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.

NSW North Coast police make mockery of traffic accident attendance criteria

On 15 October 2014 NSW Police changed its criteria for attending traffic accidents.

Traffic and Highway Patrol Command - NSW Police Force:

Police on the NSW North Coast have apparently refined this criteria further.

On the morning of 13 January 2015 a Yamba resident, reporting what was a head-on crash on a badly cambered bend in a town road was told by police that only accidents where a person was injured would be attended by officers.

Apparently this is how local police are interpreting the NSW Government’s so-called drive to reduce red tape.

Now this would possibly be a worry-free policy adaptation if all accidents on the North Coast occurred through no fault on the part of drivers due to adverse road/weather conditions, but there is a glaring hole in how this three month old directive is being implemented on the ground.

In effect it means that it there will be drivers who were speeding and/or intoxicated who will escape being held legally accountable for their unlawful actions and the property damage they inflict, because North Coast police are refusing to come to crash sites unless they are specifically told a person has been injured.

If the person contacting police fails to mention a suspicion that a driver may have been drinking or speeding or the police fail to ask that question at the time, then dangerous drivers will begin to feel invulnerable – which may eventually have fatal consequences.

Prime Minster Abbott denies South Australian bush fires have anything to do with climate change - Australian firies not amused

 Jim Casey , state secretary of the NSW Fire Brigade Employees’ Union in The Guardian, 7 January 2014

Junkee telling it like it is on 8 January 2015: 

In the past week we’ve seen bushfires consume huge stretches of land in South Australia and Victoria. 19 communities totalling thousands of residents were forced to evacuate their homes around Adelaide, more than 2,000 firefighters were called upon to battle the flames, and 32 homes were destroyed. On the other side of the country, Perth faced weather so hot it literally broke the internet and let people fry eggs on the sidewalk. Similarly, Melbourne has seen each day creep closer and closer to 40 degrees while simultaneously bearing the brunt of surprise tropical storms that brought down power lines, severely damaged people’s homes and saw skydivers tossed around the earth like human confetti.

We’ve had better summers.

But this morning, in an effort to respond to the worst of this craziness, Tony Abbott went on a tour of the recently contained bushfire site at Adelaide Hills and acknowledged that climate change is indeed a thing that exists. “Climate change is real [and] humanity does contribute to it,” he said. Seriously. This is a thing that has happened.

Abbott then met with volunteers and members of the affected community and announced his intention to offer disaster recovery payments of up to $1,000 per person and a 13-week Centrelink allowance for those who have been out of work because of the fire. “The worst of nature brings out the best in people,” he said. “You have responded magnificently to all of the challenges you have faced.”

But, never to leave a press conference with an entirely positive reception, he then went on: “Over time climate change could make a difference to these sorts of occurrences [but] I think it is wrong to try to attribute particular natural disasters to climate change.”

“We think that Australia is making a strong and effective contribution to reducing emissions,” he said without a hint of sarcasm.

Despite his words of praise for the firies, a lot of them have a pretty different message for the PM than the one he’d probably like to hear.

Yesterday, State Secretary of the NSW Fire Brigade Employee’s Union Jim Casey penned an op-ed in The Guardian that directly appealed to the Abbott government for stronger action against climate change, following the bushfire in Adelaide Hills.

“Changes in weather behaviour are making bushfires bigger and more dangerous,” he wrote. “We need the federal government to start being a part of the solution to this problem, rather than denying it exists. This is the critical decade for international action on climate. The recent unexpected statements from both China and the US on the question of carbon emissions gives some hope that action may be taken, but if this does occur it will be in spite of our own government’s position.”

Sadly, these pleas aren’t even new. Firefighters have been trying to get the government to take action on this issue for years (look here’s one, and some more; actually, maybe it’s all of them). Now, as their concerns have not been fully dealt with, the Climate Council are saying firefighter numbers will likely have to double to deal with the increasing threat of fires in a hotter and more unpredictable climate. Here’s hoping there are still lots of little kids who really like the idea of fire poles.

After being constantly humiliated on the world stage, having his arse handed to him by the leader of the free world, and clocking in only one step ahead of Saudi Arabia in the latest global Climate Change Rankings, it’s no surprise that the PM would want to speak out about climate change now.

But whether you’re a firefighter or just a person who doesn’t really like the idea of living in a place that might spontaneously combust at any given minute, it’s kind of worrying that the PM thinks this is the best he can do.

Metgasco becomes a metaphor for mindless, total destruction

If Metgasco Limited shareholders were ever in doubt about how the NSW Northern Rivers region (from Clarence Valley to the Queensland border) viewed this coal seam/tight gas exploration and wannabee production company, those doubts must have disappeared when on 8 January 2015 S. Sorrensen writing in the Echo Netdaily entered “Metgasco” into Australian English as a metaphor for mindless, total destruction in Here & Now #87: Hell’s hen:

Moggy Musings [Archived material from Boy the Wonder Cat]

A bad business vibes musing: There are three rumours floating around the Northern Rivers at the very beginning of 2015. The first rumour has it that not all Elk Petroleum Ltd's significant shareholders are impressed by the financial management record of the company's new merger partner, coal seam gas explorer and wannabee production company Metgasgo Limited whose sole assets up to now have been exploration licences on the NSW North Coast. The basic question appears to be; how did Metgasco spend so much with so little progress to show for it? A second 'bad form' rumour places a senior Metgasco figure in the USA, in the lead up to the merger, badmouthing a former Metgasco director to anyone who would stop still long enough to listen. While the third rumour anticipates the current Metgasco managing director, CEO and shareholder being permanently sidelined in 2015 on the basis of his performance history.

A Fly free little bird! musing: On 31 December 2014 The Daily Examiner of Grafton NSW accidentally let a truncated version of its 2 January 2015 issue escape onto the Internet - giving Clarence Valley readers a good laugh once they discovered it flying free in cyberspace. The best rollicking response came from one wag in Yamba who emailed North Coast Voices: What a ripper! Gee, I'm disappointed ... it doesn't have the results for the Randwick races to be run tomorrow, 1st January! That's pretty slack.

A Metgasco musing: Sometimes it feels so good to be a cat. No a worry in the world and never tempted to stray into uncatlike realms. So when my live-in servant looks up stock prices I only ever prick my ears if there is seafood in the company name. Which means that I gave a big feline yawn when she looked at me, pointed to the screen and announced that a week out from Christmas coal seam gas miner Metgasco Limited's ordinary share price was sitting at an unimpressive 4.1 cents and it still can't proceed with its planned drilling at Bentley on the NSW North Coast.

An administration #FAIL musing: NSW Industrial Relations Commission, Monday 15 December 2014 2:00pm, Report Back via Tele Conference IRC14/833 - USU & Clarence Valley Council re alleged treatment of member.

An Eddie Obeid musing: Sydney Dowling Centre Local Court, 18 December 2014 9.30am, Mentions (Police), R v Edward Moses Obeid, Case Numbers 201400345493 & 201400345512.

A surveying musing: Some voters in the NSW Clarence electorate are wondering if Reachtel's early desire to find out which local political aspirants they might prefer in the March 2015 state election is being paid for by the National Party, as it tries to decide how much money to spend on the incumbent MP Chris Lazybones Gulaptis' re-election campaign.

An everyone speak up! musing: Word around the catnip patch is that Voices for Clarence had its official opening today. This Facebook page is a platform for people in the Clarence Valley to share knowledge and information in the Clarence Electorate ahead of the March 2015 NSW State Election. Get over there folks and start the ball rolling!

A this won't end well musing: Clarence Valley Council is on the NSW Industrial Relations Commission court list once again, Monday 1 December 20143:00pm Compulsory Conference IRC14/833 - USU & Clarence Valley Council re alleged treatment of member. Given the unhealthy corporate culture that appears to have developed since 2011 I can’t see this ending well for council.

Boy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Exploration for gas will be done on our terms.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Recommendation 3

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

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

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

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

Nor is there any adequate mention of this:

Recommendation 4

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The strange maths of the Abbott Government is beginning to be noticed

Letter to the editor in The Sydney Morning Herald 29 December 2014:

According to the Herald, there were 62,000 illegal overstayers in Australia in 2014. In 2012-2013, overstayers included 44,800 visitors and 10,720 students, with the largest numbers from China, Malaysia, the USA and Great Britain.

According to the Refugee Council the total number of "boat people" in 2001-2013 was 38,593, of whom 18,119 arrived in 2012-2013. So much for being "swamped by boat people" from Afghanistan, Iraq, etc.

Imre Bokor Armidale