coal seam gas
6 Oct 2011
NSW Outrage Over Borehole In Catchment
Apex Energy wants to drill a borehole in the catchment area that protects the water supply for South Sydney and Wollongong - and the NSW Planning Department has recommended it go ahead
Environmentalists have slammed the NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure for recommending approval for an additional coal seam gas (CSG) borehole in the Illawarra, south of Sydney.
Apex Energy was granted approval to drill 15 CSG exploration boreholes in the region in 2009, and last September applied to drill a 16th well to determine the extent of its gas deposits in the area. The proposed borehole lies within the Woronora Catchment Special Area, which is land set aside to protect the water supply to southern Sydney and Wollongong.
Peter Turner from the Northern Illawarra Sustainability Alliance says the decision contradicts the state government’s attempts to assess the impact of CSG mining in NSW.
"They’ve made this recommendation for approval only shortly after the NSW Coal Seam Gas Inquiry started," he told New Matilda. "This is an inquiry that’s supposed to determine the impacts of coal seam gas mining. It hasn’t made any determination, and yet the Department of Planning has gone ahead and said yeah it’s okay you can go exploring for coal seam gas mining … that’s just crazy."
The Sydney Catchment Authority, the Office of Environment and Heritage, and the NSW Office of Water have all raised objections to the company’s proposal.
There were also 1045 members of the public who made submissions to the department in response to the borehole application.
Dave Burgess from the Total Environment Centre says the recommended approval undermines the authority of the government bodies set up to protect the state’s water catchments.
"There’s no doubt that Sydney Catchment Authority, Environment and Heritage, and the Office of Water are finding it very difficult to report accurately on what they see as happening in the Sydney water catchment. In fact they’re finding it very difficult to fulfil certain obligations of their governing Acts," says Burgess. "Approvals of additional boreholes and experimental wells, whether it’s right or wrong, generally lead the proponent (Apex in this case) to an expectation that a full development will one day occur."
The NSW Office of Water also raised concerns about the company’s longer term objective of producing commercial quantities of coal seam gas. The department rejected its calls for a groundwater monitoring program to be established on the basis that it would involve further surface disturbance to protected areas.
The Office of Environment and Heritage raised concerns that vegetation clearing for the borehole would have an impact on the Prickly Bush-pea, a threatened plant species found only in the area. However, the department concluded that the administrative costs of a proposed offset strategy for the plant would outweigh any potential benefits.
Chris Lawrence from Apex Energy told New Matilda that the company has adequately addressed environmental concerns cited in the submissions sent to the Department of Planning.
"We believe those matters raised have been satisfactorily addressed, as confirmed by [the department]. The nature of the extensive approvals process is iterative, where each of the authorities has input and any issues are addressed, sometimes requiring modification to aspects of a proposal and/or applying further conditions to an approval," Lawrence said.
"Apex believes, as should be confirmed by the approval authorities, that the extensive environmental assessment has identified any potential risks to the environment by the proposed activities, and they will have been adequately addressed."
However the proposed borehole faces a potential roadblock from the Sydney Catchment Authority (SCA), even if approved by the Planning Assessment Commission.
Because the propsed borehole lies in a SCA Special Area, the authority must approve Apex’s plan before it can grant land access to the site.
"For Apex Energy to be allowed access to drill the exploration bores located on SCA and [National Parks and Wildlife Service] land, the SCA requires the company to prepare an Environmental Management Plan to ensure water quality and the ecological values of the Special Areas are protected. Works can’t start without the SCA approving the plan," said an SCA spokesperson.
The application has been referred to the Planning Assessment Commission.
It will host a public meeting in Helensburgh on Monday 17 October to hear concerns from the general public prior to determining whether or not the project will go ahead.
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Posted Friday, 07 October 11 at 1:29PM
If a coal seam gas borehole is approved within the supposedly highly protected Special Area supplying Sydney’s drinking water, it will be a day of shame. The Sydney Catchment Authority was established in 1999 precisely to protect these Special Areas and the quality of their precious waterways. No development is supposedly allowed which is not “neutral or beneficial.” What a joke ! Rivers and creeks have nevertheless been cracked, polluted and depleted by longwall mining in Special Areas in recent years, though ordinary citizens face huge fines if they dare to enter the SCA’s padlocked and fenced catchment areas. And now it seems that coal seam gas extraction is in order, in spite of ample evidence of water contamination, plus problems of disposal of megalitres of saline and polluted water brought up in the drilling process, plus the likelihood that drilling will breach one or more aquifers along the way. The Department of Planning should hang its head in shame.
Posted Friday, 07 October 11 at 3:23PM
Make no mistake this is a full-on war. I switched the telly on yesterday to catch a young child gushing about coal seam gas on Channel Ten’s ‘Scope’. I think this is the episode: http://ten.com.au/scope-24379.htm
And the blurb for the show: “Oil, coal and gas - they formed hundreds of millions of years ago and yet they keep the 21st century running. Fossil fuels keep us warm, cool, moving, illuminated and entertained.”
I have to admit to switching it off fairly quickly because it was making me feel ill.
Posted Friday, 07 October 11 at 4:44PM
Getting more like America every day, privatise everything so the rich shiny arse fat cats can rip of the Australian people to line their own greedy pockets.
Bugger peoples health or well being as long as Apex Energy and there cohorts get what they want . You have only got to see what has happened in America with the coal seam gas drilling it has destroyed and devistated many communitys and they want to do it here. i have two words for them F… OFF.
Posted Friday, 07 October 11 at 5:59PM
Apex Energy - I assume you’ll be reading this article and the comments. Look - why even bother with going through the motions of applying for approval? You’d have to be…ah…well connected. Stop pretending. Just sweep all objections aside, say you are already implementing what people ask for and do what you want anyway.
Ignore all calls to heed environmental costs, both now and well into the future. Ignore health costs of affected people and animals. Don’t worry about contaminating or depleting anyone’s water supply! Even Sydney’s!
Endangered species? Bah! They’re already endangered aren’t they? Methane production? Don’t worry about that either. Just because it’s 70 times stronger as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide….well - you won’t be around as a company in 50 or so years will you?
Noticing any small pricks of your conscience - amongst Apex management or workers? Can’t have that! Just step up the propaganda. Make things up. You’ll see. Or say - “We’re only exploring. It might not come to anything!” That’ll make you all feel better. Or say “The farmers and Greenies are making things up”.
Oh - you are already doing all of these things? Sorry.
Posted Friday, 07 October 11 at 6:07PM
‘Gasland’ the movie/doco. Remember, while watching, that we live in a democracy.
Posted Saturday, 08 October 11 at 1:45AM
This should not go ahead. Full stop. No debate. Don’t mess with the water table.
Posted Saturday, 08 October 11 at 2:48PM
“This should not go ahead. Full stop. No debate. Don’t mess with the water table.”
Nail on the head Rob.
Hard to see these events as anything other than the deliberate attempt to pollute our natural water supplies. Future health costs will likely be extraordinary.
Posted Monday, 10 October 11 at 11:44AM
So long as people only value the economy at the polling booth,
politicians will only value the economy,
and companies will always have the defacto go ahead,
with the burden of proof being on stopping development.
Slash at the roots of evil, not the surface leaves-
fix the root causes of problems, not the immediate prob.
Stop fellow voters valuing our economy over everything else,
or keep pulling out bandaid activism for the latest political mistake.