Do You Need a Gas Lawyer?

Queensland grazier Joe Hill only used a solicitor twice to write letters to CSG companies. The first one was to QCG about drilling in the melon hole country and having pits for the drilling sludge which could flow anywhere. He advised QGC that if any of the sludge came onto his property through the melon holes he would hold them responsible.

Melon holes (called gilgais in New South Wales) are natural depressions in clay soil varying in size, with a depth of six inches to six feet. During rain, they fill up with water and flow from one to the other, becoming a water course. Melon holes and gilgais are found from Northern New South Wales up to Emerald in Queensland. The Queensland Department of Environment & Heritage Protection (EHP) www.ehp.qld.gov.au maintains that melon holes are not a water course. Gas drilling is not allowed within 200m of a water course.

Keep Miners Off Your Property

Most people try to avoid lawyers because of the costs but when a CSG company approaches a landholder for access to their property they are advised by the gas companies to seek legal advice. Queensland grazier Jo Hill disagrees.

‘Why spend good, hard earned money on a solicitor when you can put up a no trespass sign for $150. The gas companies have signs on their freehold country so if it’s good enough for them it’s good enough for me. When a gas company rings up, you say, “You know my address, put it in writing,” and hang up the phone. You haven’t got to talk to them and they can’t make you. If you don’t want to sign an agreement they can’t force you to, and it is not an offence not to sign one. We’ve got all the right, they have no right.’

Joe Hill says NO to CSG

Joe Hill, an Angus cattle breeder from Miles, has been arguing with gas companies and government agencies since 2009 when gas test wells were first drilled in the area. Despite four companies attempting to put wells and infrastructure on his 2,000 acre property, it is one of the few in the area still gas free. I interviewed Joe on my recent trip to Queensland and this is the first in a series of blogs from that interview and from subsequent research and telephone conversations. Joe’s determination to keep gas companies off his land has resulted in a bend in a gas pipeline being named after him.

Mental Health & CSG

Roma man camp

‘The mental and financial stress of having a mining company knocking on your door is phenomenal, and not recognised,’ said Chinchilla resident, Karen Auty. ‘As a number of mining companies may have licences over different parts of the same property, some landholders have several coal or gas companies to negotiate with. They may negotiate with one company and then another takes over and they have to start again. This may go on for years.’

Landholders have been bullied into making quick decisions and threatened with legal action they simply cannot afford. Signing or not signing with a mining company will bring on the wrath of some neighbours or family. A divide and conquer strategy has worked for many years for big business.

Health Impacts of CSG

People living on lifestyle blocks of 30 to 800 acres just out of Tara in Queensland have been impacted the most by the CSG industry. As some of these blocks are off the grid, houses are powered by solar energy. The blocks are mostly too small to produce an income but owners run a few horses or cattle and grow their own vegetables.

‘Adults, who are sensitive receptors, and most children living in this area, have experienced nose bleeds, headaches, sore eyes, skin rashes and in some cases neuropathy,’ said Karen Auty. ‘A three year old boy runs around normally, then suddenly his limbs go limp, like a rag doll, sometimes lasting for 30 seconds or 20 minutes. The same child has lots of nose bleeds. Some people have breathing difficulties, which may bring on asthma, heart attacks or epilepsy which has not been experienced before.’

Noise & Air Pollution

'Beneficial water' is pumped into the dam
 in the distance for irrigation

Karen Auty from Chinchilla describes the noise generated by the infrastructure. ‘A gas well sits in a paddock on an acre or half an acre block of land that has been cleared, fenced and the ground pounded to give vehicles access. A metal box, like a garden shed, sits beside it housing a couple of diesel generators to keep the gas well going. Some of these are quite close to people’s homes. At night it’s very quiet in the bush so the noise is amplified and it doesn’t stop. You can’t turn the television up high enough and when you want to sleep you have to close your windows. Imagine having three or four noisy diesel engines running every night, 24 hours a day at your neighbour’s place. A gas well is a small piece of infrastructure.’

CSG and the governments revolving door

Yesterday the Sydney Morning Herald published and article by investigations editor, Anne Davies, into state and federal governments' staff and politicians moving into the gas industry and senior staff from gas companies moving into advising roles for ministers. Click here 

When I travelled in Queensland this was an issue that was brought up often. It is commonly believed that the gas companies in Queensland wrote the legislation, handed it to the government and they adopted it. Politicians and government staff know the loopholes and how to get legislation through. The rewards offered are staggering, according to one person I met who had been approached by a mining company. If you have no ethics it’s hard to refuse, but they did.