Landmark Court Case Begins 17 October

The Barrington-Gloucester-Stroud Preservation Alliance, with the support of the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO), has lodged an appeal in the Land & Environment Court in Sydney against the approval of AGL's coal seam gas project in the Gloucester-Stroud Valley. Members of communities facing the threat of coal seam gas development are urged to attend the hearings on 17, 19 and 20 October.

The case will focus on the PAC's consideration of the environmental impacts resulting from the project. Key issues are: risks to surface and groundwater quality and quantity when the gas wells are drilled; lack of data about groundwater impacts given the highly fractured geological structure of the the valley; uncertainty about the disposal of polluted waste water produced during the extraction process and uncertainty about the nature and impacts of the chemicals used in the fracking process.

In February the Planning Assessment Commission (PAC) gave approval for the overall Concept Plan and Stage 1 development of AGL's coal seam gas project in the Gloucester-Stroud Valley.

The project is to extract gas from within an area of approximately 210 square km between Barrington and Stroud Road, to process the gas at a facility in Stratford and transport the gas via a pipeline of approximately 100km in length to a delivery station at Hexham. In total the plan will include: a minimum 330 gas wells; gas and watering gathering lines, treated water ponds; salt evaporation ponds; water treatment plant; means of disposing of treated water; 15 megawatt power generation facility; connection to the electricity grid; access roads; temporary construction facilities and work camps.

 

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