gamil means no

The fight to keep coal seam gas off Gomeroi land

by Shani Patel, USyd Enviro Convenor 2020

WHAT IS CSG?

Coal seam gas (CSG) is an ‘unconventional natural gas’ currently used in Australia to generate lower-emissions electricity than that produced with coal. In September 2020, Scott Morrison announced plans for a “gas-fired recovery,” claiming to reduce emissions and provide economic growth in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Parallel to this plan has been the approval and allocation of $3.6 billion to a new CSG project by energy giant Santos, which will see the construction of approximately 850 wells in Narrabri. This was likely favoured by $60,000 in donations that the company made to the Liberal-National Coalition. Despite widespread and fierce opposition, the Australian government maintains its support for CSG development due to supposed economic benefits and environmental benefits — however both of these claims are in opposition to empirical data and firsthand accounts.

WATER IS LIFE

Obtainment of CSG involves the invasive process of fracking — extraction from the pores of coal within coal seams thousands of metres below the Earth’s surface. This is achieved by reducing pressure and releasing the resource in a gaseous state, generating large quantities of discharged water which require effective treatment. ‘Water is Life.’ the 2018 Seed Mob documentary about the detrimental impacts of the fracking process associated with CSG in the Northern Territory explains a fundamental concern about unconventional gas development: the negative impacts on ground and surface water and flow-on (no pun intended) effects to local communities. A study in 2017 revealed that the water discharged from coal mining activities, including CSG in Sydney, suffered a 28-95% degradation in quality due to higher pH and increase in toxic trace elements. This will have grave impacts on local agricultural production,

along with Indigenous communities whose drinking supplies are sourced from already depleted rivers close to proposed development, such as in Walgett and Collarenebri. It should be noted that a lack of consistency was observed in these results, meaning that water degradation as a result of CSG activity is unpredictable.

ANOTHER GREENHOUSE GAS

Another essential environmental consideration is that despite being marketed as a relatively ‘clean’ greenhouse gas, CSG is fundamentally a greenhouse gas.The stores of the resource in Narrabri are estimated to be made up of 90% methane and 10% carbon dioxide. Santos themselves have estimated the release over 1 million tonnes of greenhouse gases per year, for the projected project lifetime of 25 years. The potential for CSG to meet current energy demands paired with a lack of plans to phase out coal from both the Liberal and Labor parties will significantly hinder whether policymakers view the development of renewables as necessary. ECONOMIC BENEFITS?

On a local scale, Morrison has claimed that a gas-led recovery will create jobs, grow business and assist the economy. This is not entirely unfounded: broadly and theoretically, the local economic benefits of CSG development include higher demand for labour and increased wages in the communities where it occurs. However, the inequitable distributions of long-term economic benefits is a key concern. Santos’ shareholders profit whilst excluding local landowners and First Nations communities. Beyond profit, CSG development is noted to increase employment, however this historically occurs at the cost of agricultural and tourism sectors, with longterm effects unseen until industries are large and established. Coal is a dying industry — despite the government’s desperate attempts to cling to it, long-term economic benefits are unpredictable and diminishing in an export market that is transitioning away from fossil fuels.

GAMIL MEANS ‘NO’

The most important perspective to consider is that of First Nations communities, whose stolen land potential CSG developments will be occurring upon. An issue of white supremacy, environmental racism and colonial violence, this has been the story in so-called Australia — settlers stealing and destroying unceded land, with the greatest impacts manifesting in the most marginalised communities. As a kind of politics of refusal, the Gamil Means No movement (@gamilaraaynextgeneration), cultivated and led by young Gamilaraay and Gomeroi people, centres around protesting “the illegal occupation of our land by Santos”, stating that “we never have and never will give consent for their destruction and vandalism of our sacred Gomeroi Land”.

Thank you to everyone who made Combust 2021 happen:

Alana Ramshaw Alev Saracoglu Amelia Mertha Angela Xu Anna Ho Benson Lilo Oto Bonnie Huang Deaundre Espejo Drew Beacom Ellie Stephenson Isabella D’Silva James Sherriff Lauren Lancaster Madeleine Rowell Misbah Ansari Oscar Chaffey Paola Ayre Prudence Wilkins-Wheat Ranuka Tandan Ruby Pandolfi Shani Patel Tim Livingstone Tom Davids Vivienne Guo

Facebook: USYD Enviro Collective Facebook Organising Group: USYD Enviro Collective 2021 Instagram: @usyd_enviro Twitter: @EnviroUsyd Email: environment.officers@src.usyd.edu.au