AS two mining companies encroach on the Gloucester Valley, residents have invited the Minister of Planning to come and listen to the widespread concerns held by the communities.
Plans for AGL coal seam gas mines and an expansion of the Stratford Duralie coal mine have residents worried about the impacts they will have on the environment and human health.
Deputy chairperson for the Barrington Gloucester Stroud Preservation Alliance, Graeme Healy said while there are many concerns, the main one is regarding the culmination of two mining giants in the one area.
“Each project on its own may appear insignificant, but the accumulative impact is quite excessive,” Mr Healy said.
“No one seems to have addressed this or the massive impact and change it will have on the community.”
AGL refuted this claim.
“This was considered as part of the cumulative impacts and provided the recommended safeguards are put into place then no significant impact is expected,” a spokesperson for AGL said.
The impact on the water system was a particular concern, Mr Healy said, as extracting the gas requires drilling near underground aquifers and producing water that is yet to be proven safe to release back into the waterways.
“We want a full hydrological study carried out before any plans are approved. If it proves that there’ll be no impact on the waterways then they can proceed,” Mr Healy said.
AGL said this was a core part of the Environmental Assessment (EA) and that they had commissioned a consultancy firm to undertake a hydrological study within the Gloucester basin.
Duralie Coal confirmed in a press release late last year they would continue to store the water produced from the mines.
“The people of Gloucester Valley and downstream areas to Karuah and Port Stephens can be reassured of the company’s commitment to achieving the highest standard of environmental performance which will not be compromised by the Duralie mine extension,” Gloucester Coal CEO Barry Tudor said.
Another concern Mr Healy said, is that not many people were aware about what was happening.
“We need to highlight that gas and coal are one the move. We are hoping to hold a public meeting soon to generate as much public response and comment for the proposed expansion of the Stratford mine,” Mr Healy said.
“While there is a core group that has always been concerned, the problem is it’s a large area and right now the mining is a little bit far away, people are slow to realise that it’s getting closer and closer every day.”
Mr Healy said that while AGL had been quite good at trying to engage the public, many things had been left unaccounted for.
“There has been a lot of public relations from AGL, but the EA was a huge document of 2000 pages, with only a month to go through it,” Mr Healy said.
“For the average person they were snowed by the information and impressed with what they read, but with a little more knowledge there are in fact significant concerns and gaps in the information.”
The draft plan for the first stage of an AGL coal seam gas mine was on exhibition last month.
The plan outlined opening a gas field between Gloucester and Stratford, with plans to establish a gas processing facility, just outside of Stratford.
From that facility, a gas pipeline would run either side of Stratford, between Dungog and Stroud, through to Hexham, where a delivery station would be built to transfer the gas.
Soon after this, the draft plans to expand the Stratford Duralie Coal Mine located between Stroud and Stratford went on exhibition.
Mr Healy said the alliance is waiting to hear back from the NSW Minister for Planning.
The Duralie Coal extension project is on exhibition at Great Lakes Council chambers in Forster and Stroud and will be open for public submission until March 15.
What is coal
seam gas?
COAL seam gas (CSG) is a natural gas found in coal seams.
CSG is extracted by drilling a well into the coal seam and fracturing it with high-pressure water and sand.
Water is then pumped out, leaving sand in the fractures, allowing gas to flow from the coal seam to the well.
A net work of gas production wells are connected to a buried pipeline that transports the gas to a central processing facility before sending it to the market.
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