The
impact of Coal Seam Gas Mining (CSG) in our Sydney Water Catchment, and
State Conservation Land through the Illawarra
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The
industry and exploration of Coal seam gas mining is relatively new in
Australia and so inherits a 'learn on the job' methodology when it
comes to accidents, disasters and hurdles. Let alone the
dangers
of fracking (fracturing the coal seam with immense pressure water and
chemicals) in a region frought with potential subsidence and
risking
the purity of the drinking water rivers.
So
its of great surprise (or perhaps not) that the community had
been kept in the dark over the plans by
Apex Energy, Peabody Pacific's Metropolitan Mine Helensburgh , State
Planning and Wollongong City Council, to drill for coal seam
gas
in the surrounding State conservation areas and the Sydney Water
Catchment .
Natasha Watson uncovered
2006 Apex Energy & Metropolitan Coal plans to build a
large
gas fired power station adjacent to the
Helensburgh Princes Highway Gateway, and letters of Agreement
between Apex Energy and Peabody Metropolitan Coal, including one of
their objectives in a discussion paper dated August 9, 2010 that
though they have a joint agreement for mining and profits, Peabody
requests that their name not be 'publicly' directly linked,
for
fear of any problems, when drilling for gas over the long wall mining
area!
Such
was the fear of public concern that Apex, Peabody and the Department of
Planning agreed to alter the Part 3A major project application of Apex
Energy, until Peaboody Metropolitan Coal Longwall Mining'
Part 3A was approved and announced by Kristina
Keneally.
So approval for 18 holes was temporarily changed to 15 holes,
to
be then amended back to 18 holes after the furore over the
long
wall mining approval died down in the media.
NB. Natural Gas - a 'fossil fuel' gas consistng
primarily of methane formed by organic decomposition , heat
and pressure over thousands of years, is trapped in 'pockets'
beneath the earth's surface all over the world.
Natural Gas is also produced as byproduct of extracting
gasoline/petroleum, once vented due to the difficulty of
trapping, storage and transporting it, its now a viable resource and
transported via pipeline and compression to LNG.
As technology has improved along with the demand for cheaper plentiful
fuel, the methane found naturally within coal seams, in
particularly those already stimulated by previouos coal mining, has
attracted major OS fue companies as well get-rich-quick
cowboys ,due to its relative high return on investment. Red
carpet welcoming by government and light weight legislation has
created a vast and rapidly growing industry across
the country, marking the Australian landscape like small pox
disease.
'Town Gas' the traditional gas supplied to residents was
produced from coal ovens, and as a consequence contained the deadly
carbon monoxide. This domestic fuel has been phased out over
the years and replaced with the methane based 'natural gas'
The Mercury: Residensts Not told of Gas Risks - Sept 20,, 2010
What Lies beneath our
government and our precious Sydney water catchment of Helensburgh? Its not just
the methane gas that has the potential to ruin our beautiful
region.........
The
plans for the station plus 18 drill sites including a test methane bore
on the land right behind
Symbio Wildlife Park, would have come as a great shock to the
local community, except perhaps a select few speculator
landowners and Wollongong City Council planning. And
as of May this year, the power station site is now proposed
just
a bit further down the Princes Highway at Darkes Forest, and the
potential drill holes are scattered across the Metropolitan colliery
workings,under our Sydney Water Catchment Woronora area,
including nearby to the Garrawarra Aged Care Facility, Coal
Seam
Gas bores are planned all the way down the Illawarra
escarpment
through the various colliery tenement s including Huntley Heritage, Sada,
For
decades Council , State Planning , Tourism, Sydney Water and
Conservationists all agreed with the residents of the '2508' district - that the
rainforested land nestled between the Royal National Park south of
Sydney, and the start of the Illawarra escarpment., and the
aquifer plateau of Helensburgh above that sustains it, should be
awarded a conservation zone only second to National parkland. The1990 Wollongong Local
Environment Plan commenced the 7d conservation zone and held strong
despite a 1994 Commission of Inquiry lobbied by developers including
the Walker Corporation, to rezone for development. Residents
and conservators of the surrounding National parks breathed a sigh of
relief that finally Wollongong Council, Sutherland Shire Council, NSW
State Planning were committed to maintaining the high 7D (P1) Hacking
River catchment zoning.
But as we entered a new millenium, so too did we have a shuffle in the
ministry portfolios, chairpersons on Authorities and the germination of
Labor's new planning legislation to remove community , councils and
environment organisations' power to say No.. Any legislation
that hindered the new money making machine has relatively quickly
become an amended bill, proposed and passed, or nominated and
seconded, from new Heritage Council composition to Part 3A
rules all.
A
perfect example is our precious Sydney Water Catchment of Woronora,
which also borders the Garawarra and Heathcote national park. It is not
only suffering from the subsidence effects of Peabody Coal's
Metropolitan - long wall mining approved by Premier Keneally,
the same region is now under the threat of Coal Seam Gas -
methane mining. Though touted with the benefit of less
greenhouse emissions than coal burning for electricity, its method of
extraction comes at a price of 'fracking' - fracturing the
coal layers just 300 or 400m down, pumping massive amounts of water and
chemicals down, and up to the surface again, and hopefully
trucked away for treatment .Unfortunately
despite
the billions of dollars that can be potentially generated by the latent
gas, profits haven't stopped the disaster
of poisoned bore
water
and the now endangered Delaware River in the USA caused by
'fracking', or the dumping of tainted water in the
NSW Hunter Valley
by AGL in its exploration of coal seam gas. ஐ Apex Energy Discussion Paper.
'The billion dollar energy industry
has a dirty little secret...' GasLand documentary - Josh Fox
What
makes the relaxation of the high conservation zoning of the
Helensburgh Hacking River catchment and the carte
blanche
invitation to foreign mining and petroleum companies into our
state conservation and drinking water catchment, suddenly
no longer incredible, is a quick study of the state
government
seats of power and Wolllongong City Council over the past six or seven
years. TIimeline of NSW State Government &
WCC Planning
Who
or what is to really benefit from so much land across NSW being rezoned
for development and infrastructure for coal seam gas
exploration
at such a high price to the environment and communities?
The
proposed nearby drill sites, gas power station and letters of
agreement between Apex Energy and Peabody Metropolitan Colliery -
Helensburgh, all with the DoP Part3A
Director General's signature of approval, certainly make it
clearer why Council is pushing to rezone so much of the the 2508
regions conservation land to industrial. Amazingly too the
NSW
Department of Mineral Resources requested in the Draft
LEP2009 that the SCA lands west of the escarpment be zoned E3
to
permit coal seam methane production - & WCC complied! The
search for cleaner air, accessable and renewable energy sources is a
priority, and producing electricity from an otherwise waste product is
great, BUT not at the risk of our essential drinking water catchment or
endangered Illawarra wildlife. For shame, that our local government
didn't choose, as promised following ICAC in 2008, to be more
transparent and involved with the residential community.
The
residential communities , the end users of Sydney's drinking water
catchment, conservators and guardians of our State and
national
conservation areas - we all NEED TO
KNOW, all
the pros and cons
of this method of energy source exploration, extraction, processing and
distribution. Mining Shareholders, the Director General
&
State Planning Minister should not hold all the information and right
of approval. Its OUR LIVES, OUR WATER, OUR FUTURE
Who
or what is to really benefit from so much land across NSW being rezoned
for development and infrastructure for coal seam gas
exploration
at such a high price to the environment and communities? 
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