Western Downs AllianceMaintenance: Workover Rigs in Tara Estates
After finding out earlier in the week that QGC intends to conduct ‘routine’ maintenance: involving workover rigs on the gas wells in Kate block in the Tara Estate, we became concerned.
Our families have already been impacted by previous CSG activities, and after the gas well blow out near Dalby last year, also while undertaking routine maintenance, we had serious concerns over the health and safety of our families.
After several letters to QGC, DERM and DEEDI requesting information on emergency procedures, exclusion zones, risks to residents and constingency plans if something were to go wrong, we have been UNABLE to obtain this information.
All QGC’s Senior Vice President Brett Smith will tell us is “These operations have been reviewed for safety and risk assessed in line with QGC standards and international best practice”
“Regarding your queries on safety, the highest priorities for QGC are the safety of the community,our people and the environment, and the integrity of our infrastructure”
“We work closely with the emergency services and have well-defined response protocols for all of our activities in the unlikely event of an incident occuring”
“We undertake risk assesments,planning and exercises for the most likely emergency scenarios-including flood and bushfires- on a regular basis”
(Gee that makes us feel really confident of our health and safety, especially after the report of all those leaking gas wells, having had product water dumped on our roads, and already much of our community is experiencing health impacts!)
DERM’s Ian Heiner’s response to the same request:
DERM was notified of the planned works and as a result the LNG Enforcement Unit will be monitoring the operation to ensure compliance by the company with appropriate Environmental Authority conditions. DEEDI are also monitoring the operation to also ensure compliance with the safety requirement of the operation.
Officers of the LNGEU and DEEDI will be conducting planned periodic inspections of the operations and staff are also on standby in case of unforseen emergencies.
Emergency procedures for these operations are the responsibility of QGC. If you are having trouble contacting them I suggest that you contact them on their toll free number 1800030443.
If you are concerned about any of the activities, please call DERMs Pollution Hotline on 1300130372 or DEEDIs CSG and LNG HOTLINE on 13 25 23.
And the response from DEEDI, They are still following it up.
Seriously- none of these responses has any of the information i requested.
I requested details of the Emergency management procedures, constingency plans, exclusion zones for residents if things go wrong, and also the risks to residents, and not one person from either QGC, DERM or DEEDI have been able to supply us with this information.
One now must wonder if there are any such procedures in place!
QGC security have been threatening residents who are monitoring their activities with being arrested under section 805 and facing a possible $50,000 fine, if they protest QGC’s activities.
So far QGC have been drilling outside of their allowable operating hours, and making inappropriate amounts of noise late at night.
All these incidents have been reported to DERM, lets see if anything gets done about it, or will this be yet another example of a multi national foreign owned mining company making up their own rules as they go along!
QGC have also been dumping water on our roads again under the guise of dust suppression- one would hope DERM are testing that water to make sure it is just water and not more CSG product water!
We have MANY concerned residents throughout our residential estate who have contacted our support group with concerns over QGC’s activities.
What the Government and the CSG companies need to understand is that people are being impacted, and whilst they are happy to sit back and do nothing about this, we will not!
We will stand up for our families, and all those others in our estate who are being impacted and can not, for whatever reason stand up for themselves.
We will continue to monitor and protest against ALL CSG companies in our area, who have the potential to put our lives and the lives of our families at risk, whenever the need arises for us to do so!!!