Don't Sacrifice Greater Western Sydney to Coal Seam Gas

image of Don't Sacrifice Greater Western Sydney to Coal Seam Gas

Note: Overwhelming community concern has seen the submission deadline extended to 8 February 2013 - that means you still have time to have your say! Learn more...

Just 60km from the heart of central Sydney, there is a grave new threat looming. The residents of Camden and Campbelltown are coming face to face with fracking plans that will change their lives forever, and Greater Western Sydney with its bustling population of 2 million people will be next.

Gas company AGL has plans for 66 new coal seam gas wells around the Scenic Hills area, near Camden and Campbelltown. They are currently ...

Note: Overwhelming community concern has seen the submission deadline extended to 8 February 2013 - that means you still have time to have your say! Learn more...

Just 60km from the heart of central Sydney, there is a grave new threat looming. The residents of Camden and Campbelltown are coming face to face with fracking plans that will change their lives forever, and Greater Western Sydney with its bustling population of 2 million people will be next.

Gas company AGL has plans for 66 new coal seam gas wells around the Scenic Hills area, near Camden and Campbelltown. They are currently seeking approval to drill horizontal wells deep under the ground - the wells can stretch 2.5km beneath suburban homes and residential areas without even seeking permission from the owners of the land above. Nothing is sacred - there are plans to drill beneath environmental protection zones, farms and businesses; and even the Mt Annan Botanic Gardens are not safe.

The proposal is an experiment with the lives and wellbeing of more than 2 million people who live in Greater Western Sydney. In the Tara gasfield, in south-western Queensland, residents living near gasfields have experienced serious health impacts - with children in particular subject to chronic nose and earbleeds, respiratory problems, seizures, headaches, rashes and dizziness.

There is new information from researchers at Southern Cross University which suggests that methane is leaking from gasfields at far greater rates than previously thought. With that methane come many gases which are dangerous to human health. However, there have still been no proper studies done of the health risks from coal seam gas mining and to introduce it into Greater Western Sydney now is a recipe for disaster.

Residential areas and mining don't mix. Not only is human health at risk, but property values will drop and residents will find themselves living in a gasfield with houses that no-one wants to buy - stranded assets and no options is the end game for people caught up in the coal seam gas juggernaut.

The AGL proposal involves the use of fracking and a massive industrialisation of rural and residential areas - the construction of gas well-pads, pipelines, water holding tanks and new roads and an endless procession of trucks moving water and equipment. AGL propose to run their main gas pipeline right beside the Upper Canal which supplies water to Sydney.

This area adjoins the Sydney Drinking Water Catchment, and even AGL have admitted the possibility of impacts on groundwater resulting from their proposal. The lifespan of wells is short, and there is a long history of well failure in similar industries over time.

Send a message to the decision makers, both state and federal, asking them to reject the Camden Gas Project Northern Expansion.

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Make a submission

Use this form to send a submission to the NSW Planning Department objecting to AGL's proposal to expand coal seam gas drilling in Greater Western Sydney. You can add your own comments to the letter too. Your email will be copied to relevant state and federal government representatives because the issue of coal seam gas drilling in our suburbs is too important to ignore.

Please note: Anonymous submissions are not accepted by the Planning Department, to make sure your email submission is counted, please include your physical address where prompted in the letter below!

Also note, it is Departmental policy to place a copy of your submission on the Department's website. Please clearly state in your submission if you would like your name to be withheld from publication. Political donations of over $1000 made in the previous two years must be disclosed. For more information, click here.

Compose your email

Name

Email

Subject:

MY ADDRESS:

Re: Camden Gas Project Stage 3, Project Application 09_0048

Please accept this as a submission on the Camden Gas Project Stage 3 Northern Expansion which is currently on public exhibition. I object to AGL’s project application 09_0048 to drill for coal seam gas in Western Sydney.

Please put the health and wellbeing of the people of Greater Western Sydney above the profits of AGL who plan to expand their gas field around and under people's homes and businesses.

I urge you to reject the proposal by AGL to drill 66 new coal seam gas production wells on the grounds that:

- Reports from Queensland and overseas show that there are serious risks to air quality and human health from unconventional gas drilling. However there have been no detailed studies done to quantify those risks especially in urban areas.  The people of Camden and Campbelltown should not be treated like guinea pigs in a coal seam gas experiment.

- People's homes should not be undermined by coal seam gas drilling without their knowledge or permission.

- Homeowners face declining property values within and adjoining coal seam gas fields with some estimating house values may fall up to 30%.

- The integrity of gas wells can't be guaranteed and research from gas fields in Queensland and the US has shown many fail in their first few year. This will leave the community to deal with the impact of leaking wells on air quality and local water supplies.

- New research from Southern Cross University on methane gas leaks from coal seam gas fields has not been considered in the proposal. AGL has not conducted these studies to account for methane leakage on their existing coal seam gas wells.

- Despite research from the Queensland and the US suggesting ground water contamination and gas leaks from fracking, the proposal by AGL will allow fracking.

- The impacts of horizontal drilling have not been adequately considered in the Environmental Assessment.
 
- There are alternatives to coal seam gas, including renewable energy which can offer energy security without the unacceptable environmental and health risks posed by coal seam gas extraction.

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