Fertile grounds for coal-seam test case

AS an ecologist, Ruth Armstrong studied the interactions between predators and prey, leaving her well equipped for the battle she now faces with Arrow Energy.

Graham Clapham and Ruth Armstrong

AS an ecologist, Ruth Armstrong studied the interactions between predators and prey, leaving her well equipped for the battle she now faces with coal-seam gas heavyweight Arrow Energy.

Arrow, a 50-50 joint venture between Shell and Petro China, wants to drill Ms Armstrong's Darling Downs cotton and grain property to test the highly prospective Horrane Trough.

It has become the flashpoint in a legal battle that will test the rights of farmers and the environment against the booming resource industry sweeping eastern Australia.

The National Farmers Federation has opened its Australian Farmers Fighting Fund to provide strategic advice and help underwrite the cost of the legal action, which could run to half a million dollars.

Like the Liverpool Plains in NSW, Ms Armstrong's property is situated on rich black soils, regarded as some of the most fertile and productive in the world.

The challenge by 13 farm families against a Queensland government decision to grant the environmental go-ahead to coal-seam gas exploration in the Darling Downs could set a precedent that will better define the co-existence of farmers and mining companies.

It will test whether state governments should give special consideration to preserving the nation's most productive agricultural lands and whether an undertaking to "make good" any damage caused by mining is sufficient environmental protection when dealing with underground water supplies that feed cities and farmlands.

"It is the first case of its kind where a group of land holders have taken a coal-seam gas company and the department to the land court," Ms Armstrong said.

"We are challenging the conditions of the environmental authority with regard to the impact on water, soil and lifestyle. We think the existing authority is inadequate to protect those environmental values."

Ms Armstrong believes her science background has been essential to getting the case this far. "If you don't have a science or a legal background, you don't have a chance," she said.

Farm groups are calling for an independent environmental umpire, claiming that government has been blinded by the potential for royalties.

According to cotton grower Graham Clapham, there is not a proper process to regulate the industry. "There should at least be an independent third party to regulate the environmental conditions under which the companies operate," he said.

"It should not be the same body that is going to receive the royalties."

Mr Clapham said farmers were objecting to the Arrow proposal because of the special nature of the soils in the area and concerns about possible contamination of the Condamine aquifer, which underlies the region.

"Before you could let them damage something as environmentally sensitive as this black soil, you would want to be certain you could rehabilitate it," Mr Clapham said.

"We have got funding from the Australian Farmers Fighting Fund with the support of the NFF and Cotton Australia to fight the decision to grant the environmental authority."

Arrow Energy has said it will draw water from below the Condamine aquifer but local farmers do not accept assurances that their water supplies will not be affected.

The company said it would be conducting meetings with landholders on the Darling Downs next week.

Mr Clapham is chairman of the local irrigators group and said it was no secret that water from the aquifer had been heavily over-allocated in the past.

As a result, local farmers had voluntarily reduced their water entitlements by 50 per cent without compensation. Further cuts are anticipated as part of the Murray-Darling Basin plan.

"But until settlement is reached on this issue, we cannot co-operate with any further rollback of our entitlement," Mr Clapham said.

"Goodwill is quickly evaporating as understanding builds of what this industry is going to do," he added.

The Australian Farmers Fighting Fund was set up by the NFF about three years ago and has helped farmers on the Liverpool Plains in a successful action against BHP.

Fighting Fund spokeswoman Denita Wawn said the fund would provide legal expenses and strategic advice to manage the Darling Downs case. "This is the first case the fund has been involved in with coal-seam gas to recognise the property rights on farms," she said.

"If companies are going to have the right to mine or extract coal-seam gas from properties, they must do so in a way that does not have a detrimental impact on other land users."

Cotton Australia chief executive Adam Kaye said the legal case would test important issues for farmers.

"What we are after is protection of the natural resource base," Mr Kaye said. "We are going to work with the mining companies and co-exist but we have got to get the balance right."