Gas Exploration Update
Date: 15-Jun-08
Author: Dana Hollis (SGL)
13 June 12, 2008
Gas Exploration Update
We would like to thank everyone who attended the community meeting last Saturday to explain gas exploration in the Wollombi and Paynes Crossing areas. We appreciate that so many people made time on a weekend to come.
As we promised, I would like to update you on our activities in your community. Due to the wet weather at the Wollombi location, we have decided to delay works until the ground is sufficiently dry. We will work with the landowner to decide when the property is ready for work to start. I will send through an update at that time.
This means that the work plan has changed and the core hole at Paynes Crossing will be first. Site preparations have commenced to accommodate the drill rig that is scheduled to arrive in the last week of June.
Due to the concerns raised about the flooding of the Wollombi site, we are looking into records of previous floods to check where the water rose. We will then thoroughly assess the data to determine if the site is above the flood levels. If you have any data or evidence that could contribute to this assessment, we would appreciate and encourage you to send it through to us.
Again, thank you for attending the meeting, Please do not hesitate to contact us for more information. We welcome any questions you may have.
Kind Regards,
Dana Hollis
Manager, Landholder Relations
Telephone: 02 92535513
Email: dana.hollis@sydneygas.com
Here's one for you Dana... tell me the site is high and dry on this day only a year ago. I'd think the Stockyard Creek site was also deep underwater at this point in time.
Photo: Francisca Maul © Mulla Villa 2007
Comments (1)
Posted: 20-Jun-08 08:47 by Peter Firminger Permalink
I have looked at this carefully on the "Wollombi" topographic map (9132-3S) and while the large 1:25,000 scale makes it hard to pinpoint, I believe it is a flood risk.
If I had photos of the actual site at that point in time I would have posted them, regardless of what they proved, I am not trying to inadvertantly imply anything - it's a photo of the (June 2007) flood peak level in this part of the valley.
To be fair, I also used the "terrain" features of Google Maps and this does show it above the flood line (at this point on that map, around the 100m contour line) but this source of data proves to be less than accurate, with the brook frequently running uphill across a contour line so I have little trust in the placement of the contours. See for yourself
At least now they have a real reference point of the height of the water to shoot a laser across to the proposed site to see exactly how high it is.
One of the lessons here is that we need to photo document these events and share the photos. Take more photos than you need of whatever you can see from where you are. I was caught out without a camera during that flood or I would have taken a panoramic shot from the Guesthouse of the whole valley and we would have been able to see the site.
However, many people didn't want to share photos of the flood level on their land as it proved a flood risk that they didn't want documented.
See here for the photos we were given.
Peter
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