Farmers fighting coal seam gas projects open outreach centre three doors down from Arrow Energy’s Dalby office

Western Downs farmers are pushing back on plans to expand a massive gas project onto agricultural land, opening up an outreach centre in Dalby, metres away from the office of the company behind the project.

Farmers fighting the expansion of the coal seam gas industry in the Western Downs have opened a community outreach centre, three doors down from the Dalby office of a major energy company.

The farmers, who have reinvigorated the long-running group Downs Save Our Darling Downs, are opposing Arrow Energy’s plans to expand its Surat Gas Project onto agricultural land.

In March this year, dozens of farming families across the Darling Downs united to declare their properties, which now cover more than 30,000ha, “gas field free”.

Arrow Energy is currently considering its final investment decision for the next stage of the project, which would involve the drilling of hundreds of new coal seam gas wells in the Cecil Plains and Nangwee districts, taking it east of the Condamine River for the first time.

The Surat Gas Project operates 250 wells around the Dalby region, with the development expected to comprise up to 2500 gas wells over 30 years.

Arrow Energy's new Surat Gas project will generate 1000 new jobs for locals.

Nangwee farmer and Save Our Darling Downs spokesman Liza Balmain said the community outreach centre would be a resource hub where people could access support for dealing with coal seam gas.

“It will also provide information about the importance of the agricultural sector in this area. The Darling Downs really is a world renowned food bowl and it is a travesty that the Queensland government is sacrificing it and the water that sustains it to polluting coal seam gas multinationals,” she said.

“We grow cotton, sorghum, chickpeas, wheat, and other grains and legumes that feed and clothe Queensland and the world, all underpinned by the precious Condamine Alluvium, which is right now threatened by the gas industry’s voracious appetite for groundwater.

“Coal seam gas induced subsidence, caused by the extraction of vast quantities of gas and water from beneath the earth, is also causing fertile cropping country on the Darling Downs to sink.

“Coal seam gas and farming are totally incompatible in this part of the world. We must protect the future integrity of this rich agricultural region and its invaluable groundwater from destructive coal seam gas.”

Save Our Darling Downs

Farmer Glen Ogden said even the slightest change to groundwater could have catastrophic effects on crop yield.

“We’ve been dealing with this issue for 12 to 13 years, the ultimate concern is that the freshwater alluvium, which is a shallow pool of water unique to most of the state, will be impacted and there is only a few alluvium in Australia,” he said.

“The town of Dalby and the Western Downs rely on the water to underpin water security, whether you are an irrigator or not every farmhouse’s water comes from an alluvium, so we all share that concern.

“We are facing the reality of having subsidence in the gas wells and if we do that on the floodplain it will change where water flows and pools and any changes to our crops affects yields and returns.

“We are seeing areas where there is an excess of 250mm subsidence and every 10mm over a hectare adds up to a thousand cubic metres.

“Passing our resources to the next generation in a safe manner is very valuable, if we drill and these holes fail we will have contamination from bacteria which is irreversible and we will lose this resource forever.”

Save Our Darling Downs spokesman and Cecil Plains farmer Melinda Commens said what was happening on the Darling Downs was “a real nightmare for a lot of people, and we’re desperately trying to stop this industry before it expands any further onto the Condamine flood plains”.

“We have seen the impacts further north and west and know that the coal seam gas industry is totally incompatible with growing food and fibre for clothing production,” she said.

“The Condamine Alluvium, which sustains this food bowl and our regional towns, is a priceless water resource that is too precious to risk.”

An Arrow Energy spokesman said when complete the project would produce 4000 petajoules of natural gas providing significant benefit for the region.

Arrow Energy currently has around 260 wells in operation, producing enough energy to power about 1.3 million homes.

“Arrow is safely, responsibly and reliably producing the natural gas needed to support the transition to a cleaner energy future,” they said.

“Our Surat Gas Project will have the capability to produce enough energy to power more than four million homes every day.

“Regional communities are benefiting from Arrow’s operations through the creation of hundreds of jobs, tens of millions of dollars each year in local road upgrades, and around $2m annual in social and community investment.

“We have hundreds of productive relationships with landholders across the Surat Basin, however we recognise that some people hold different perspectives to us and acknowledge their right to express those views respectfully.”

Originally published as Farmers fighting coal seam gas projects open outreach centre three doors down from Arrow Energy’s Dalby office