Serving the Narrabri ShireNSW Minister for Industry, Resources...

Serving the Narrabri ShireNSW Minister for Industry, Resources and Energy Mr Anthony Roberts reaffirmed the NSW government’s commitment to the Narrabri Gas Project on a visit to Narrabri this week.

The Minister toured Santos sites in Pilliga, inspected the Wilga Park power station, met farmers with test wells on their properties and was given a presentation on Santos environmental and safety initiatives at the Narrabri Operations Centre.

“The natural gas industry has the potential to bring real wealth and hope to rural and regional areas like Narrabri shire” Mr Roberts said.

“Coexistence of agriculture and gas can occur here. And the gas industry can offer safe and reliable incomes for farmers.

“In Narrabri’s case, the gas industry can deliver jobs, provide careers, kids won’t have to leave town, farmers can source extra income and re-invest in their farm and bring back the kind of wealth they haven’t seen for generations.”

“And as the gas industry expands in appropriate areas, adhering to the strict approvals regime in place, we are going to see towns that are drought proofed, we are going to see towns that will discover prosperity that they haven’t seen for generations.

“We will give regional NSW back its pride and that’s why I am enormously proud as the Energy Minister.

“I am proud to have Santos and its professionalism here in NSW” Mr Roberts said.

“You are doing an absolutely sterling job” he said after meeting Santos personnel and hearing a comprehensive briefing on Santos’ environmental safety values.

“This is where the leadership is being shown.

The Minister said it was ‘critical’ to the economic future of NSW that the Narrabri project went ahead.

“The Santos Narrabri project has the potential to produce half of NSW gas needs for homes and industry” Roberts said.

“Currently the state imports 95 percent of its gas from interstate.”

However, the coal seam gas industry was not appropriate everywhere, Mr Roberts said.

He had overseen a significant reduction in the potential coal seam gas footprint in NSW since he took over the Energy and Natural Resources portfolio.

“When I inherited the Energy portfolio about 60 percent of NSW was covered by licences or applications for licences” Mr Roberts said.

“We reduced the number of unprocessed applications, which brought the area back to about 15 percent and through the licence buyback scheme the land area currently exposed to potential coal seam gas activities has been reduced to nine percent.”

Recently the government bought back two licences held by AGL in the area south and west of Sydney through to Cessnock and in the Hunter Valley.

On the second day of his tour the Minister visited the Warnock family farm and heard how agriculture interacted with mining and gas industries.

The minister heard concerns raised by irrigation farmers Jack and Brendon Warnock that the integrity of ground water must be protected in the long term across the regions where coal and gas mines operated.
http://www.thecourier.net.au/news/energy-minister-reaffirms-support-for-narrabri-gas/

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