Protest in Wyong, 2005

Protest in Singleton, 6 March,2007 - history repeats itself !

 

WE SUPPORT ALL RESPONSIBLE ENERGY DEVELOPMENT

We say NO to gas wells in Broke and Bulga

Members of HBGAG protest against the waste of Singleton water by Sydney Gas

Thursday 7 June, 2007

News Archive Year 2007

 

Friday, 28-December-2007. The December, 2007 issue of the Gas Exploration News for the Broke and Bulga Communities was recently distributed throughout the Valley. SGL provides here an up-beat report on the Community Consultative Committee (CCC) meeting that took place on November 26 at Broke Community Hall and a nice photograph of the participants. There is also a short report on drilling two new exploratory core holes, on the SGL Annual General Meeting and, of course, the ever-popular Spot The Well competition. The document in the PDF format can be downloaded here

Wednesday 12-December-2007.  Geology and Hydrology of the Wollombi Brook valley. A detailed reports by consultants  Parsons Brinckerhoff related to the approval of SGL Core Bores 5 and 6 has been published on the DPI website. This is a "must read" for anyone interested to understand the science and technology behind the coal bed methane gas exploration.  The information is contained in the following three .pdf files. 

PEL 4 REF Sydney Gas - Part A

PEL 4 REF Sydney Gas - Part B

PEL 4 REF Sydney Gas - Part C


Thursday 8-November-2007. Sydney Gas in merger/takeover talks again Quote: "Sydney Gas Ltd is conducting a strategic review after it was approached by a number of groups seeking a merger. The junior gas producer said it had received "preliminary proposals from different parties to accelerate the exploration and development of its coal seam gas resources and/or to merge with another group ..." (link to the article in The Age )

Quotes: "Australian coal seam gas explorer Blue Energy Limited (BUL) has held informal talks with Sydney Gas Limited (SGL) about a number of potential proposals." ... According to Sydney Gas, Babcock & Brown Limited (BNB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers Securities have both been appointed to assist with the strategic review following the approaches ..." (link to LiveNews report)

More about Blue Energy, a Queensland company, from their website here. Their Australian Stock Exchange listing information.

Wednesday, 31-October-2007. GasWatch 28: Community Consultative Committee - First meeting. The Committee had its inaugural meeting on 31st October. The meeting was chaired by the Government appointee, Pam Alan, former NSW Environment Minister whose details can be found here. Our community representatives were Bob Kennedy, Barry Smith, Hu Upward and Graeme Gibson. Sydney Gas was represented by John Saunders... (read all about it in GasWatch 28).

Monday, 29-October-2007. GasWatch 27: SYDNEY GAS INFORMATION SHEET OCTOBER 2007. This information Sheet aims to mislead all readers into thinking that there has been community consultation, and further to say that drilling through water tables and aquifers, risking the water so that fossil fuels can be located and burnt, is for the good of the local communities of Broke and Bulga. Compare the Information Sheet and GasWatch 27.

Tuesday 16-October-2007. The exploration work at the Core Bore 3 site at Inlet Road, Bulga now completed. SGL contractors arrived today and removed the fence around the drilling pad associated with the Core Bore 3. The site was cultivated and presumably re-vegetated. The access road remains at the request of the landholder.

Thursday 11-October-2007. Article in Hunter Valley News. Discusses lack of consultation between the Sydney Gas Limited and the local community (read more)

Monday 8-October-2007. MEDIA RELEASE. Sydney Gas to drill through water tables closer to the Singleton township Sydney Gas has broken its agreement with the community with the successful approval of a plan to drill a coal seam methane gas core hole closer to the Singleton township in the Hunter Valley
...
This application was lodged:

  • WITHOUT COMMUNITY CONSULTATION.
  • WITHOUT ADVISING THE COMMUNITY THAT IT HAD APPLIED FOR APPROVAL.
  • DISHONOURING ITS UNDERTAKING TO NOTIFY THE COMMUNITY AS SOON AS A REVIEW OF ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS WAS LODGED WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING.
  • WITHOUT NOTIFYING THE MINISTERIALLY ESTABLISHED COMMUNITY CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE.
  • WITHOUT AN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT.
  • WITH A FLAWED REVIEW OF ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS.
  • RISKING FRESH WATER TABLES. ...

(read more)

Saturday 29-September-2007. GasWatch 26: SYDNEY GAS DOES IT AGAIN ! ANOTHER CORE HOLE APPROVAL WITHOUT THE COMMUNITY KNOWING A THING ABOUT IT. Sydney Gas/AGL has obtained approval for another core hole. This one appears to be near the Mushroom Composters off the Broke Road in an area that Sydney Gas claims is Mt. Thorley. Sydney Gas obtained this approval on 12th September, 2007. (read GasWatch 26). A copy of a letter to Dr. John Saunders, Executive Chairman, of Sydney Gas Ltd. is (here). We are protesting against yet another breach of the requirements for community consultation.

Monday 17-September-2007. NEW CEO MR. BOB NEIL RESIGNED from his job. Dr John Sanders will resume his role as Executive Chairman and Mr. John Moore with Mr. Anthony Sennitt will become the Executive Directors   (read more)

Monday 3-September-2007. SGL reported to ASX : Appointment of new Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Bob Neil was appointed as the CEO of the Sydney Gas Limited today...    (read more)

Mr. Neil's annual base salary was set at $A350,000 plus superannuation and other benefits ...   (see details)

Friday 29-August-2007. HUNTER ENVIRONMENT LOBBY FORUM is meeting at Singleton Senior Citizens Centre, Bathurst St, Singleton at 10:30am to 3:30pm, on Sunday 2 September,2007

The topic is:

'Re- Energise The Hunter or Business as Usual?'

Climate change is the biggest global problem we face, Hunter coal mines are pushing up Australia's share in that, how can we stop and be positive world leaders? This Forum shows us how to reduce emissions, save the environment, preserve our community and produce more employment at the same time.   ( Read more ...).

 

Wednesday 29-August-2007. Gas Watch 25:
Action Group successful in convincing Government to appoint Community Consultative Committee. In what might well be the first positive step in ensuring that Sydney Gas/AGL be honest with the community, and that their exploration be open to examination and scrutiny by the Community, the Minister has taken the unusual step of establishing the “Bulga Gas Exploration Project Community Consultative Committee”.    ( Read more ...).

 

Monday 20-August-2007.
CALL FOR COMMUNITY CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE NOMINATIONS. Anyone can apply!
At the instigation of HB GAG, Minister McDonald has established the "Bulga Gas Exploration Project Community Consultative Committee". He has appointed The Hon. (Pam) Pamela Diane Allan as the chair.  The remainder of the committee will comprise of representatives from Singleton Council, the Department of Primary Industries Mineral Resources Division, Sydney Gas Ltd., and up to 4 community representatives.    (read more).

If you wanted to nominate and would like some assistance with your nomination, feel free to contact Barry Smith on 65791177 or Graeme Gibson on 65791062 or Bob Kennedy on 65791360.   (see copy of the original advertisement).


Wednesday 8-August-2007. Sydney Gas prepares for gas exploration at Merriwa. An article in the Hunter Valley News revealed that SGL plans to expand their gas exploration to Merriwa. At the breakfast meeting with the Muswellbrook Chamber of Commerce Mr. Black, SGL project manager for the Hunter, described the CBM technology in glowing colours, all nice and green. He forgot to mention the well know downsides of the coal gas production: i.e. each bore requires an access road and pipeline, salty waste water is produced, there is a danger to water tables, a nasty legal position of landowners under petroleum production license, a possible drop in property values etc. Hunter Valley News also forgot to mention that SGL already run into organized local opposition at Dooralong and in the Bulga/Broke area. ( read more).

Thursday 2-August-2007. Gas Watch 24:
DID SYDNEY GAS JUST MAKE A MISTAKE IN ITS REVIEW OF ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS (REF) FOR THE SEISMIC ACQUISITION SURVEY?
 Which is the right picture?

   (read more).


Monday 30-July-2007. Gas Watch 23:
SYDNEY GAS THINKS THAT COMMUNITY CONSULTATION IS THE ISSUE OF A NEWSLETTER. Many local residents have today received an “information sheet” purported to be under the hand of Scott Black, a local employee of Sydney Gas.   ( Let’s look at how accurate it is:).


Friday 27-July-2007. Gas Watch 22:
FURTHER SYDNEY GAS COMMUNITY ALIENATION
 Scott Black, a local employee of Sydney Gas, has responded to an HBGAG email advising that a Review of Environmental Factors is being prepared seeking approval for a further core hole to be drilled somewhere in our area. He has been asked for an address or site co-ordinates, however he has ignored our request. (read more).


Thursday 26-July-2007. Gas Watch 21:
SYDNEY GAS CONTINUES SECRECY.
 Sydney Gas contractors were approached today by a neighbor at their Jessop core hole site. This neighbor had previously spoken to the drillers on site and that was when they told him that they had drilled down about 550 meters. That was about 28th June. (read more).

Thursday 26-June-2007. Gas Watch 20:
Core hole through water table.
 Sydney Gas/AGL have, according to a member of the drilling team who was questioned by a neighbor the other day, penetrated the water table and have now drilled down about 550 meters under the surface. The risk to the water table and as a consequence the Wollombi Brook and the Hunter River is now real. (read more).

Monday 4-June-2007. Gas Watch 19:
A SYDNEY GAS FIELD IN BROKE/BULGA CAN STOP YOU BORROWING ANY MONEY.
A resident of Inlet Road, Bulga (not too far from the drilling site) tells us that she approached her Bank to borrow funds to buy an investment property, using her Inlet Road property as security by way of mortgage. The Bank knocked her back saying that the Bank would’t accept the Inlet Road property as security “because of its location”. The Bank knows ... (read more).

Monday 28-May-2007. Gas Watch 18:
WHAT SORT OF A MESSAGE IS SYDNEY GAS TRYING TO SEND.
Hind Kourouche, the Sydney Gas part time Hunter Valley employee, was at a dinner during the Italian Festival weekend and was speaking to Sally Bowen of Cessnock, who was an invitee to the dinner with local friends... (read more).

Wednesday 23-May-2007. Gas Watch 17:
On 22nd May, 2007, Sydney Gas advised neighbors of the Jessop property that on 30th May it proposes to commence drilling through the water table which flows into the Wollombi Brook.
In taking this step Sydney Gas has ignored: (read more).

Wednesday 9-May-2007. Gas Watch 16:
On 7th May, 2007, Sydney Gas announced that their Managing Director, Dr. Philip Moore, has retired “on medical advice”.
It is always a concern to think that anybody has to retire on medical grounds and we wish him a full and speedy recovery. (read more).

 

Wednesday 30-May-2007 09:17. SGL Core Bore 3 - A portable office ad a toilet just arrived ...

IT IS ON !!!!!!


So far they are negotiating the driveway into the Inlet Road property. The rig might be more difficult - some trees may go. Few minutes before that a police paddy wagon cruised the road. Some paranoia.


Wednesday 23-May-2007. Core Hole 3 - SGL Announces Commencement. A hand-delivered, un-addressed letters in SGL company envelopes from Mr. Scott Black, Sydney Gas LTD, appeared in some mailboxes in Bulga on Tuesday 22 May, 2007. The letter announced that the drilling ring operations will commence on Wednesday, 30 May, 2007. A copy of the original letter in PDF format can be downloaded here. (See the text of the letter).

 

 

Monday 21-May-2007. Excavations at Core Hole 3, Inlet Road, Bulga Started. Contractors arrived this morning shortly after 8AM and started to excavate holes at the Core Hole 3 at Inlet Road site. The work completed before 4 PM and resulted in three holes approximately 4m x 3m and over 2m deep. These are, presumably pits for the drilling mud. They will probably line the pits with some plastic foil. The sub-soil at this location is a very coarse sand. Core Hole 3 is located in the alluvial plane of the Hayes Creek. Thus any hole in the plastic could result in contamination of the surface aquifer. This would be particularly dangerous if SGL attempts to use these pits for a temporary storage of toxic saline waters from the bore. Pictures of the operation follow. (see pictures here).

Monday 21-May-2007. Presentation at the Singleton Chamber of Commerce. Bob Kennedy presented an important discussion paper at the May Meeting of the Singleton Chamber of Commerce. The paper provides an excellent argument why we oppose extraction of the coal methane in the alluvials of the Wollombi Brook that is currently pushed by Sydney Gas (Read the full text ).

 

Monday 7-May-2007. SGL Managing Director Retired.
Dr Philip Moore has decided to retire as Managing
Director on medical grounds. This is an exciting development (Read more).


Tuesday 22-April-2007. Concerns of Ms. Kourouche. After a long wait, a genuine charm offensive has been unleashed on the banks of the Cockfighter (Read more).

Tuesday 22-April-2007. Burning methane gas at the mines. Some interesting pictures showing the heavy equipment needed for coal gas extraction and flaring came our way... (Read more).

Tuesday 10-April-2007. Pad for Core Bore 3 in Inlet Road Now Completed. The pad for Core Bore 3 is ready - the drill rig cannot be too far away! All preparatory work on Jessop property is now finished. (Read more).


Monday 9-April-2007. Broke - Lidell Pipeline:
... the proposal, which has now been approved for the construction of a pipeline from a mine 1 km north of Broke to Liddell Power Station to take waste coal seam gas to Liddell ... (Read more).

 

Wednesday 2-April-2007. Gas Watch 15:
Encounter with Ms. Hind Kourouche
On 28th March, 2007 two of our members rather serendipitously encountered Hind Kourouche in the main street of Singleton and had a chat.  For those of you who don’t know of Kourouche, she is an employee of Sydney Gas and based part-time in Singleton.

It was a strange conversation.  We’re not sure why she said a lot of things she did.  We don’t know, you try and work it out from the following: (read more).

 

Saturday 31-March-2007. HUNTER VALLEY CORE BORE 3.
Clearing of trees for access road has started.
So it has actually happened! Two bobcats contracted by Sydney Gas arrived this morning and started clearing trees in front of Jessop property. They are also going to build a rural front fence for the property. This is the preparation work before the drill arrives.


Wednesday 28-March-2007. Gas Watch 14:.
Drilling Rig to Arrive in Inlet Road, Bulga in Next Few days .
Sydney Gas/AGL says it is about to drill a methane gas core hole on the Jessop property in Inlet Road (read more).

 

Wednesday 27-March-2007. Gas Watch 13:
WHAT ARE WE WORRIED ABOUT...
Sydney Gas/AGL want to: Explore for coal seam methane gas by drilling through the water tables risking contamination and/or reduction of the ground water and the Wollombi Brook (Read more).

 

Wednesday 27-March-2007. Gas Watch 12:
DRILLING RIG TO ARRIVE IN INLET ROAD, BULGA IN MARCH ‘07. Sydney Gas/AGL says it will drill an exploratory methane gas core hole on the Jessop property before the end of this month, March.(Read more).


Wednesday 27-March-2007. Gas Watch 11:
LAND VALUES DEVASTATED.LAND BECOMES UNSALEABLE.
 Your home, your nest egg, your children’s inheritance, GONE with the stroke of a pen. (Read more).



Wednesday 21-March-2007. Gas Watch 10:
YOU CANNOT SELL YOUR OWN LAND. YOU CANNOT MORTGAGE YOUR OWN LAND.(Read more).


Wednesday 21-April-2007. Sydney Gas Contract in Plain English. A copy of an unsigned Access Agreement was recently obtained by HBGAG from a local resident who received it from Sydney Gas. (Read more).

 

Wednesday 19-March-2007. Gas Watch 7:
 What will happen to our water tables and water ways if something goes wrong with gas drilling .
Sydney Gas told a meeting of the Broke Fordwich Tourist Association that it didn’t expect any problems “unless there was a failure.” (Read more).

 

Wednesday 19-March-2007. Gas Watch 6:
Research shows that a gas well on your land will reduce the value of your land by about 22%. The Hunger Bulga Gas Action Group believes that this loss of land value could be even more in our area because of the terms of the Access Agreements which Sydney Gas/AGL wants landholders to sign. .(Read more).


Wednesday 19-March-2007. Gas Watch 5:
METHANE GAS IS 24 TIMES MORE POTENT A GLOBAL WARMING BLANKET THAN CO2 .(Read more).


Wednesday 19-March-2007. Gas Watch 4:
POLLUTION INCIDENT. ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION AGENCY served SYDNEY GAS (CAMDEN) OPERATIONS PTY. LTD (SYDNEY GAS) a CLEAN UP NOTICE (5.4.2004 notice no. 1035293) following the escape of fracturing water .(Read more).

 

Wednesday 19-March-2007. Gas Watch 2:
A SIGN WILL HELP.
Show your opposition to Sydney Gas/AGL ruining our beautiful valley. Put up a sign on your property to show your objections (Read more).


Wednesday 19-March-2007. Gas Watch 1:
Sydney Gas has signed an Access Agreement with a landholder at Bulga. HBGAG can provide free legal advice.
 On the last effective business day before Christmas, Sydney Gas applied to the Department of Mineral Resources for approval to drill a core hole seeking Methane Gas on that property.(Read more).

 

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