The Land, Coal Seam Gas and Coexistence

by Muhammad Makki

A snapshot to visualise and to give a glimpse of understanding -

The Land, Coal Seam Gas and Coexistence

 

First published as a shorter version in the Have Your Say column Courier Mail Saturday April 26

 

Muhammad Makki

 

It was getting much cooler in Goombi as the sun set after a bright and dry day. I was driving back to Chinchilla on a dusty unsealed road after meeting a landholder who hosts CSG- LNG pipeline. Something she had said to me through a piqued face stuck in my brain:

"Why don’t you open up your backyard and the front gate and let CSG in and then see how it goes” or let me say “suck it and see”."

 

The quiet country, with agriculture as a dominant avocation, is now depressed, and is experiencing a rapid change under the influence of coal seam gas (CSG) development. As the evening wore on in the Western Downs it reminded me of the ‘pain’ of being overridden, disempowered, exhausted and under siege, every day. Here now the sun sets quietly, full of stories unheard. The rules of the country and the complexion of country life are changing imperceptibly and the once fantasised setting is dissolving into doubts because of escalating CSG developments. Who cares if the very fabric of a farmer’s land is negatively impacted somewhere deep in the country; a world away from the sports clubs, fancy restaurants and cosy cafes of Brisbane.



Imagine morning on a farm, sitting on a chair watching dawn break, enjoying the tranquillity of your surroundings with a coffee listening to the birds and thinking, ‘What to be done today?’ – moments just singing out. The land, like an old trusted friend, brings freedom and long, honest working hours bring pleasure at the end of the day.

 

But your life is turned upside down as soon you open a letter from a CSG company titled, ‘Proposed Infrastructure for Your Land’. As soon you opened the letter your life becomes so stressful, with endless pressures and everything seems to be at stake: the farm, business, pride and motivation for being on the land. And then imagine yourself reading repeatedly the sentence:

“if we are unable to reach mutually acceptable access and compensation agreement, [the company] may, as a last resort, ask the Coordinator-General to acquire interests in land on behalf of [company] for the purpose of the project”.

You should know that you don’t have any legal power or right to say, ‘No.’; you simply have to ‘suck it up’. One can see the fear right there in your eyes, as clear as anything. 

Painting – ‘The letter and the landholder’ by Muhammad Makki

 

And then soon you will find yourself in a state of emotional stress, engaged in countless hours of reading and replying to emails, letters, phone calls, attending community meetings, information sessions, asking questions and trying to find answers, and attempting to make sense of complicated scientific terms. And imagine when you’re dealing and negotiating with more than one CSG proponent. This takes time, and when you are responsible for thousands of acres land and livestock that number in the hundreds, there is no time to waste. 

Imagine also restrained by a limited bank balance that you don’t have many moves left, and you are compelled to sign the agreement with CSG companies. Picture your paddocks and land becoming work sites for months, trampled by beeping utes going up and down and unknown persons on your property at times working around the clock under floodlights. Your land is overwhelmed by gravel or cement well pads, fenced with connecting roads, access points, underground power, gas and water pipelines, vents, and compressor stations. You discover that the auto steer tractor you purchased at enormous cost is no longer usable, because of the underground pipes and other infrastructure has fragmented the paddocks into odd shapes. And you notice that your cattle don’t utilise all the grass, now covered in dust because of the traffic. You worry about your underground water disappearing due to the CSG companies ‘de-pressurising’ the adjacent aquifer. You have to check and ensure now that there is no loss arising from CSG activities on your land and have to double check that gates shut properly, fences are in place, and cattle are not being exposed to plastic left lying about or any other dangerous substance. And let’s not imagine the ongoing management cost you will face for the pipeline and gas wells, which will be there for 30 to 40 years.

And now imagine your life is ‘Gas Gas and just Gas’. You will be known by the moniker, ‘Gas’, when you introduce yourself to someone in Toowoomba, Brisbane or elsewhere. At any funeral, birthday party or community hall the conversation will eventually come to CSG, and soon you will be sick of it.

And now you won’t remember the last time you had the luxury of thinking about improving livestock genetics, soil, pastures, ground cover and moisture retention; or even tennis, footy and cricket. There is no time for that anymore, and your confidence and motivation as a landholder is simply eroded.

Now the land might seem to be just a place to bury the broken dreams.

 There is no doubt that CSG industry has learnt and improved through the years, but the industry must realise that there is no fast lane out there in the country and it is the industry out of step with the pace of life of agriculturalists attuned to the variance of season and weather. If the industry does not learn these lessons, anti CSG movement is well positioned to slow the pace of development. There is no other way except for industry to reduce the severity of impacts on landholders and to reduce their distrust and doubts.

 

 

Note: This article is the personal opinion of the writer based on fieldwork experience and do not necessarily reflect the views or policy of any particular institution or organization. 

Contributor Muhammad Makki is a PhD researcher at School of Journalism and Communication & Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining (CSRM) at Sustainable Mineral Institute, The University of Queensland.

Previous published related posts

CSG - It's time to recognise farmer stress

Forgive our discontent

.

Forgive our discontent

By Veronica Laffy

 I write in response to the Weekend Australia front page story, Good times flow from well of discontent, on the wonderful relationship and excellent compensation enjoyed by Peter Thompson with Origin Energy in Roma.

As a landholder involved in ongoing negotiations for access with QGC, I can assure you that the deal struck by Peter is one that is rare and certainly not on offer to most landholders.

 

Photo: Laffy family on break from the farm

 

$3000 per well is certainly no supplement to our existing income, and doesn't even come close to covering our time investment in monitoring company activities on our land, were it to eventuate.  The company refuses to pay for landholder time involved in negotiating access - landholders are in fact the only party involved in the process who aren't remunerated for their time.   Land access agents, government officers, solicitors, experts, valuers -all are paid in this process.   Would you work for free to facilitate the access of your backyard for hundreds of strangers over an unspecified time frame?  Landholders are being forced into business agreements spanning decades, we have limited knowledge of the real life impacts, although given the numbers of people on Peter Thompson's property amenity and lifestyle impacts alone seem quite substantial.  That's before we even talk about wholesale removal of water and the millions of tonnes of salt THAT THEY STILL DONT HAVE AN EFFECTIVE USE FOR.  It is looking increasingly as though salt will be buried in landfill.  That's MILLIONS OF TONNES.  We have the most to lose and the least to gain, is it any wonder we are concerned?

We run an organic livestock enterprise modelled on the likes of Joel Salatin's Polyface Farm.  We have spent the past five years achieving organic certification and getting our property to a place where we can start to implement some of his practices.  Our business model will not coexist with the rollout of wells, roads, chemicals, daily traffic, and methane venting and flaring.  The impacts are too great - we would need to employ 2 full time staff just to monitor the traffic and ensure bio security alone.  We have 6 children, one of whom has Down Syndrome - the impact on our ability to have a safe haven for him and our other children here on our farm is enormous.  We would no longer know who was here, when they were here, if they were "safe".  Living in a rural or remote area has difficulties, but one of the great advantages is knowing who is and isn't on your property, this would be gone for the rest of my children's childhood.

We are being constantly threatened with land court.  We have neighbours in the same position who could handle the stress no more and signed agreements for laughable sums because the cost and stress of a possible court battle was too great.  They now live on an industrialised farm with constant traffic, random access, broken company agreements and no review for 15 years.  There is no company operating that will agree to a one year review.  They will just threaten court if you don't agree to their terms.  Intimidation and dictatorship 101 is the norm, particularly with QGC.

So forgive us for seeming to appear discontent.  We are not "left wing greenie activists”.  We are no one and everyone.  We are the common average Australian; having a go; taking a risk.  We are an average family "negotiating" against the might of a multinational corporation and a State government.  People like Peter Thompson are promoting something that is not the norm in this CSG rollout, but rather the rare.

 

Previously published related articles

 CSG - It's time to recognise farmer stress

Living and Working in a Gasfield

.

CSG - It's time to recognise farmer stress

By Rebecca Beissel

The Coal Seam Gas Industry’s contribution to the economy is well advertised by APPEA, the voice of Australia’s oil and gas industry.  It is alarming that there is no such recognition or any research of the massive health and social issues the industry is leaving in its wake in rural communities.  Does the rush for resources really come at any cost?

Photo sourced from SODD (Save Our Darling Downs)

 

Farmers are renowned for their resilience.  They relish the challenge of calling on all of their resources and skills to efficiently produce quality and sustainable food for our nation...in spite of what Mother Nature may throw at them.  They are battlers and they have been for generations.  Farmers take their role as custodians of our land very seriously.  My Dad and Mum have always been driven to improve their management practices, efficiencies and sustainable farming practices so that they can pass on the land to the next generation in better shape than when they started out. 

So when Coal Seam Gas projects and associated infrastructure are forced upon these people in a timeframe that is always urgent, I hope you can understand the genuine distress that is felt.  It is not as APPEA, the voice of Australia’s oil and gas industry, would have you believe - that farmers are ‘gas nay-sayers’ or that they ‘don’t care enough about losing Australian jobs and investment’.

The truth of the matter is that farmers are genuinely fearful for the safety and future of their homes, families and businesses.  What farmers are trying to negotiate is simple - for the CSG Industry to ensure that their activities and infrastructure does not prevent people from continuing to live and run their businesses in a healthy and prosperous manner.  What kind of country are we living in where people actually have to fight to protect this basic human right? 

When any human being is fighting for the safety and future of their homes, families and businesses there are always high levels of stress, anxiety and distress involved.  I am overwhelmed and alarmed by the ever increasing social and health issues my community is enduring.  Instances of stress related illnesses and symptoms are all too prevalent.  Stress related - anxiety, depression, sleeplessness and heart problems have all been reported in my community by people specifically targeted by coal seam gas projects and infrastructure.

 

Photo sourced from The Conversation

When an employee of these coal seam gas companies experiences stress, there are processes and resources in place to support that person, as should be the case. 

When a farmer develops symptoms of stress when trying to negotiate suitable outcomes with coal seam gas companies, do they offer support, do they show compassion?  Do they afford the farmer some time out from negotiations to take care of his health and wellbeing?  NO.  They up the ante.  They strategise and increase the barrage of phone calls, emails, demands and urgencies.  They increase the number of employees the farmer has to deal with and they rely on these strategies to force people to breaking point.  The end result of these tactics are damaging and long lasting.

So with all of the money that is being generated from the coal seam gas industry, please invest some of it into resources that will support the farmer in the battle to protect homes, families and businesses.  Please invest in resources and expertise that protect and support the health of our farmers and rural communities.  Otherwise, it appears inevitable that there will be a massive fall out not only socially but also to the agricultural industry as farmers are left to carry these massive burdens on their own.

 

Related article

Living and Working in a Gasfield

.