The Pilliga

Kill area in The Pilliga

This morning I met Tony Pickard for a tour of the Pilliga Forest. He showed me coal seam gas wells and what he calls ‘kill areas’, where water has escaped and killed the vegetation. Most of the spills happened when Eastern Star Gas held the licence and Santos, the current licencee has covered the spill areas with woodchip but evidence of salt can still be seen. In an attempt to dilute the salts thick irrigation pipes lie on the ground but some believe this just spreads the ‘kill area’. Trees in the area continue to die and the cypress pine and bull oaks are not coming back but some iron barks and gums remain. Noxious weeds, such as galvanised burr flourish in some of these areas.

Tony believes in respecting the miners’ rights to be in The Pilliga. He is polite and obliging to them as this way he gets to see what is going on. He encourages other people to do the same otherwise the public may be locked out and therefore unable to see what is going on. He advises visitors to do the following –

·         - If it’s fenced, don’t go in

·         - Stay away if its wet

·         - Drive a high clearance car

·         - Watch out for emus, roos and other vehicles including big trucks

·         - Keep on the correct side of the road – there are many blind sandy corners

·         - Weekends are the safest time to visit as there is not so much traffic

I was surprised at the size of the well pads in The Pilliga as they cover a hectare whereas in Camden they are much smaller. Other infrastructure is massive – huge holding ponds, pumping stations and tanks. I also was surprised to see a number of flares.

Five workers testing a well

Observations in The Pilliga –

·         - the smell of hydrogen sulphide came from a super large tank that appeared to have no cover;

·        - a smaller tank near a well made lots of noise and again we could smell hydrogen sulphide;

·         - five workers in three vehicles appeared to be testing a well;

·         - most trees near the kill areas were under stress;

·         - a huge truck travelling in the middle of the road;

·         - a miner travelling way over the speed limit of 60km per hour around a blind sandy corner.

·         - signs of salt in the soil

·         - the light, chalky substance which had been used to close off an old well

When we were looking at a new pad for a well a Santos vehicle pulled up behind us. Tony got out of his car and they photographed him, which did not worry him. He told me he only takes photos of the landscape and if people are in it he makes sure they cannot be identified.

After this tour I drove to Narrabri and visited Santos office. I was assured by one of their hydrogeologists that coal seam gas mining would not affect the GAB or the recharge areas. When I said I was surprised by the amount of infrastructure built when no production licence had been granted I was told they still had not proved there was enough gas for commercial purposes and they would need to drill another 40 wells to do so. The waste water would go to the Leewood Produced Water Facility, a massive dam on private property west of the Newell Highway. It will then be treated. Some of the water can be used by industry and what was left over would go to a disposal place in Newcastle.

We agreed that there is a lack of scientific evidence published by an independent source and available to the public on the accumulative impacts on water resources by miners and farmers. 

The above are brief notes on all I have seen today. I have loads of study material and recordings to go through yet.

Santos offer tours of their operations in The Pilliga and the next one is around 22 May. Call 6792 9035 to check date and availability.

The Plundering of the Pilliga & Leard Forests and the Surrounding Farmlands is a book written and published by Pat Schultz. It has information on these areas and a suggested 1-3 day self drive tour routes. Tag-along-tours are also available. Ring Pat 0428 725 852.

Denise is much better and may join me in Queensland as I have decided to continue driving north.