Government grants survey authority for gas pipeline

The NSW government has granted authority to survey for the Hunter gas pipeline which, if constructed, would link the Santos Narrabri gas project to the east coast.

State Treasurer and Minister for Energy Matt Kean signed off on the authority last Friday.

The authority enables the Hunter gas pipeline to enter lands and to carry out surveys on land to determine the pipeline route.

While the authority to survey is in force, Hunter gas pipeline is also able to take samples from lands for examination and testing.

The authorised acts in force are subject to conditions outlined in a document published on the Department of Energy website.

Any survey activities must be carried out during business hours, unless a landholder consents to conduct surveys outside of these hours.

Landowners must also be given 14 days’ notice of conducting surveys on their land.

An extensive list of properties of which the authority to survey has been granted, spanning the course of the pipeline from Narrabri shire to the east coast, is also featured in the document.

The authority allows Santos to access properties where reasonable attempts to negotiate access with the landholder or resident have been unsuccessful, to be used as a last resort.

In a statement following the decision, a spokesperson for Santos said the company received a letter from Minister Matt Kean approving the September 12, 2022, application for an authority to survey for the Hunter gas pipeline.

“The approval of the ATS means we can now complete the ecological and cultural heritage surveys required along the pipeline route,” the spokesperdon said.

“Traditional owners are fully involved in cultural heritage surveys, a long-standing practice followed by Santos in our onshore operations around Australia.

“While the pipeline route is being finalised to avoid ecologically and culturally significant areas, we will work with landholders to obtain access and compensation agreements before making a pipeline licence application to Minister Kean.

“One hundred per cent of Narrabri gas will go to the domestic market, putting downward pressure on prices, and Santos is continuing to work with the New South Wales and federal governments to get all of the approvals required to clear the way for both the Narrabri gas project and the Hunter gas pipeline.”

In response to the announcement, environmental advocacy group Lock the Gate said the decision trashed the state government’s vaunted climate credentials and enraged hundreds of farmers.

“Matt Kean’s support of the Hunter gas pipeline and the Santos gasfield shows he can’t be trusted on climate,” Lock the Gate Alliance national coordinator Carmel Flint said.

“It also shows his utter lack of respect for traditional owners and farmers who are fighting tooth and nail to stop Santos’ dirty and polluting gas projects.”

Mullaley Gas and Pipeline Accord spokesperson and cattle farmer Margaret Fleck said opposition to the pipeline in the region is not going away, and farmers will not back down.

“This gas pipeline threatens precious black soils on the Liverpool Plains as well as several of the most significant koala habitats in NSW,” she said.

The decision to grant authority to survey follows the NSW government’s announcement in late 2022 that the pipeline linking the Narrabri gas project to the Hunter gas pipeline would be declared as critical infrastructure.

The National Native Title Tribunal also gave Santos’ $3.5 billion gas project the go-ahead.

Gomeroi traditional owners have lodged a legal appeal against the tribunal’s decision which was handed down in December.