Monday, 5 July, 2010. Gas Watch 89. AGL Energy – Access to your property.
AGL Energy has a Petroleum Exploration Lease over land surrounding Broke and Bulga (except the coal mining leases), including over the Broke and Bulga villages.

AGL will knock on your door, tell you they have the lease and that they want onto your land. During their exploration phase, AGL cannot come onto your land without your written consent in the form of an Access Agreement.

Do not let AGL employees bully you into any consent. Once you consent they can drill right up to your doorstep. You will be giving away your rights. You will be giving away the value of your property. Who’s going to buy it with gas wells every few hundred meters? – Jurd’s Real Estate says: “if the proposed mining is located in close proximity to residential or rural residential areas then the effect on property prices could be devastating. If the impact was severe it could result in property in that vicinity becoming unsaleable.” Your home will no longer be your castle. Your neighbours will be affected the same way...(read all in Gas Watch 89 ).

Monday, 5-July-2010. Gas Watch 88. AGL Energy – NOISE COMPLAINTS
The noise from the generators used by AGL on their property next to the Broke village is now affecting the village of Broke. And this is only exploration. Many residents of Nelson Street, Broke, which is adjacent to the first well in what AGL would hope to be a methane gas field, are being affected by noise from AGL Generators, inside their own homes, to the extent that the noise at night is able to be heard over the television.
....
There is also the real possibility of AGL Energy constructing their gas plant right next to Broke Village. When their local representative, Siobhan Barry, was asked what we could assume from the statement “AGL has no intention of placing a restrictive covenant over any freehold land owned by AGL, nor do we have any intention to do so voluntarily either now or in the future.” other than they were keeping their options to build the plant there, Siobhan Barry opened her mouth to say something, however nothing came out. She looked for help from her boss David Kelly, but no answer was forthcoming.

This pretty much confirms that they’ll build it there if they want to, and the Broke village can go to hell in the interests of corporate greed(read all in Gas Watch 88 ).

Monday, 31-May-2010. Gas Watch 87. AGL Energy – anticipated industrial complex on prime agricultural land in Hunter Valley. After months of trying to convince AGL Energy that they should tie up their land at Broke so that an industrial complex could never be built on it – the CEO and Managing Director of AGL Energy Michael Fraser has refused, saying “AGL has no intention of placing a restrictive covenant over any freehold land owned by AGL, nor do we have any intention to do so voluntarily either now or in the future.” Well, that’s pretty definite isn’t it? Even though he does instruct us that we “should assume nothing from” his response.

This is what AGL Energy will want to construct next to the Broke village:

This is a Google photograph of the AGL Energy Camden Gasworks:

Read all in Gas Watch 87.

Friday, 28-May-2010. Gas Watch 86. AGL EXTENDS CORE BUSINESS TO COMPETE WITH LOCAL FARMERS.
One would have thought that the core business of AGL Energy was, in fact, energy. But no. The local AGL staffy, Siobhan Barry, boasts that AGL Energy has employed local winemakers to process fruit from the vineyard on their Spring Mountain Coal Seam Methane Gas site, and will soon be producing their first vintage. (read all in Gas Watch 86 ).

Monday, 10-May-2010. Gas Watch 85. Minister Macdonald says and offers nothing for the Hunter Valley communities
On 3rd May 2010, Minister Macdonald addressed the NSW Minerals Councils OH & S Conference at Pokolbin. We’ve been trying to get him to Broke for two years. He has said he would come on a couple of occasions, but became too busy. Maybe it wouldn’t have been too hard to come another 20 minutes on 3rd May! In the edited transcript of his address supplied to HVPA, Minister Macdonald failed to once mention or address:
   • The environment.
   • The air quality.
   • Agriculture, the basis of food for Australians.
   • The community, the human beings who live in the Hunter Valley.
   • The cumulative impacts of coal mining, methane gas extraction, power station emissions, defence forces industry, on any of the above. (read all in Gas Watch 85 ).

Wednesday, 14-April-2010. Gas Watch 83. Minister Ian Macdonald hides behind the Minister for Planning. Refuses Environmental study in Hunter.
In response to complaint by the community that Minister Macdonald had refused to consider initiating a full Environmental Assessment of the Hunter, Minister Maconald hid behind his claim that “I am the Minister for Mineral Resources, not the Minister for Planning”.
He further said that “all new mining proposals submitted to the Department of Planning would require approval…which would require a transparent and thorough assessment of all relevant issues” (Newcastle Herald 14.4.2010).
Unfortunately, as has been demonstrated by Hon George Souris in his recent article, the mineral exploration and mining approval in NSW are deeply flowed. Views of the local residents are never seriously considered. The process is an expensive sharade. Recent history shows that granting of a mineral exploration license means in praxis a go-ahead for mining (read all in Gas Watch 83 ).

Wednesday, 14-April-2010. Gas Watch 82. NSW GOVERNMENT dawdles behind Queensland in regulating the coal seam methane gas industry. What is wrong with our Minister for Mineral Resources, Ian Macdonald? He refuses to initiate a cumulative environmental assessment of the many impacts on agriculture, the environment and the people in the Hunter Valley, of coal mining, power station emissions, dust, toxic airborne chemicals, coal seam gas exploration, hot rock power station development, and Defence Forces noise and light. Yet his counterpart in Queensland has only today announced, with Federal Government assistance, a $3.8 million coal seam gas water feasibility study in Queensland. Such is the obvious seriousness of the threat to our fresh water from coal seam methane gas extraction. (read more in Gas Watch 82 ).

Tuesday, 13-April-2010. Gas Watch 81. NSW GOVERNMENT Sacrifices the Hunter Valley

(read more in Gas Watch 81 ).

Friday, 9-April-2010. Gas Watch 80. AGL Energy – unable to provide proof. Danger to ground water in Hunter Valley At the insistence of the community of Broke and Bulga, AGL Energy commissioned a water study at one of two wells drilled in 2004 adjacent to the village of Broke, in an attempt to ensure that there is no danger to the upper fresh water aquifers through which AGL is drilling for coal seam methane gas...
AGL is claiming that there is no connectivity between the coal seam and the fresh groundwater and therefore no risk to the groundwater...
The peer reviewer of the AGL study, Professor Garry Willgoose of Newcastle University, says that he is satisfied that the strong indications are that there is no danger to the fresh water aquifer at that well, and for a very small area around the well...
“The pump test does not provide any direct information on the leakiness outside of that cone of depression.” ie the 20 to 50 metre radius...(read more in Gas Watch 80 ).

Thursday, 8-April-2010. Gas Watch 79. Hunter Valley Sacrificed by NSW Government. Minister Ian Macdonald rejects win/win proposal to save the Hunter Valley. A community deputation to Minister for Mineral Resources, Ian Macdonald on 23rd March, 2010, proposed that before there was any further mineral development of the Hunter Valley, that the NSW Government require a full Environmental Study of all current, future and cumulative impacts of coal mining, coal seam gas exploration/extraction, hot rock power stations and Defence Forces activity. The full submission can be found at http://tinyurl.com/hvpa-MinisterA

The proposal was dismissed out of hand by the Minister who accused the community of being anti development and anti energy. Coal Seam Methane Gas explorer AGL Energy has agreed that it would take part in any Environmental Assessment of the area, however they stated that they thought it was the Government’s responsibility to initiate it (read more in Gas Watch 79 ).

Wednesday, 17-March-2010. Gas Watch 78. AGL ENERGY – “There is no requirement for us to listen to anybody.” That was the answer given by the AGL local representative Siobhan Barry at the Community Consultative Committee meeting on 10th March, this year ....

AGL STARTED TO DRIL AGAIN IN OUR VALLEY AT THE THE SPRING MOUNTAIN WINEYARD (see picture above).

Why this Company, AGL Energy, persists in drilling holes in the Broke and Bulga areas of the Hunter Valley, when there is very little surface area available to it by virtue of the buffers required at law, it is hard to fathom. Particularly when they have thousands of square miles available to them away from heavily settled rural areas....(read more in Gas Watch 78 ).

Sunday, 7-February-2010. Gas Watch 77. AGL ENERGY – to drill more holes at Broke and Bulga. AGL Energy has just received approval from the Department of Industry & Investment, Minerals to drill a further 8 core holes and stratigraphic holes on the properties it has bought at Spring Mountain, Broke, and Windermere at Bulga. Well they had to buy some land. There aren’t too many keen to have AGL invade their properties with their drilling rigs, underground pipes, gas flares, access roads etc. (read more in Gas Watch 77 ).

Tuesday, 22-December-2009. Gas Watch 76. AGL ENERGY – necessary corrections to recent media releases in Cockfighter ne ws.. In the letters to the Editor of the Cockfighter, AGL Energy mistakenly claimed that its Petroleum Exploration Licences (PEL) enable it to continue exploration for Coal Seam Methane Gas “over the next 6 years of the Licence terms.” We would like to make some corrections ... (read more in Gas Watch 76 ).

Wednesday, 2-December-2009. Gas Watch 75. AGL has nowhere to go, unless we let them in. A map has been produced by the Broke Bulga Community Consultative Committee. The map is of the Broke and Bulga areas which AGL Energy wants to turn into a gas field. Overlays on the map defining all the buffers required by law around houses, orchards, vineyards, olive groves, water ways, dams and the like, show that AGL has only a very limited area in which to set up their gas wells. It certainly doesn’t look to be anywhere near sufficient to enable a commercial gas extraction enterprise. (read more in Gas Watch 75 ).

Wednesday, 9-September-2009. Gas Watch 74. AGL fails regulatory obligations.

1. AGL 'forced electricity prices higher' – says SMH.

2. AGL accused of “price gouging” by the ACCC – says the ABC.

3. Most needy residents have been the victims of appalling bungling by AGL – says the Herald Sun.

And these reports all in the one day. (read more in Gas Watch 74 ).

Sunday, 21-June-2009. Gas Watch 73. AGL Energy Buys wind farms in SA – but threatens the Hunter Valley with release of another fossil fuel and loss of groundwater.

With great pomp, amid claims of being environmentally conscious, AGL Energy this week announced the purchase of two wind farms in South Australia to produce electricity, but kept silent on its environmental threat to the Hunter Valley with its exploration for that fossil fuel it hopes will replace coal, methane gas .

The black underbelly of this claimed green company is the threat to precious water supplies as it careers forward drilling through water tables running the risk of contamination or loss of water supplying viticulture, agriculture and life in the Hunter Valley (read more in Gas Watch 73 ).

Discuss on HVPA forum

Wednesday, 17-May-2009. Gas Watch 72. AGL Energy: Fails to deny intention to build a gas processing plant on its Hunter Valley properties. You will regularly see AGL Energy espousing greener energy, hydro, wind, solar; but here’s their real underbelly – another fossil fuel – coal seam methane gas release, with all its proven dangers, and all within 200 metres of the Broke village.

On ABC Radio Newcastle this morning, the AGL Energy General Manager Upstream Gas, Mike Moraza, failed to deny that AGL Energy proposed to construct an industrial complex on one of its increasing number of holdings in this closely settled, tranquil and rural area of the Hunter Valley (read more in Gas Watch 72 ).

Discuss on HVPA forum

Saturday, 13-May-2009. Gas Watch 71. AGL ENERGY buys two more properties in Broke/Bulga. Forcing the community to unite against them. It appears, that AGL ENERGY is becoming as devious as Sydney Gas ever was. How about this for example:

1. The Land and Property Manager, the junior employee of AGL ENERGY who has been given the task of leading AGL ENERGY at the Community Consultative Committee, told the last CCC meeting that they had bought these two properties; that in addition they had one Access Agreement in place; and that at this point in time they had no intention of making any further land acquisitions.

2. In another forum, on almost the same day, senior executives of AGL ENERGY declared: that they intend to purchase another 2 properties; that they have 32 Access Agreements in place; that they plan to achieve everything they want in the Broke/Bulga area.

So much for truth! So much for Community Consultation! (read more in Gas Watch 71 ).

Discuss on HVPA forum

Tuesday, 12-May-2009. Gas Watch 70. Letter to Cockfighter from local resident. Ed Larkin from Broke wrote to the last Cockfighter airing his concerns about a number of things which are worrying him, one of which was the “gas action group”. He opened his concern by stating that “I would bet not one of you have jumped in the car and driven to Camden to inspect your so called eyesore” etc., etc.

On 7th February, 2008, Sydney Gas invited the community to inspect its Camden coal seam methane gas processing plant (see Google Earth image ). A number of community members attended the inspection and it was their unanimous view that we must continue our resistance to having such a plant built right next to our village ....(read more in Gas Watch 70 ).

Discuss on HVPA forum

Monday, 27-April-2009. Gas Watch 69. AGL ENERGY!“Back to the very worst of Sydney Gas.” It appears that it is now impossible to receive a response, if you write to AGL ENERGY, from anybody other the Land and Approvals Manager. You know, the staff level of the former Hind Kourouche of SGL. And when a local resident wrote to the General Manager, Upstream Gas, AGL, requesting a response to 13 questions and concerns, she received a letter from this Lands and Approvals Manager, full of motherhood statements, but with no response at all, not even a mention, to any of the questions. (read more in Gas Watch 69 ).

Discuss on HVPA forum

Monday, 27-April-2009. Gas Watch 68. AGL ENERGY! “Does this company have an environmental and social conscience, or is it just Sydney Gas all over again?” Broke Village Store was the site for a show of community strength and unity, in opposition to the real dangers which the activities of AGL ENERGY pose to the local environment and to the village and residents of Broke. Many questions were asked on the night in an information and fundraiser night on 24th April .... (read more in Gas Watch 68 ).

Discuss on HVPA forum

Wednesday, 8-April-2009. Gas Watch 67. AGL ENERGY! “METHANE GAS COULD KILL THE HUNTER VALLEY!” On 6th and 7th April we had a couple of people outside AGL Energy Headquarters at 101 Miller Street, North Sydney. They were there for a couple of hours as the employees arrived, and for a couple of hours at lunch time each day. One with signs and handing out pamphlets. The other as the Grim Reaper, which is how we see AGL ENERGY in respect of its actions at Broke in regard to the water tables and in relation to the risk of methane gas explosion and migration. We intend to make random appearances at the AGL ENERGY offices (read more in Gas Watch 67 ).

Discuss on HVPA forum

Wednesday, 25-March-2009. Gas Watch 66. Rehabilitation!
In the Argus on 24th March, ’09 Mark Harper, still the GM it appears of Sydney Gas, is reported to have said in relation to the water bores Sydney Gas has been drilling for the past week or so: “rehabilitation of the area including the planting of some grass was completed on Friday”.

We went to check it out today and expected to see a nice smooth area, but all we saw were lumps, tyre tracks, depressions, dust… We took a couple of snaps ...(read Gas Watch 66 ).

Tuesday, 10-March-2009. Gas Watch 65. Who is out of step here?
Department of Environment and Climate Change: "As groundwater is extracted (from coal seams) it also depletes natural groundwater reserves and aquifers which can have consequences for other regional land uses which may experience a loss of net usable water. This is particularly relevant for farmers who rely on bore water. One solution can be to reinject recovered water back into aquifers. This can however contaminate these groundwater aquifers"
Sydney Gas:
“You have nothing to worry about. You are stupid and ignorant”.
(read all in Gas Watch 65 )

Monday, 9-March-2009. Gas Watch 64. " I'M THE ENEMY"- Colin Stace, Land and Community advisor, Sydney Gas Ltd. Today, 9th March, Sydney Gas (currently being taken over by AGL Energy) started drilling water bores on land at the vineyard village of Broke in the Hunter Valley.
Whilst we were sitting talking to NBN television in the Broke village today, this spokesman for Sydney Gas walked past and said: "I'm the enemy." Twice. (read more in Gas Watch 64 ).

Wednesday, 18-February-2009. Gas Watch 63. Sydney Gas (now a part of AGL Energy) keep Broke in the dark ! Cunningly, and living up to its controversial reputation of not fully informing the community, Sydney Gas/AGL Energy:

• Has not told us what WILL happen if our town water table does disappear into the coal seams;
• Has not told us how they propose to dispose of the toxic water they extract from the coal seam;
• Has not told us what they propose to do with the leaking METHANE gas;
• Has claimed that this study is in the interests of the village;
• Has claimed that it is only a study in relation to core hole impact, when it is nothing of the sort. It is in relation to test drilling and taking water from the coal seams under the village;
• Has not informed us of the terms of reference of the appointment of Professor Willgoose; 

If Sydney Gas/AGL was taking the “concerns of the community seriously” it, quite simply, wouldn't’t be drilling immediately next to Broke Village , or any other residential area for that matter (read more in Gas Watch 63 ).

Wednesday, 11-February-2009. Gas Watch 62. Sydney Gas back to old ways - breaching undertaking made to the community; threatening our underground water supply; risking exploding methane gas near the Broke public school. Broke village is in danger from any one of METHANE gas explosion, METHANE gas seepage, and contamination or loss of our underground water. Why won't Sydney Gas adhere to its undertaking not to activate these wells until there has been a full water study? Why won't Sydney Gas agree to a full Environmental Assessment which would be available for public scrutiny and scrutiny by other Government Departments? What has Sydney Gas got to hide? (read more in Gas Watch 62 ).

Wednesday, 12-February-2009. Gas Watch 61. Sydney Gas/AGL assure community - no further action on Broke Village wells until independent water study completed. Sydney Gas, the minor Coal Seam METHANE gas explorer now being swallowed up by AGL Energy, has assured the community, through the Community Consultative Committee (CCC), that:

"there will be no further activity related to the METHANE gas wells near the Broke Village until an independent water study is completed. "

However, activity at the well site last week was noticed and Sydney Gas asked “why?” They said that it was only a surveyor setting out fencing! So perhaps there will be no activity on the wells until the middle of the year, as they have claimed.

But it always makes us suspicious when the CCC meeting is postponed at the request of Sydney Gas. Last time Sydney Gas had the meeting postponed, from recollection, core hole 3 at Bulga was approved (read more in Gas Watch 61 ).

Wednesday, 4-February-2009. Gas Watch 60. ACCC asks Sydney Gas to change its "green" claims. Late last year, this Group asked the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission to investigate the claims by Sydney Gas that "Coal Seam Methane natural gas is a clean burning and a "green form" of energy". We all know that this is simply nonsense. ACCC twisted and turned but in the end requested SGL to AMEND their website (read more in Gas Watch 60 ).

Thursday, 29-January-2009. Gas Watch 59. CO2 emissions from METHANE equal to those from 121,440,000 motor cars. Sydney Gas will be passing on to AGL Energy its claim that it has discovered 10,000 petajoules of extractable METHANE gas under the Hunter.If 10,000 petajoules of METHANE gas is burnt, it will release nearly 528,000,000 tonnes of CO2 into our atmosphere, accelerating global warming. This is equal to the emissions from 121,440,000 additional motor vehicles being released onto the roads ... (read more in Gas Watch 59 ).