Occupation of #Santos #Pilliga #CSG site by traditional owners, local farmers

Santos plans for a Coal seam gas field in the Pilliga region of western NSW has met stiff opposition from local farmers and traditional owners. A Santos test site was occupied on Sunday by 120 people in a mass civil disobedience action.

Santos want to build a waste water treatment plant at the Leewood site near Narrabri. After that they plan to drill over 850 coal seam gas wells to establish a gasfield in the Pilliga Forest. This is the largest undisturbed inland forest left in Eastern Australia.

Coal Seam Gas Field proposal for Pilliga Scrub withdrawn by Santos

The Adelaide headquarted Mining and energy company Santos has withdrawn proposals for development of the Pilliga gas field near Narrabri in north western New South Wales.

Santos took over Eastern Star Gas' assets in the Pilliga Forest in 2011 with the intention of developing 550 duel coal seam gas wells and associated infrastructure. They were vigorously opposed by the local community and activist groups including the Wilderness Society. Conservationists have welcomed the withdrawal but are aware that further proposals may be submitted in future.

The development proposals were withdrawn after a private meeting between Santos and the Federal Government last Friday. All proposed development including the gas field, power plant and major gas pipeline applications, have now been withdrawn.

Tour Down Under sponsor Santos told 'on ya bike' over CSG in the Pilliga

The Santos sponsored Tour Down Under was visited today by anti-CSG activists from the Pilliga Forest near Gunnedah in New South Wales. The protesters on bicycles took their protest to Santos Head Office in Adelaide today. Santos is the major sponsor of the Tour Down Under, so activists such as @thepilligamouse and several koalas hoped on their bikes to ride around Adelaide this morning to protest Santos’s destructive and toxic coal seam gas operations in Eastern Australia’s largest remaining temperate woodland and surrounding farmlands. They were joined by NSW politician and grazier David Quince.

Related: Total Fire Ban exemption for Santos CSG plant riles Pilliga residents