A lone gas pump labours with an unending mechanical rhythm. Coal-bed methane is shot out in spurts and drifts away into the air. Pools of black, saline water lie about the cleared site, clogging up a once beautiful bushland setting. There are many gas exploration sites in the Pilliga, though only one or two have ever revealed any gas worth tapping.

The Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) seem to think we have an energy source under the sands of the Pilliga that has national significance. The Resource and Conservation Division of the Department of Urban Affairs and Planning have stated, "the Department of Mineral Resources has provided estimates that the region could contain up to 35 trillion cubic feet of gas resource." This sounds huge, but is this the reality?

The DMR justify their interest in the area by saying that the exploration licence in the Pilliga area (which includes all the State forests) is the largest and most important potential energy site in NSW – this may be true, but only because there is little going on elsewhere. The DMR have yet to provide substantive proof of this claim.

One factor of great concern to the DMR is, yes, you guessed it, the fear of new national parks. The Pilliga has areas of identified high conservation value including temperate woodland remnants, and one of the outcomes of the current western regional assessments will be to establish a more comprehensive reserve system in the bioregion.

With the results of gas exploration from the Pilliga looking bleak, there must be some concern within the DMR, though they still have the minerals potential card to play. The Pilliga is covered with an eroded sandstone topsoil potentially containing a wide variety of minerals. Whether it is economic is another question, though we may just find Kryptonite – if we look hard enough!

Sydney Harbour and Defence lands The NSW Legislative Council held an inquiry into the oil spill on Sydney Harbour at Gore Cove in August 1999 that released about 80,000 litres of light crude oil. As well as finding ways to prevent such a spill in the future, the inquiry aimed to look at the environmental and tourism values of the harbour that would be threatened by future spills.

NPA Honorary Marine Project Officer, Tim Anderson, led a site inspection for Inquiry committee members to areas of environmental significance, and represented NPA in hearings during February. NPA has emphasised the need to map and increase protection of areas of high biodiversity and historical significance.

The Defenders of Sydney Harbour Foreshores Committee (which includes NPA) has achieved changes to the recent Sydney Harbour Federation Trust Act, which formally establishes a Trust to manage former defence lands around Sydney Harbour. Six sites covering 130 ha at Woolwich, Middle Head, Georges Heights, North Head and Cockatoo Island will now be retained in public ownership and managed, remediated and hopefully incorporated into Sydney Harbour NP.

NPA, represented by Michael Rolfe, also gave evidence at hearings in January to the Commonwealth Government Senate Committee Inquiry into the Disposal of Defence Properties. NPA stressed that lands belonging to the Australian Defence Department of conservation significance should not be sold off to the highest bidder. Many defence lands in the Sydney Basin have been proposed by NPA for protection including lands at Holsworthy, Hoxton Park, Voyager and Pleasant Point, South Creek and Sydney Harbour.

St Marys ADI land In contrast to the successful protection of most of the Sydney Harbour defence sites, the NSW Government is intent on maximising the development of the Australian Defence Industries (ADI) land at St Marys in western Sydney (see NPJ April 2000). On 19 January, the Minister for Urban Affairs and Planning announced the adoption of a regional environmental plan that gives approval for a $2 billion development of 8,000 new homes, industry and businesses, and a 630 ha regional park.

NPA, ADI Residents Action Group and others have been calling for a regional park covering the full 1,545 ha site, to assist protection of the endangered Cumberland Plains Woodland; 190 plant species; and some of Sydney’s last emu and kangaroo populations. It is a rare opportunity to protect a large viable site for long-term conservation; we are still hoping the Federal Government will block the development process. Ask NPA for our information sheet if you wish to find out more.

O’Hares Creek clay mine Macarthur Branch is fighting an appeal by a clay-mining company in the Land and Environment Court. The developer, Noel Imports (Aust) Pty Ltd, is seeking to overturn a decision by Wollondilly Council to reject an application for clay extraction in upland swamps adjoining the Dharawal State Recreation Area. The project site is located within the O’Hares Creek catchment, which is listed on the Register of the National Estate and the Directory of Important Australian Wetlands.

NPA, acting with other objectors, has been granted leave to appear before the Court in this matter. A decision on the appeal is not expected until the later part of the year.

Western Sydney Orbital In January, the Minister for Roads and Transport released the environmental impact statement (EIS) for the proposed Western Sydney Orbital. The proposal is to link the Hume Highway at Prestons with the M2 Motorway at Baulkham Hills, as a four-lane dual carriageway within a corridor 65 to 150 metres wide. The promoted benefits of the proposal include less congestion on existing roads and more employment opportunities.

The proposed motorway would cut through areas of remnant vegetation, including endangered Cumberland Plain Woodland, Shale Sandstone Transition Forest and Sydney Coastal Riverflat Forest. Six threatened plant species and the threatened large land snail have been found at several locations along the route. The Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) has proposed the purchase of land containing remnant vegetation as compensation for the loss of listed communities and species. Any compensatory land purchases would be subject to negotiation by the RTA and the NPWS, but the EIS does earmark land at Prestons and the Colebee Scrub as potential sites.

The EIS public exhibition period has ended and the proposal is now being considered by the State Government.

Andrew Cox, Executive Officer & 
Tim Carroll, Macarthur Branch

Community Biodiversity Network in new office  The CBN is now sharing office space with NPA. If you wish to contact Andreas Glanznig or Alexandra Vandine, you can phone 9262 4743, or fax 9262 4723, or email a.glanznig@cbn.org.au, or see their website at www.cbn.org.au

4WD MOU 

The NPWS signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding with the Recreational Four Wheel Drive Clubs Association (NSW and ACT) in October. The MOU aims to achieve a ‘cooperative working relationship’; and it allows access to areas that would ‘otherwise be closed to the public’. It commits the NPWS to responding to correspondence from the 4WD Association within three weeks: NPA does not get such a speedy response as this!

NPA is opposed to special access arrangements for recreational groups and is concerned that this MOU sets a precedent – it may lead to exclusive access arrangements that alienate parts of the national park estate for particular sectoral interests.

Gooches Crater This is part of the proposed expansion of coal mining operations by Clarence Colliery on Newnes Plateau within the Wollemi Wilderness Photo by Andrew Cox

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