Coal and gas found at Putty

Coal and gas found at Putty, licence out of date, legal advice, Putty mining exclusion zone campaign, counter advertising campaign, video links, inquiry deadline extended, petition links

Dart Energy is currently drilling a core hole 500 metres from the World Heritage Wollemi National Park and within the Hawkesbury Nepean catchment area.

Dart Energy confirmed they found coal at 625m and they have found gas but quantity is unknown and they are not sure if it is methane or carbon dioxide at this stage. Technical information is not known for three months. A report is given to the government which is not released for two years. However, Jason said key information will be made available to the community after three months.

Dart Energy owns Petroleum Exploration Licence (PEL) 460 which was up for renewal in July and the NSW Government is still deciding the terms and conditions of renewal.

The PCA has received legal advice that drilling may ultimately breach Section 41 of the National Parks & Wildlife Act 1974.

This week letters have been sent to appropriate ministers to request meetings about having Putty declared a ‘sensitive area’ where mining and coal seam gas should not occur, because, in brief:

•           Putty is a catchment area for the Hawkesbury Nepean

•           It is surrounded by World Heritage National Parks, one of which is the location of the Wollemi pine forest.

•           The area has a high risk of natural disasters - bush fires and flash floods

•           Preservation of the heritage of the area

•           Increased traffic

Advertising Campaign

The coal seam gas industry has launched an advertising campaign to try to convince the public to embrace the huge planned expansion of gas wells and fracking in NSW and Queensland.

You can help take the community campaign against coal seam gas across the country with a small contribution to put this video on air: www.getup.org.au/campaigns/coal-seam-gas/csg-ad/dont-risk-csg

Here's a Bigtos (not Santos) commercial starring Frack Man, Dayne Pratzky. It gives you a real picture of gas mining. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y22Mka7h5vA

Inquiry Deadline Extended

The General Purpose Standing Committee undertaking the Coal Seam Gas Inquiry has extended the deadline for submissions by one week. Submissions are now due by Wednesday 14 September. A guide to preparing a submission can be found at http://www.jeremybuckingham.org/?page_id=694

Petitions

Another 2000 signatures are needed on the Lock the Gate petition to reach the target of 10,000. http://www.jeremybuckingham.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/CSG-Petition.pdf

Get Up’s Stop Coal Seam Gas petition has over 65,000 signatures. www.getup.org.au/campaigns/coal-seam-gas/petition/stop-coal-seam-gas

7 September 2011 – Sydney Morning Herald
Mining shadow cast over new national park

Six biobanking deals, under which developments in sensitive areas take place in exchange for the preservation of threatened sensitive areas somewhere else, have now taken place, the budget papers confirm. http://www.smh.com.au/environment/-1jv99.html

5 September 2011 - Sydney Morning Herald

The coal seam gas industry is about to launch an advertising blitz to try to convince the public to embrace the huge planned growth of gas wells and fracking in NSW and Queensland. Activists had written yesterday to the NSW Energy Minister, Chris Hartcher, asking him not to renew Petroleum Exploration Licence 463, covering metropolitan Sydney.

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/ad-campaign-aims-to-put-industry-view-on-fracking-20110904-1jsdr.html