SANTOS has begun clearing land in the Pilliga forest for the next stage of its Leewood facility, despite an appeal still before the courts.
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While the move has raised concern among environmentalists, the company is within its rights and has all the necessary approvals to carry out the work.
Narrabri group People for the Plains appealed a court ruling which said the development was for exploration purposes, and therefore did not need an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).
The ruling is expected to be handed down early next year, but Santos has already begun clearing the site, where it will irrigate crops with the wastewater extracted during the coal seam gas mining process.
A company spokesperson said Santos was preparing the land and soil at the Leewood property to plant crops.
“Just as a farmer would before planting their crop,” they said. “Santos is following a strict environmental plan and working closely with ecologists to ensure the work is carried out safely and fauna is protected.”
North West Alliance spokesman David Paull said while Santos may be within its legal rights, the land clearing doesn’t past the pub test.
“Santos is thumbing its nose to the community and their concerns,” Mr Paull said.
“Why go ahead with something when there is doubt, it just doesn’t seem right.”
Mr Paull said there was also concern about how the clearing would impact koalas in the area.
Santos’ ecology assessment found the area didn’t have any tree species listed in the State Environmental Planning Policy’s Schedule 2 as koala feed trees, and therefore was not considered potential koala habitat.
However, Mr Paull said the Pilliga Box eucalyptus, while not on the Schedule 2 list, had been identified as a koala feeding tree.
“That list hasn’t been updated since 1996,” Mr Paull said.
“There is actually a review of Schedule 2 feeding trees going on right now and the Pilliga Box is one of the trees proposed for the updated version.”
In the development of the Narrabri Gas Project EIS, Santos has drawn upon more than 13,000 hours of on-the-ground environmental surveys, including targeted surveys undertaken by koala experts.
They didn’t find a single koala in the project area.
Mr Paull said that was difficult to believe – he recently sighted a koala “not far west” of the Leewood site.
“We know that they are still around,” Mr Paull said.
While Santos is preparing the land, which was used for agricultural purposes before the company bought it, the irrigation won’t start for some time.