Greening growth

17th July 2009

GREEN TREES: Qld Wildlife Preservation Society Upper Dawson Branch project officer Adam Clark listens as Tree Crop Techologies Neil Halpin explains how the tree plantation is helping Santos use water from it gas seam project in an environmentally sustainable way.

ADAM Clark might be a greenie but he doesn't want to kill off development in Taroom.

Mr Clark and members of the Upper Dawson Branch of the Qld Wildlife Preservation Society (WPSQ) visited Santos's Fairview gas fields between Taroom and Injune recently to have a look at the company's effort to manage the environmental impacts of its business.

He said with the Santos gas fields, the Wandoan coal project, a rail line and two pipelines, there was tremendous development which was all at the head waters of the Dawson River.

“We are anti-denigration, not anti-development,” Mr Clark, the group's projects officer said.

“The aim of our branch is to make sure it will be developed is such a way as to not denigrate the river.

“We can't afford to degrade our river.

“It is the responsibility of this generation to ensure it is not degraded for the next generation.”

Mr Clark said Santos was doing “its level best” to ensure its operations were not harming the environment too much, but still had some concerns.

The group got to see Santos's large irrigation scheme and how they disposed of gas-seam water.

Mr Clark said it was an informative meeting where they saw Santos was spending a lot of money to minimise environmental impact.

He said Santos representatives listened to their concerns.

“We will continue to liaison with them to alleviate any future problems that may arise,” Mr Clark said.