Agricultural
4 April, 2024
Western farmers say no to CSG expansion
Farmers in the Tipton and Cecil Plains areas said an emphatic ‘no’ to coal seam gas expansion last week.
More than 20 farming families whose properties cover more than 20,000 hectares of priority agricultural land across the Darling Downs have signed a “gasfield free” declaration against Shell and PetroChina’s Arrow Energy Surat Gas Project.
Arrow Energy is expected to make a final investment decision on whether to proceed with the next phase of its Surat Gas Project, which includes the Cecil Plains area, this year.
The company’s next phase of coal seam gas drilling would directly impact all farmers who have signed the declaration.
Gasfield free declarations have been used throughout Australia to fight and defeat gas companies that were attempting to invade communities.
Cecil Plains farmer Liza Balmain said the gasfield free declaration is a “powerful message: to Arrow Energy and the Queensland Government that our community’s opposition to coal seam gas and its long-term harmful impacts is unwavering.
“We have been strongly opposed since Arrow Energy came into our area 15 years ago and our position has only grown stronger with the more knowledge we have gained,” she said.
“The impacts to our land and groundwater are insurmountable.
“We will not be accepting coal seam gas mining on or under our properties.
“Arrow Energy and its shareholders need to abandon the Surat Gas Project expansion plans over the Condamine Floodplain.
“Industry and government peddle a fantasy that coexistence is possible on intensively farmed cropping land.
“Reality shows this is not the case.
“We have seen the impacts further north and west and know that this industry is totally incompatible with food and fibre production.
“The Condamine Alluvium, which sustains this food bowl and our regional towns, is a priceless water resource that is too precious to risk.
“Farmers threatened by the next phase of the Surat Gas Project are united in their opposition to coal seam gas drilling on their land.
“Our gates remain locked.”
Springvale farmer Doug Browne said Queensland’s prime agricultural land and the groundwater that sustains it are too important to put at risk.
“We are locking our gates to Arrow energy,” he said.
“I have a high tech irrigation system and I don’t waste water.
“Water is life.
“My fear is we’re going to lose the Condamine Alluvium - that’s where we get our groundwater from.
“I think about the next generation too, what’s the next generation going to have?
“It’s time for politicians to support a ban on coal seam gas drilling on prime agricultural land, and a moratorium on new coal seam gas projects across the state.”
Arrow Energy has encouraged landholders to contact them if they notice any subsidence.
