Representatives from NSW Farmers’ have been very vocal in expressing their anger that 

approval has been given for an open cut mine at Breeza. 

Fiona Simson, immediate past president of NSW Farmers’, in an interview with Alan Jones on July 15, spoke of the detrimental effect the mine will have on aquifers and acknowledged the recognised interconnectivity of aquifers. 

At the same time as the interview with Jones was conducted, the NSW Farmers’ conference was in progress in Sydney at Luna Park.

Representatives from coal seam gas (CSG) companies Santos and AGL were present at the conference. Also present and invited to speak was Dr Richard Creswell, a hydro-geologist employed by Santos.   

There is irrefutable proof that CSG extraction will lead to a drawdown in aquifers. Santos state this fact in their own literature. 

That there is interconnectivity between aquifers is a scientific fact, which means that there is no way to isolate water seepage from upper aquifers when CSG and the associated produced water is drawn from lower levels to the surface.

 Why do NSW Farmers’ feel they can speak out so strongly against approval for a mine in one confined area of the Liverpool Plains and at the same time court Santos and AGL to promote an industry 

that has the potential to destroy agricultural land and deplete supplies of underground water over millions of hectares across NSW?

You don’t have to be a Rhodes scholar to know why membership of the organisation is declining rapidly.