In a move aimed at allaying public concern over controversial Coal Seam Gas (CSG) projects in northwest New South Wales energy giant Santos has said people opposed to the projects are just “frightened” of change.
The company has big plans for its $1.2 billion Narrabri gas project, which it said could provide half of the state’s gas needs once fully operational.
AAP Newsagency reports that on a Santos funded tour of projects the company said that since November 2013, it had been drilling north of the Pilliga state forest and had already set up 15 wells.
AAP reports one of those wells is near the property of Tony Pickard, a grazier and outspoken campaigner against Santos’s CSG plans.
Mr Pickard claimed his household drinking water turned foul and undrinkable in 2012 and said Santos had serious questions to answer.
AAP reports he said he was also worried that water being drilled out of the CSG wells was polluting the surface soil.
Those chemicals could then be taken up by the plants and become a contaminant source into food, he told AAP.
“In other words, our sheep or cattle that eat the plants can be contaminated and their meat will become unsuitable for consumption,” he said.
Last week, farming group Mullaley Gas and Pipeline Accord Inc (MGPA) and lawyers from the Environmental Defenders Office of NSW took up Mr Pickard’s case, taking legal action against Santos.
They are demanding the firm release all information relating to an alleged contamination of two water bores on Mr Pickard’s land.
However, AAP reports Santos has rejected any links between its operations and the bore water contamination.
It suggested sewage from Mr Pickard’s home or his sheep may have contaminated the water.
AAP reports representatives from the oil and gas company hosted a media tour of its Narrabri operations, saying they were keen to show the “other side of the CSG story.
Santos NSW general manager of energy Peter Mitchley flatly dismissed Mr Pickard’s claims that his water might be contaminated by CSG activity.
“It just drives me mad this stuff, he told reporters.
Mr Mitchley said Mr Pickard was first told about the contamination by Santos.
He said sulphur reducing bacteria, which was found in Mr Pickard’s water, was not found in coal seams.
“Sulphur reducing bacteria are ubiquitous in the world, they are everywhere, Mr Mitchley said.
“So it’s like arguing where you got your common cold from: how the hell do I know?
AAP reports Mr Pickard is not convinced and said he would pursue the matter in court.
Criticising the Santos media tour Mr Pickard said, “If Santos was so confident and had everything it needed to go ahead with the project they wouldn’t have done all of this.”
James Baulderstone, who is vice president of Santos’s eastern Australia division, said the company had been somewhat surprised by the emotion that surrounded the issue.
“I’m from a country town as well and some people are just frightened about change, he told reporters in Narrabri.
Claims of CSG having a huge impact on the environment or people’s health were really a bit of a nonsense, he said.
He acknowledged there was a small minority of people in the area who were opposed to CSG mining.
“In a lot of ways it’s become a bit of a religion for some people, Mr Baulderstone said.
“Once you become religious about something, to some degree the facts do go out of the window.
Santos showed journalists repair work on a 3.4 hectare forest that was damaged during a 2011 spill run by Eastern Star Gas, which later sold its infrastructure to Santos.
An estimated 10,000 litres of contaminated water leaked from the treatment plant into the state forest after an electronic switch connected to the pipeline failed.
The water was about twice as salty as seawater and killed more than half of the smaller trees in the affected area.
At the time, Santos said it would spend $1.4 million rehabilitating the site.
Mr Mitchley said the forest should be fully rehabilitated in about four years time.
David Quince, a farmer on the Liverpool plains which is near Narrabri, and chairman of the MGPA, said it was ludicrous that Mr Pickard was being forced to go to court to get information out of Santos.
“Surely, every Australian landowner who has access to aquifers, they have the wholly justified right that those aquifers be maintained to the highest quality, he said.
“And no other enterprise or industry should interfere with them or contaminate them.
AAP reports NSW upper house Australian Greens Party MP Jeremy Buckingham said there was overwhelming community opposition to CSG mining in the Pilliga.
