Darling Downs farmers march on parliament to fight major gas project

Darling Downs farmers have marched on parliament demanding the LNP government honour election promises to protect vital water supplies from coal seam gas extraction.

Darling Downs farmers held a protest outside parliament to highlight their concerns over coal seam gas wells near Cecil Plains.

Darling Downs farmers have marched on Parliament House, calling on the LNP government to make good on its election promise to protect the Condamine alluvium from coal seam gas extraction.

About 40 farmers from the Cecil Plains area joined the protest that included a tractor towing a billboard through the Brisbane CBD.

Fifth generation Cecil Plains farmer Russell Bennie said CSG was encroaching his property and he fears the impacts it would have.

“We’re finding out there is connectivity on parts of our property, we’ve got gas in our water and it’s a whole big mess,” he said.

The farmers are fighting the Surat Gas Project, a 6000 well project run by Arrow Energy, a joint venture between Shell and PetroChina.

The projects come close to the Condamine alluvium, a large aquifer that provides water to prime farm land west of Toowoomba.

Their concerns were heightened when the Queensland government approved an Arrow Energy’s Lynwood Field Compression Station, near Cecil Plains.

Speaking at an election forum at the Irish Club Hotel on October last year, Condamine MP Pat Weir announced his party would make amendments to the state’s planning act that would require gas companies to prove “beyond any reasonable doubt” their activities wouldn’t have impacts on the Condamine alluvium.

Infrastructure and Planning Minster and Deputy PRemier Jarrod Bleijie responded by saying that since the election, the LNP has not approved any new regional interest development applications for gas companies in the Surat Basin.

“The Crisafulli Government is committed to coexistence and ensuring new gas planning applications demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt that the proposed project will not have a detrimental impact on the Condamine alluvium,” he said.

Originally published as Darling Downs farmers march on parliament to fight major gas project