We need to fight these mongrels with everything we have and do our best to make sure they cannot do anymore damage to the land and water and to the people of the area.
Recently the ABC's Four Corners program had many questions for AGL's head of Corporate Communications Ms Karen Winsbury. She refuted the claims by mining expert Mr Philip Pells ground water study conducted by Parsons Brinkerhoff for the Gloucester Gas Project.
Richard Pells said, "the study had not been encompassing enough (covering only 0.25 per cent of the project area) and no numerical analysis of the model had been presented."
ENERGY giant AGL has dismissed claims its Gloucester Gas Project will affect water quality and water tables and has stated it could actually improve the water quality of the Avon River.Images @ Melonpopz Flickr
Responding to questions from the ABC’s Four Corners program, AGL’s head of Corporate Communications Karen Winsbury refuted claims by mining expert Philip Pells on a phase two groundwater study conducted by Parsons Brinkerhoff for the Gloucester Gas Project.
On the Four Corners program Pells said the study had not been encompassing enough (covering only 0.25 per cent of the project area) and no numerical analysis of the model had been presented.
When Professor Pells ran the data, he found that AGL’s conclusions - that there was no evidence of natural connectivity between shallow and deep groundwater systems - were not supported by the model.
He also discovered the model reduced the baseflow that feeds the streams of the Gloucester valley.
In response to the claims, AGL said that Professor Pells’ critique was now out of date as much of the work that the company had planned in 2012-13 had been completed or commenced.
AGL also dismissed concerns raised by MidCoast Water general manager Robert Loadsman that the Gloucester Gas Project would affect its Manning District water supply scheme.
Mr Loadsman questioned why there was no mention of the potential for impacts on drinking water quality in the environmental assessment for the project.
He also queried whether the project approvals included provision for a river discharge.
AGL said the environmental assessment did not consider impacts on drinking water quality because the Manning District water supply scheme was too far downstream to be considered at risk from the project.
The company said there was no local draw from the Avon River for drinking water supply as it was a known saline catchment.
AGL said the approvals process for the mine had provided consent for treated water discharge during periods of high rainfall, but there was no approval for river charges at this time.
The company said that if there was a discharge it would not result in any risk of an impact on drinking water quality because it would be of a higher standard than the natural water quality during high river flows.
It said water produced from the Gloucester Gas Project would be slightly salty groundwater that would have naturally drained back to the catchment as a base-flow but instead would be treated by passing through a membrane to make it less salty.
AGL said by doing this it would actually improve the quality of the water in the Avon River catchment.
It said the volume of water it would potentially release would be extremely small in comparison to the flows in the lower Manning River - less than .05 per cent of typical high flows.
And if it were to happen at all, a release would occur only following heavy rain, so the percentage would fall even further.
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