QUEENSLAND GASFIELD TOUR – A KNITTING NANNA’S REPORT

A group of Knitting Nannas Against Gas from the Clarence Valley travelled to Chinchilla in the Queensland gasfields for the second annual Knitting Nanna (KNAG) conference which was held from September 26-28. Nannas from NSW and Queensland as well as some from further afield (e.g. Alice Springs) assembled for the conference and the gasfield tour on the last day. Nanna Lynette was deeply affected by the experience of seeing what a gasfield is really like.  Her report of the Nannas’ tour of the Kenya Gasfield (one of a number of gasfields close to Chinchilla) is below.

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Nanna Lynette's Report

I found that although I’d seen many photos and movies of gasfields and had heard people talk about them, nothing prepared me for visiting a gasfield and walking around the infrastructure and hearing the massive amount of noise. The size of the Kenya gasfield and the amount of infrastructure was mind-blowing.  

Gas Well

The gas from the field is piped to the Kenya processing plant and after processing is piped to Gladstone. The processing plant, which covers an area of a couple of acres, consists of three massive metal structures about five storeys high.  The noise coming from this was horrendous. We were standing about a kilometre away and where we were the noise was deafening.

The next part of the tour was a visit to the State Forest where some of the actual Kenya gaswells are. Initially they were about a kilometre apart but when production slowed they drilled other wells in between the existing ones so that the wells were then 500 metres apart.  Each well sits in a cleared pad of at least a quarter of an acre.  This means you’ve a fractured environment because the ground is bare except for some gravel over it.  And each well makes a horrific noise as well.

The whole area is massively noisy and dusty because of all the clearing.  

Nannas in a corridor infested with fireweed

The cleared pipeline corridors are about 100 metres wide and have been taken over by weeds like fireweed.  Along the main pipeline there are vents – high point vents and low point vents about 400 metres apart. 

The high point vents vent raw gas 24 hours a day. Of course this smells.  It just goes straight into the atmosphere. The low point vents expel moisture which is collected in troughs and presumably evaporates if it doesn’t overflow.

 

High point vent

We spent between four and five hours on the gasfield tour with gas company officials following us around the whole time.

During the tour my eyes started stinging and I started to get a headache.  Nearly everyone had these symptoms.  A couple of people had nose bleeds.  I can’t even begin to think of what the people who are surrounded by gasfields are going through.  The side effects of living close to a gasfield are very real.  These unfortunate people are not making it up.

The trip and the tour was a good thing to do. I am left feeling really thankful that we have kept this industry away from the NSW North Coast.

Cartoon from the local paper

KNITTING NANNAS AT GLENUGIE COAL SEAM GAS PROTEST SITE

The Grafton chapter of Knitting Nannas Against Gas (KNAG) held a knit-in at the Glenugie anti-CSG protest site on Monday 26th November.  Protesters have been at the drill site on Avenue Road south of Grafton in the Clarence Valley since coal seam gas company Metgasco commenced clearing and construction activities in the previous week.

 

"The Nannas wanted to express their support for the protest at Glenugie," said spokesperson Leonie Blain.

"At this particular site there are serious concerns about the impact the drilling will have on the Coldstream River, a tributary of the Clarence River,  and the rural properties surrounding the drill site. "

"The Nannas are also concerned that Metgasco, despite its promises, has failed to keep the local community informed about its activities."

"We will be putting our concerns about Glenugie to local State Parliament member Chris Gulaptis when we meet with him this week," Ms Blain said.

Knitting Nannas from Lismore have also visited the site on a number of occasions to support the protesters.

KNITTING NANNAS AGAINST GAS LAUNCHED IN GRAFTON

On Friday 19^th October the Grafton Chapter of Knitting Nannas Against Gas was launched with a knit-in outside the office of the Chris Gulaptis, Member for Clarence in the NSW State Parliament.  Mr Gulaptis is a member of the National Party which is currently in a coalition government with the Liberal Party in NSW.

The Grafton Nannas, who were inspired by the original Knitting  Nannas in the Lismore district, were protesting against the State Government's support for the coal seam gas (CSG) industry.

A spokesperson for the group stated that they had decided that Grafton should have a similar group to supplement the work that other anti-CSG campaigners are doing in the Clarence Valley.

"In supporting this damaging industry the Government is ignoring  the genuine concerns of ordinary people about issues such as fracking, the threat to aquifers, declining property values and loss of productive agricultural land," she said.

"We are being told by the politicians that everything is O.K. because they have strong safeguards in place. This is simply not true.   

"None of the measures announced by the Government several weeks ago will address the serious social, economic and environmental problems associated with coal seam gas mining.

"We want our politicians, and in particular our local member Mr Gulaptis, to take the community's concerns seriously.  We don't want our grandchildren to live in an area devastated by gas mining."

The Nannas delivered  a letter outlining their concerns to Mr Gulaptis' office.  They are seeking a meeting with him to discuss their concerns in detail.

Cupcakes to Celebrate the Launch