Results of Santos’ environmental study

AN ENVIRONMENTAL impact statement produced by Santos concluded that the Narrabri Gas Project could proceed “safely with minimal and manageable risk to the environment”.

The key findings of the EIS were:

Water available to farmers and the community will be unaffected.

Drilling will be carried out safely using the NSW Well Integrity Code of Practice which has been reviewed by the NSW chief scientist and engineer.

Significant impacts on threatened and endangered flora and fauna will be avoided.

Aboriginal cultural heritage sites will be protected.

The project will coexist with current land uses including agriculture and forestry.

There will be substantial economic benefits to the local area including 1300 jobs during construction and 200 ongoing jobs.

A regional benefit fund of up to $120 million will support local community programs, and royalties of around $1.2 billion will be generated for NSW. The EIS also had a detailed section about water:

The water extracted is not the water accessed by local agricultural or community bores and is not from the Great Artesian Basin.

It comes from coal seams much deeper underground (500–1200 metres) and is salty.

Geologically, the rock formations in this area isolate those coal seams from the water used by farmers and the community.

The government assesses water sources and then sets sustainable extraction limits.

The project is projected to extract an average of

1.5 gigalitres of water per year. This equates to about 1 per cent of the sustainable extraction limit of the water source targeted.

All of the water extracted will be licensed by the government, as is the case for any other user.

The water extracted will be desalinated so the majority can be reused for purposes like irrigation.

The salt remaining after the treatment process will be disposed of in accordance with environmental regulations.

The EIS project overview said Santos was seeking approval to drill up to 850 wells on 425 sites in the project area in and around the Pilliga.

“The project area is mostly (around 60 per cent) on state land in a section of the Pilliga set aside by the NSW Government for uses including logging and extractive industries.”