Tweed, Richmond and Mann Rivers;" [C'wealth Hansard,Senate,proof issue,19 August 2007,p.p. 33-34].

He was still including mention of the Clarence catchment in his discussions on water supply in 2008:

"You can't create water with money. That means you have to think about bringing it from somewhere else, like the Gulf or the Clarence." [The Land, 13 August 2008]

While according to The Clarence Valley Review on 20 February 2013 the leaked  ‘100 Dams’ draft consultation paper mentioned the Clarence River catchment area:

The document, leaked to a Sydney newspaper, reportedly lists 100 potential projects including four options for piping water from the Clarence area to the Logan River in south-east Queensland.

Joyce has this to say about these latest dam proposals:

"Now some of these dams will require public funding and at the last election I had half a billion dollars put away in my portfolio as seed capital to this purpose.

Some of them will require private funding and ... myself and (my) chief of staff, Matt Canavan designed the infrastructure partnership scheme which is a mechanism to attract funds from private investment to invest in this nation building infrastructure.

Some of them don't need anything because in such areas as the mining industry they require water to get coal mines up and they'll build them."

Anchor Resources granted yet another exploration lease in the Clarence River Catchment by O'Farrell Government

From A Clarence Valley Protest 4 July 2013:

Anchor Resources extends its mining exploration footprint within the Clarence River catchment area

Chinese-owned mining exploration company Anchor Resources Limited has extended its mineral tenements within the Dorrigo Plateau-Clarence River catchment area.

In June 2013 the NSW O’Farrell Coalition Government granted a further three-year exploration lease EL 8100 which connects those gold and antimony tenements the company has already extensively explored. 

This increased footprint comes with an increased risk of antimony, arsenic, and/or mercury contamination in a sensitive section of the catchment should the proposed commercial mines come to fruition.

Australian Government National Pollutant Inventory:

Both mercury and its compounds have high acute(short-term) and have high chronic (long-term) toxicity on aquatic life. Eating fish contaminated with mercury has caused poisoning in humans; birds and land animals exposed in the same manner could also be subject to the same effects. There is not sufficient data to determine the acute toxicity of mercury and its compounds on plants, birds or land animals. Mercury and its compounds are highly persistent in water and the environment and will bioaccumulate or concentrate in the tissues of fish. These concentrations will be considerably higher than the water from which the fish is taken.

* Map found at www.anchorresources.com

NSW Farmers withdraws support for mining template access agreement

NSW Farmers up in arms over O'Farrell-Fraser-Hartcher legislative move to support coal seam gas industry land access rights

NSW Farmers Media Release 12 June 2013 - Stakeholder engagement lacking when it comes to CSG legislation

Text of the NSW Petroleum (Onshore) Amendment Bill 2013 as introduced

b2013-017-d15-House.pdf

Mining industry and New South Wales: a warning to act before 28 June 2013

Queensland Country Life 7 June 2013:

In a decade’s time, the Queensland centre of Dalby will be unrecognisable as a farming community, according to Darling Downs lawyer Peter Shannon.

Mr Shannon, Shine Lawyers, who hails from Dalby, said the mining industry was taking over the district at such a rate that the scale of agriculture the regions are known for may not survive the next 10 years.

One of the only benefits to be had from this was that NSW producers could hopefully learn from what has happened to Queensland to prevent coal and coal seam gas (CSG) mining taking over their prime agricultural land.

“It’s an inevitability that wherever there is coal in NSW, there is also good farming land,” said Mr Shannon, who was in Moree last week to talk to growers at the Australian Cotton Trade Show.

“The mining industry will eventually take over agriculture if the agricultural industry doesn’t look after itself, and it’s up to the landholders themselves to make sure their industry is looked after.

“Unfortunately you get more consumer protection buying a fridge in Queensland than you do when entering an agreement with a mining company and if the legal fees available to landholders are capped then it will be impossible for those landholders to have a fair fight…..

“Mining is something that’s usually remote to everyone until it’s knocking on their door and while the law states that a landholder is not allowed to be worse off after signing an agreement with a mining company, you can promise the landholder won’t be better off, while the mining company and government are making fortunes.”…..

Cotton Australia mining and CSG policy officer Sahil Prasad said one of the key changes proposed in the review of the NSW Planning system was the need for developments to be “sustainable” rather than “ecologically sustainable” – a move he said which “essentially negates the right to protect the environment and the important agricultural land around a mining project”.

“Submissions for the review of the system are due on June 28 and I strongly suggest landholders take a good look at this and make sure it’s going to work for them.” [my bolding]

This is the document in question: White Paper – A New Planning System for NSW. Exhibition period ends on 28 June 2013. Submissions may be lodged online.