Award winning author Sharyn Munro, will be speaking at the Maules Creek Hall on Friday 1.2.2013 at 7.30.

Sharyn is the author of the book “Rich Land,  Waste Land” that contains stories from mine affected communities in the Hunter Valley and Queensland.  A brief bio of Sharyn can be found here.

Sharyn’s experience of coal and gas companies and the stress that it places on local communities will be of great benefit to the residents of Maules Creek.

Books can be purchased and signed after the presentation.

Gold coin donation.

Check Sharyns blog at http://sharynmunro.com/

Jonathan Moylan meets with ASIC today. ASIC have been urged by a wide range of commentators to throw the book at him although legal opinion varies as to which page that will be. The fact that Jono’s spoof was publicizing a cause, that he is not part of a corporation and that he didn’t profit financially leaves serious questions as to our democracy and the right to freedom of speech.

Freedom of speech is a tricky thing and it’s not just the tech savvy activist who are inclined to take liberties with the truth.

When the current Premier of NSW asked us to trust that “the next Liberal/National government will ensure that mining cannot occur … in any water catchment area … no ifs, no buts, a guarantee” many including the NSW National Party would have taken him at his word. As Sydney’s drinking water catchment is being targeted by longwall mining and CSG exploration, the Liberal/National government is standing idly by.

                Photo with permission: Getup! Action for Australia

Yet there are no tabloid calls that the comments are “un-Australian”, there are no howls of derision from the Minerals Council and there are no calls on ASIC to investigate unwelcome price movements to ASX listed property trusts or to the property market generally, based on the widely reported comments.

Like Jono Moylan, the former opposition leader made these comments to further his cause and the statements were made in the media and not formally to the ASX. Unlike Jonathan Moylan, these statements helped him to become Premier of NSW and in doing so benefitted him financially.

However “no ifs, no buts, a guarantee” is unlikely to move ASIC and even falsely made market sensitive information can be missed by the corporate watchdog.

Adam Schwab’s book Pigs at the Trough, lessons from Australia’s decade of corporate greed documents the high profile collapses of ABC Learning and Allco Finance.

Further information in his recent article in Crikey One set of rules for the powerful, another for coal activists, Schwab outlines how “large corporations provided misleading information to shareholders” and “executives personally benefited from their illicit actions”.

The reported costs to shareholders were of massive proportions. Schwab goes on to say that despite mis-stating liabilities to the tune of $2.1 billion dollars “ASIC has never taken any criminal action against any director of collapsed Allco Finance Group”. Neither have any of the directors of failed ABC Learning been criminally convicted and that “the charges were quietly dropped last year”.

The ABC Learning collapse required the federal government to chip in $22 million to keep former ABC child care centers afloat. The whole debacle cost mum and dad investors, childcare customers and the Federal Government big time, however the alleged perpetrators got away scot free.

Taken in this context the alleged charges against Jonathan Moylan look more like a witch hunt than a serious move by the regulators.

The real story of Jonathan Moylan’s hoax was the fact that he successfully used the tactics of the rich and powerful and he used them to expose to the wider public the Maules Creek Project for what it is, a huge open cut coal mine in an environmentally sensitive biodiversity hotspot being financed by ANZ. One would think more akin to a third world country.

Since then new evidence has emerged as to the biodiversity offsets package regarding this mine. The report uncovers misleading and inaccurate statements provided to planning authorities as to the size, condition and composition of vegetation on the offset properties. The findings mean that the offsets do not and cannot meet the guidelines required for EPBC approval.

The timing of the hoax has  focusd attention on the approval role of Environment Minister Tony Burke. Minister Burke has the information and if he is fit to hold his office and properly administer environmental law, he will reject the Maules Creek Coal Mine.

MEDIA RELEASE, 19 January 2013

Northwest NSW politician and cycling koalas tell Santos: get ‘on ya bike’ and drop the Gunnedah project

Victoria Square Adelaide, Saturday January 19, 11.30am

• Santos’ toxic coal seam gas operations threaten Eastern Australia’s largest temperate woodland.

• Tour Down Under cyclists get clean water; NSW farmers want the same.

Cycling koalas have joined NSW politician and grazier David Quince and cyclists from around Australia to ride around Adelaide this morning to protest Santos’s destructive and toxic coal seam gas operations in Eastern Australia’s largest remaining temperate woodland and surrounding farmlands.

The Koala peloton an unsanctioned prologue to the Santos-sponsored Tour Down Under cycling race will circle Victoria Square from 11.30am before heading to Santos’s headquarters in Flinders Street.

“As far as we’re concerned, the real cycle that Santos is bringing to our region is a cycle of destruction from coal seam gas that will alienate some of our best farmland, risk our groundwater supplies and cause land values to plummet,” said David Quince, a NSW grazier and Gunnedah Shire Councillor.

“I have traveled to Adelaide to highlight how this project threatens the Liverpool plains, an iconic and important NSW food bowl.

The Wilderness Society’s Naomi Hogan said, “We’re cycling here today with a very different route to Santos, one that puts our communities, clean water and a healthy environment first.

“We have the greatest respect for this cycling event, but we don’t respect Santos efforts to sink gas wells in the Pilliga forest and risk the water supply of the Great Artesian Basin.

“We are here with a message for Santos ‘get on ya bike’ and leave our forest home free from your dangerous gas rigs, spills and leaking pipes.

“National treasures such as the Pilliga, which draw people from all around the world are now threatened by Santos’ gas drilling plans. Even the koala, recognised as a symbol of Australia internationally, faces an uncertain future if coal seam gas rolls out across the region.

An artists impression by Kate Auld of the Leard State Forest with the three open cut coal mines in full operation.

From left to right Tarrawonga Coal Mine, Boggabri Coal Mine and Maules Creek Coal Mine.

The stark impression shows the devastation that is to come.

Since this mock up was put together a new expansion of the Tarrawonga mine (bottom left)  will take out the vegetation in the bottom central section.

This glimpse of the future shows the ridiculous nature of the multiple land use policy of the State Government and the lip service that it pays to environmental values.

As part of the consent conditions, the narrow strip of vegetation between the mines is proposed as a wildlife corridor that will “improve” biodiversity values by linking the Pilliga to the Nandewar Range.

Even the PAC identified that this strip of vegetation will quickly die out as it is isolated from normal surface water flows thereby reducing soil water availability. Noise from the machinery and dust laden foliage will be added problems for wildlife negotiating the corridor.

Yet the PAC accepted the view that this corridor will be affective. While a nice idea for decision makers, the notion that the wildlife corridor  will improve biodiversity values on the existing forest is plainly wrong.

Furthermore, once mining is complete, the huge pits left in the former mine sites post mining will fill with toxic coal seam water and likely poison all wildlife. There is no database of evidence that shows  any successful mine rehabilitation in the state of NSW or in our nation and it is very unlikely that the mine rehabilitation in the Leard Forest area will return the forest to its pre-mining state.

This fact is tacitly admitted by the PAC as it has approved all three mining projects without any mine rehabilitation plans being in place.

This short 2 to 3 min film featuring Brian Monk from the Tara Estates highlights all that is wrong with CSG, particularly after wells were fracked in the area.

Brian shows gas vapours rising from water drawn from his water bore. The skin rashes on his grand children after bathing in that water and describes how his stock will no longer drink that water.

The video shows gas bubbles emerging from the ground in puddles that had formed after rain. It also shows gas bubbles rising in the Condamine River.

Its all here in this short film; Unaccounted methane emissions, water contamination and health impacts. These impacts are likely to be very expensive in the end.

Investors take note. The science isn’t in on this risky industry and it won’t be long before sweeping class actions take the proponents and the government to task.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8vszsma9ri75z72/qmgXq3CpRg/Brian%20Monk%20Short%20CSG%20Film.avi – 21 MB

Climate Change Scientists have put us on a “war footing” as the climate conference in Doha that winds up this weekend confirmed that climate change is tracking well above the worst case scenarios developed less than a decade ago.

Among the impacts of sea level rise, drought and extreme weather, IPCC modeling predicts that  40 -70% of all species on the planet will become extinct as the average temperature increase exceeds 3.5 degrees. It is morally indefensible to continue down the current path.

Doha shows that it is insufficient for our corporate and political leaders to claim metaphorically that “they were only following orders” from their shareholders or party factional leaders. It is clear that all individuals including the institutional investor and the lowly backbencher must take personal responsibility for their actions and non-actions regarding our climate.

The keynote address from the IPCC chair Dr R.K. Pachauri, goes on to say fossil fuel energy use is responsible for 85% of anthropogenic  CO2 emissions produced annually.

Australia is a leading player in this regard. The miracle economy that proudly survived the global financial crisis by producing 35% of world coal exports is helping to take the planet toward the rocks at breakneck speed.

It is a tide that is difficult to turn. In a very short time our economy has been transformed to our detriment from a mixed economy to one increasingly dependent on the export of fossil fuels.

Individuals, community and church groups across the spectrum are telling our political players that they must come to a consensus to reduce carbon emissions wherever it has the power to do so.

The response from the NSW Government and the fossil fuels industry is to dig in, to deny responsibility and to expand an industry that is not in humanities best interests.  These people continue to plan to profit from a world that simply won’t exist in 30 years time.

Yet, the economics of prevention is more cost effective if we act now. There is opportunity to further reform our policy settings at many levels. In particular, subsidies to the fossil fuels industries are an inappropriate driver of investment activity when a country goes to war for its climate.

None of us are “bystanders” in this story. It is time for individuals from within government, industry and the public to come forward and to speak out. The shocking revelations exposed by ICAC show what happens when good men and women do nothing.

Unfortunately there is no likelihood of any significant binding agreements from the Doha conference. For good or for bad, the part played by Australia will come down to individuals. From the motivations of the opposition leader Tony Abbott to the deliberations of the NSW Planning Assessment Commissioners, the dice is being spun and we must play our roles to intervene, only then can good triumph in the end.

MEDIA RELEASE – Tue 27/11/2012 3.30 PM

THREE GUNNEDAH CHURCH LEADERS CALL FOR PROTECTION OF FARMLAND FROM MINING

Three church leaders in Gunnedah have expressed “grave concern about the impact of some proposed mining activity on productive agricultural land and environmentally significant areas.”

Rev. John Brentnall of the Uniting Church, Fr. Ron Perrett, of the Catholic Church, and Pastor Neville Mammen of the Christian Outreach Centre, have this week issued a joint statement appealing for greater protection for the farmlands and sensitive environments of the Gunnedah and Liverpool Plains area, a statement supported by three of their four church councils.

They emphasise that Christian tradition includes “caring for creation”, and an awareness of humankind’s duty to provide wise stewardship of the earth, pointing out that “respect for nature and ecological responsibility are key parts of our faith.”

They express concern  about the danger that “the proposed coal mines and coal seam gas fields will have an irreversible damaging impact on the soil, water, environment, and people of our region”.  They call for protection of water resources, and for keeping some areas strictly for sustainable agriculture and food production.

This statement is only one of a number of recent expressions of concern by Church leaders in various parts of Australia, about the impact of mining on farmland and natural areas.

The Gunnedah ministers have based their statement on a similar call issued 3 years ago jointly by the Anglican and Catholic Bishops of Toowoomba, and the Uniting Church leader in that area

In September this year, the Anglican Bishop of Gippsland, John McIntayre, expressed doubts about the safety of coal seam gas extraction, and called for the Victorian Government to test the environmental impact of extraction methods.

The Catholic religious women’s order, the Sisters of St. Joseph, have joined other religious congregations in opposing a  rapid increase in coal-seam gas exploration in Australia.  Their Canberra-based Josephite Justice Office has stated that “the rapid increase in licenses for exploration and mining of coal-seam gas has enormous implications for our farmers, farmlands, and rural communities as well as cities such as Sydney” – referring to proposals to mine coal-seam gas in Sydney suburbs such as St. Peters and Roseberry.

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TO MEDIA – FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, please contact:

Rev.John Brentnall, Uniting Church – 6742 1404 (m) 0410 650 045

Fr.Ron Perrett ,Catholic Church – 6742 0200, or (m) 0402 246 384

Pastor Neville Mammen ,Christian Outreach Centre -6742 4009  (m) 0427 005 542

Farmer,supporting above statement,who is  concerned re impact of mining on farming in Gunnedah region:

Xavier Martin Mullaley   Fax 6743 7839     (m) 0428 255 736

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FULL STATEMENT ON NEXT PAGE:

STATEMENT  ISSUED by 3 Gunnedah Church leaders  ON THE MINING-FARMING ISSUE

by Gunnedah Catholic Priest, Fr. Ron Perrett and Liverpool Plains Uniting Church Minister Rev. John Brentnall, also Gunnedah Christian Outreach Pastor Neville Mammen, with the support of the Gunnedah Catholic and Quirindi-Werris Creek Uniting Church Councils and Christian Outreach Centre Church Board (accompanied by an additional statement by Pastor Neville Mammen)

Caring for creation is a strong part of Christian tradition.  We believe that we are called to be wise stewards of the earth.  In terms of our fragile planet, we are facing an ecological crisis.  Respect for nature and ecological responsibility are key parts of our faith.

As communities of faith we stand in solidarity with those farmers who fear for their security and future way of life at this time.  We also understand the contribution of mining and the generation of electricity to economic activity in our region.

We have a particular perspective on development, which centres on the human person, the family and the community.  When we consider future planning or development, our primary question would be – “What is happening to the PEOPLE?”- rather than – “What is happening to the ECONOMY?”.

With a growing population, we believe it is important to protect land that has a history of sustainable food production.

We have concerns that the proposed coal mines and coal seam gas fields will have an irreversible damaging impact on the soil, water, environment and people of our region.  

For generations farmers of our district have produced food for the wider Australian and international communities.  They have adapted their practices to ensure that future families can also live from and with the land.  Our hope is that decisions made on the future use of these areas are based on the common good of all humanity.

We have great concerns about the impact of some proposed mining activity on prime productiveagricultural land and high conservation value forests in our region.

We support calls for aStrategic Regional Land Use Plan to clearly identify areas that could be mined and others, which should be kept strictly for sustainable agriculture and food production and high conservation areas.  We believe it is essential that our water resources are protected.  We also want to see important natural areas placed off-limits to mining.

//////// issued by:       Rev.John Brentnall, Uniting Church – 6742 1404 (m) 0410 650 045 ; Fr. Ron Perrett ,Catholic Church – 6742 0200, (m) 0402 246 384; Pastor Neville Mammen ,Christian Outreach Centre -6742 4009  (m) 0427 005 542

You may be aware that a coal seam gas (CSG) company has recently approached a land holder in this area offering a financial inducement to allow the company to drill for CSG on their land. The land holder did not agree. In the event you are approached you may find the following helpful.

If a CSG company seeks access to your land you should proceed with the utmost caution.

1. Check with your insurance company if your policies would cover gas drilling activities on your land. Gas extraction is a high risk operation. Would your public liability, work cover and other insurances remain valid?
2. Ask to see their legally-binding contractual liability in the event of water, soil, animal, wildlife and environmental contamination. (Not just a verbal assurance from the company representative). Require that adequate security be provided against such damage. Are you signing up to a shelf company with limited assets and unable to pay in such an event?
3. As a land holder, if you invite a CSG company on to your land, be aware the chain of responsibility regarding liability changes and you may well be liable for damage incurred to others property as a result.
4. Check with a reliable real estate agent how your property would be devalued by having CSG wells and the associated infrastructure (pipeline corridors, access roads, compressor stations, power poles, etc). Consider the reduced saleability to prospective purchasers.
5. Ask for a full list and the Material Safety Data Sheet on all the chemicals and additives used in the drilling mud and fracking fluid. Precisely what would be the chemical compounds which would be brought onto and injected into your land and groundwater.
6. The NSW government has not established or imposed any or any sufficient standards or regulations for the extraction of CSG. The NSW government does not even know what chemical compounds are used in the drilling and hydraulic fracturing. Nor does it require them to be disclosed.
7. 8. Request in writing, the projected total number of wells if the initial drilling is successful. Also ask for a map of proposed pipeline corridors, well access roads, location of compressor stations, power poles and other infrastructure.
8. Research the history of the company involved; records of safety, transparency and commitment to environmental repair.
9. If you decide to speak with a CSG company representative, do not do so on your own land. Do so on neutral territory or in your solicitor’s office. In any case have a reliable witness present and keep a record of the conversation.
10. Seek legal advice before talking to a CSG company. Take your legal advice from someone of your choosing and require the CSG company to pay for the advice and your time. After all, these are costs incurred as a result of their approach and are not a normal part of your business.
11. It would also be a very fair and honourable course of action to meet with all land holders in your vicinity before you make any commitment to a CSG company. As a consequence of your invitation to bring any CSG activity to your land those in the vicinity would suffer the effect of dust, noise, traffic, light, general industrialisation, and be exposed to the risks of above ground and underground chemical contamination without any “compensation” as well as loss of land value and saleability.
12. If you agree to have CSG drilling on your property and have bore water, ask for baseline testing before they start drilling. This testing should include comprehensive water quality sampling (including bacterial tests), a flow rate/ recharge test and standing water height measurements. Make sure that they will “make good”, in a written document, if or when your bores fail. Be aware of your rights in this matter. Also, request baseline tests of methane in your area.
13. Refuse to sign a “non-disclosure” contract or “confidentiality clause”. Companies do not like landowners discussing comparisons of payments as they prefer a divide and conquer advantage.

If you have already signed an agreement for access with a CSG company, you may be entitled to retract the agreement.

Authorised by the Mullaley Gas and Pipeline Accord, The Black Stump Way, Mullaley. NSW 2379

The Department of Planning has recommended that the Tarrawonga Coal mine expansion is approved despite serious issues with the mine and its preferred project plan.

The open cut mine project plan includes the re-routing of Goonbri Creek, an important source of ground water for the Boggabri Township, further impacting Leard State Forest and leaving a 55 Ha Toxic groundwater sump rather than fully remediating the site.

This is a typical project plan from Whitehaven. Like the nearby Maules Creek project, Whitehaven plan to leave a giant hole in the ground to fill with heavy metals and toxic ground water over the coming century’s.

Filling in these holes is the cost of doing business for mining in the 21^st century but Whitehaven and the Department of Planning are handing these costs over to the environment and the community to bear in perpetuity when the company moves on.

The PAC ordered Boggabri Coal to fill their pit in, but Whitehaven are not forced to do so. We will be writing to the Independent Scientific Committee to ensure that Whitehaven pay for their impact on the ground water resources and the environment for all their projects.

Unlike the adjacent Maules Creek and the Boggabri Coal projects, the Tarrawonga extension will be subject to full merits appeal rights in the Land and Environment Court. This highlights the inconsistency of the Planning Process under Planning Minister Brad Hazzard.

This haphazard approach to planning gives us no confidence in the new regime at all. Why Maules Creek and Boggabri are excluded from the Land and Environment Court and Tarrawonga included when the cumulative environmental impacts are so severe will be the subject of future inquiries. Watch this space.

Note:

•  PAC Meeting at Boggabri Golf Club – Friday 14.12.2012 9.30 AM,
• Commissioners, Gabrielle Kibble, Joe woodward and Brian Gilligan presiding
• Register for submissions before 1 PM Tuesday 11.12.2012

The concept of  State Forest in NSW rival the disgraceful Clean Air and Clean Water Act in the US. The title being a parody of the real intent of the legislation.

Forests NSW are a joke. This former government department turned corporation, failed to properly manage our forests for timber, initially over allocating timber resources and then watching on as mining decimate their assets.

There is a public duty for State Forests and Conservation Areas to be preserved and not destroyed. Yet mining, including open cut mining is permitted. This is not a conservation system but a mineral reserve system that allows wholesale destruction of the environment if this is the most profitable option.

The scene below would be expected in a third world country, with the high prevalence of foreign companies profiting from the host countries environmental degradation.

Coal miner Idemitsu, is 100% Japanese owned, clearing our forests, taking our coal for $8 per tonne royalty and wreaking havoc on our climate. All this while conflicting and corrupting our state governments for a relative pittance while our economy is burdened by abnormally high exchange rates.

Thanks for coming.