Government attempts to downplay planning and structural deficiencies associated with antimony mining on the NSW North Coast

NSW North Coast Nationals MPs need to explain to their electorates why they continue to tolerate this ongoing threat to water security and, why they are considering a proposal to establish another antimony mine in the Nymboida River system:

ABC Mid North Coast News Macleay River spill sparks contamination fears  

November 29, 2011 14:41:35

There has been another heavy metal spill into the Macleay River from a gold and antimony mine in the upper catchment.

Heavy rain over the weekend caused an overflow from a stormwater dam at the Hillgrove mine near Armidale.

The Kempsey council's infrastructure manager, Robert Scott, says the contamination sounds worse than it actually is.

He says the rain caused the spill but it also helped dilute it.

"At the moment the dams in the Hillgrove mine, because they've received around about 290mm of rainfall for the month of November alone, are full, they are discharging," he said.

"We are seeing a massive dilution factor as a result of the overall flow that's coming off the New England Tablelands at the moment, which has resulted in relatively low levels of discharge directly from the mine."

However, conservationists are worried about the latest spill into the Upper Macleay.

Coffs Harbour Greens' councillor Mark Graham says the spill in the region's drinking water catchment should be grounds for concern.

"I think that all the evidence is that the river is contaminated by mining practices and it's not just the historic mining practices," he said.

"The owners of the Hillgrove mine, Straits Mining, were recently fined $50,000 in the Land and Environment Court for ongoing contamination to the headwaters of the Macleay.

"These mines are creating ongoing contamination for the catchment.

What NSW Nationals 'Steve' Gulaptis MP for Clarence isn't saying

This is what the new Clarence MP 'Steve' Gulaptis was telling The Daily Examiner as he posed for photographs:

Mr Gulaptis said he still felt humbled to be elected, but couldn't wait to get behind the desk and get to work on solving the problems faced by his constituents and the electorate.

Mr Gulaptis said the new Grafton bridge, the Pacific Highway upgrade, law enforcement in Casino and the Lower Clarence, health and employment, especially in Grafton after recent job losses, were key issues he would focus on.

He said as the communities in the electorate are so diverse and face different issues, he would be spending a lot of time travelling and talking to locals about what issues are important to them.

He said his focus in Parliament will be to push strongly for funding on issues facing the Clarence electorate.

Now the election is over and his est. $180,000 plus taxpayer-funded salary package is assured, there is no mention of protecting the Clarence River from inappropriate open cut gold mining and toxic antimony mining –  which have the potential to place underground aquifers and the river system at risk to the detriment of the economic well-being of downstream communities.

Nor is there mention of proposed and exisitng coal seam gas mines, or ground water extraction levels and waste water associated with this industry which are likely to compromise water and food security across the NSW North Coast unless a legitimate halt to uncontrolled industry expansion is legislated. 

Nothing about the O'Farrell Government's intention to complete the power generation infrastructure sell-off which is bound to impact on hip pockets in a region known for its low household incomes.

Complete silence about any intention to fight a proposal which is still being considered by government - replacing Grafton prison with a privately financed, constructed and operated centre.

Not even a mention of Steve's favourite subject - bats! A subject that is in the process of being placed in his too hard basket now he is in office.

One suspects that his vision really extends no further than his old role of managing roads, rats, rubbish and greasing the wheels for the white-shoe brigade.

'The Critical Decade': enough to give arch-denialists Bolt, Hadley & Jones apoplexy

Click on NSW/ACT gragh to enlarge

1. There is no doubt that the climate is changing. The evidence is overwhelming and clear.

• The atmosphere is warming, the ocean is warming, ice is being lost from glaciers and ice caps and sea levels are rising. The biological world is changing in response to a warming world.
• Global surface temperature is rising fast; the last decade was the hottest on record.

2. We are already seeing the social, economic and environmental impacts of a changing climate.

• With less than 1 degree of warming globally the impacts are already being felt in Australia.
• In the last 50 years the number of record hot days in Australia has more than doubled. This has increased the risk of heatwaves and associated deaths, as well as extreme bush fire weather in South Eastern and South Western Australia.
• Sea level has risen by 20 cm globally since the late 1800s, impacting many coastal communities. Another 20 cm increase by 2050, which is feasible at current projections, would more than double the risk of coastal flooding.
• The Great Barrier Reef has suffered from nine bleaching events in the past 31 years. This iconic natural ecosystem, and the economy that depends upon it, face serious risks from climate change.

3. It is beyond reasonable doubt that human activities – the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation – are triggering the changes we are witnessing in the global climate.

• A very large body of observations, experiments, analyses, and physical theory points to increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere – with carbon dioxide being the most important – as the primary cause of the observed warming.
• Increasing carbon dioxide emissions are primarily produced by the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, as well as deforestation.
• Natural factors, like changes in the Earth’s orbit or solar activity, cannot explain the world-wide warming trend.

4. This is the critical decade. Decisions we make from now to 2020 will determine the severity of climate change our children and grandchildren experience.

• Without strong and rapid action there is a significant risk that climate change will undermine our society’s prosperity, health, stability and way of life.
• To minimise this risk, we must decarbonise our economy and move to clean energy sources by 2050. That means carbon emissions must peak within the next few years and then strongly decline.
• The longer we wait to start reducing carbon emissions, the more difficult and costly those reductions become.
• This decade is critical. Unless effective action is taken, the global climate may be so irreversibly altered we will struggle to maintain our present way of life. The choices we make this decade will shape the long-
  
  
  The Critical Decade: full report

Senate Coal Seam Gas Report Calls For Approvals Moratorium Until Scientific Studies Completed and Reviewed

Media Release

SENATOR THE HON. BILL HEFFERNAN

Liberal Senator for New South Wales

For further information please contact Office of Senator the Hon. Bill Heffernan (02) 62773610

Senate Report into Coal Seam Gas

Senator Bill Heffernan, the Chairman of the Senate Standing References Committee on Rural Affairs & Transport today released the Committee's report on the Impact of Coal Seam Gas Extraction on the Murray-Darling Basin. The report considers the potential impact of the industry on Basin groundwater resources, agricultural land and regional communities.

The Committee, as part of that general inquiry has been examining the economic, social and environmental impacts of mining coal seam gas on:

·         the sustainability of water aquifers and future water licensing arrangements;

·         the property rights and values of landholders;

·         the sustainability of prime agricultural land and Australia’s food task;

·         the social and economic benefits or otherwise for regional towns and the effective management of relationships between mining and other interests; and other related matters including health impacts.

This report concentrates on CSG developments within the Murray-Darling Basin which are the focus of the industry and of public concern, in particular, the security of the gas wells. The main regions of concern to this Committee, where the industry is expanding very rapidly, are in south-west Queensland and north-west New South Wales.

Some of the recommendations include Commonwealth and State governments conducting a thorough review of the appropriateness of 'adaptive management in the context of regulating the industry. A consistent, national regulatory framework for all aspects of the coal seam gas industry should be promoted.

Groundwater is a vital resource for agricultural, domestic and urban use across much of the Murray-Darling Basin and nor can it be considered in isolation from surface water. The major risks associated with the coal seam gas industry are whether it has the potential to significantly deplete the groundwater on which agriculture and regional communities depend, to contaminate higher quality water, to alter the hydrology of the affected regions, or to do irreparable damage to the aquifers containing that water.

The Committee recommends that further approvals of CSG production should not be considered until studies of the Basin water resources being conducted by the CSIRO & Geoscience Australia, the Queensland Government and the Namoi Catchment Study are completed and their findings reviewed. The Committee also recommends that the Water Act be amended to include the Great Artesian Basin in the definition of the Murray-Darling Basin water resources. Similarly it recommends that the sustainable use of the Great Artesian Basin be recognised as a matter of national environmental significance under the Environmental Protection & Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.

The Committee recommends that it be a requirement of all exploration or production approvals that the fluids extracted from wells after fraccing are kept isolated in secure separate storages and prior to disposal are treated to the highest standards.

The Committee is deeply concerned with brine and salt residues – more than 700,000 tonnes of salt will be produced every year . It recommends that salt and brine be removed from agricultural regions and water catchments. If salt and brine residues cannot be disposed within the short term, then it should be removed from agricultural areas and water catchments and no controlled landfills for the disposal of salt should be permitted in the Murray-Darling Basin.

The Commonwealth and the States should establish an independently managed trust funded by the gas companies to make financial provision for long-term rectification of problems such as leaks in sealed wells or subsidence and erosion caused by collapsing pipelines.

The gas industry has the potential to have a severe impact on agricultural productivity in the Basin. The Committee recommends that gas production be excluded from highly productive agricultural land and, where the industry and agriculture do coexist, that the maintenance of agricultural productivity take priority over the needs of the gas industry in any dispute between landholders and the industry.

"The challenge for the global food task is to produce more food with less water, less fertiliser and less agricultural land against the background of the science which says by 2050, the world's population will be 9 billion, 50% of the world's population will be poor for water, one billion people will be unable to feed themselves, 30% of the productive land of Asia will have gone out of production due to urbanisation and climate change, two-thirds of the world's population will live in Asia, the food task would have doubled and more importantly 1.6 billion people could be displaced on this planet." said Senator Heffernan.

The Committee recommends that draft access agreements between landholders and gas companies include a requirement that company employees must have a landholder's approval whenever they wish to enter a property and that companies must maintain logs of staff entering private property.

The Committee, recognising that many of the issues relating to this industry are the constitutional responsibility of the States recommends that the Commonwealth, in forums such as the Council of Australian Governments (COAG)and the Standing Council for Energy and Resources take the initiative in working towards a coordinated national approach to the regulation of this industry.

The Committee will continue to monitor developments in the CSG industry in 2012. For more information about the report, please visit the following website:

www.aph.gov.au/senate/Committee/rat_ctte/mdb/index.htm

30 November 2011