The architects of Australia’s energy crisis continue to throw fuel on the fire, with Santos announcing it will proceed with an expansion of its Fairview coal seam gas project north of Roma.
“If ever there was a time for a pause on the Australian coal seam gas experiment, it is now,” said Lock the Gate Alliance Queensland spokesperson Ellie Smith.
“None of the gas Santos plans to drill will be reserved for domestic use - it will be sent overseas to the highest bidder.
“Projects like Santos’ Fairview only serve to maintain the status quo of high gas prices.
“Santos, along with other big exporters Shell and Origin, are the architects of Australia’s energy crisis.
“They knew Australians would pay higher prices for gas when they first proposed sending it overseas via the terminals at Gladstone.
“Santos have gouged Aussie gas consumers, re-directing our domestic gas overseas to cover their export contracts and putting manufacturing in Australia at risk.
“As a result of uncontrolled CSG for export, farmland across the Western Downs is now pockmarked in a rash of coal seam gas wells, pipelines, and access roads, and more than 700 water bores relied on by farmers are predicted to run dry.”
Last year, the Australian Government forced Santos back to the drawing board over plans to dump untreated wastewater in a river populated by critically endangered “bum-breathing” turtles for the company’s GLNG project, of which Fairview is a part.
“This is the lack of respect Santos shows to the environment,” Ms Smith said.
“The white throated snapping turtle occurs almost nowhere else in the world, yet Santos wanted to wreck its habitat by flushing untreated coal seam gas waste down the Dawson River.
“Santos is the epitome of all that is wrong with coal seam gas in Australia, and it is a great shame to see it expanding its operations at a time when we should be taking a long, hard look at how to dig ourselves out of the problem Santos and other gas companies created.”
ENDS