Groundwater depletion as El Nino returns

The Liberal Party may have a clever media strategy but broken promises will not be ignored; the Green’s Jeremy Buckingham reports on a Frack Finding Tour of the US; and as the NSW government gives mining companies permission to deplete our groundwater is El Nino back?

Responsible Mining Bill

The Green’s Responsible Mining Bill aims to empower councils to make the final decision about mining and gas development and to introduce no-go zones where mining, gas and other extractive industries will not be permitted including

Licence renewals, Strategic Land Use Policy released

Dart Energy's PEL 460 which covers the southern area of Putty has now been offered for renewal by the NSW Government along with many other expired petroleum exploration licences. The government has also quietly released the final version of the Strategic Land Use Policy.

Court interrupts Fullerton Cove drilling

Fullerton Cove NSW courtesy of Callum Rigby

A COURT has ordered Dart Energy to temporarily halt test drilling for coal seam gas (CSG) at Fullerton Cove, near Newcastle, but the energy firm says it may still be able to keep to its timetable. Fullerton Cove residents applied to the Land and Environment Court for a temporary injunction to stop drilling at the site as they prepare for a court battle in which they will try to have the project spiked altogether.

CSIRO rejects mining industry claims about CSG

Gas well at Camden

CSIRO rejects the claim made in a television commercial aired on Sunday 2 September that ‘CSIRO [and government studies] have shown that groundwater is safe with coal seam gas’.

At no time has CSIRO made such a statement, and nor do the results of CSIRO research support such a statement.