A 400-kilometre horse trek along the proposed route of Santos' Hunter Gas Pipeline has galvanised communities in the Liverpool Plains and Hunter Valley to deliver a united message to Santos and the NSW government: this pipeline is not welcome.
Narrabri farmer Sally Hunter completed the epic two-week journey on horseback through some of Australia's most productive farming country on Saturday 28 March, riding the length of the proposed pipeline corridor from the Liverpool Plains to the Hunter Valley.
At every stop, she was met by landholders, families and community groups who have spent years fighting to protect their land and water from Santos' coal seam gas expansion.
"Two weeks on horseback gives you a lot of time to think, and what I kept coming back to was the sheer scale of what Santos is proposing to destroy," said Sally Hunter. "This pipeline and gasfield would carve through the Liverpool Plains food bowl, disrupt private land and put the Great Artesian Basin at risk, all to move gas that Australians don't need, for profits that won't stay in these communities."
The ride encompassed the signing of the landmark Breeza Declaration opposing the Hunter Gas Pipeline, endorsed by the Country Women’s Association, NSW Farmers, Unions NSW, and Gomeroi Traditional Owners at Breeza - a coalition that reflects the extraordinary breadth of opposition to Santos’ gas expansion plans.
The proposed Hunter Gas Pipeline would run from near Baan Baa to Newcastle, cutting through some of Australia's most important agricultural land on the Liverpool Plains, where 46 per cent of the potential development area is classified as Biophysical Strategic Agricultural Land, among the highest-quality food-producing soil in the country.
Local farmers, who have resisted coal seam gas in the region for more than 15 years, say Santos' recent re-activation of exploration licences and threats of compulsory land acquisition for the proposed pipeline signals a new and urgent threat.
"What this ride showed is that the opposition to this pipeline has not weakened: it has grown," Sally Hunter said.
"Farmers and Traditional Owners, unions and community groups are standing shoulder to shoulder on this. Santos should take note - this pipeline will be met with overwhelming opposition.”
- The Hunter Gas Pipeline would run from Newcastle to Baan Baa in north west NSW to Newcastle, connecting to the planned Narrabri Gas Project via the Narrabri Lateral Pipeline
- The Narrabri Gas Project proposes 850 unconventional coal seam gas wells across a 95,000-hectare site in the Pilliga Forest
- Santos has recently resumed exploration activities across four renewed petroleum exploration licences on the Liverpool Plains
- Gomeroi Traditional Owners are currently appealing a Native Title Tribunal decision about Narrabri Gas Project in the Federal Court of Australia
ENDS