With questions to be answered later, lack of guarantees as to environmental concerns, dodging of subsidence issues and no hard information on their gas or water finds, or what they will do with up to 20,000l/hr of saline coal seam water potentially produced here, those at the Blackville community meeting remain unconvinced that farming and coal seam gas extraction can co-exist safely on the Liverpool  Plains.

Santos were keen to distance themselves from other mining companies operating in the region and that their staff took full responsibility for the technical competence of the deep drilling processes.  When questioned on the mud-volcano accident in Java, where Santos sold its stake after the environmental disaster displaced many thousands of people, or what Santos would do 20 years from now when the gas was exhausted, if subsidence did occur or water resources were impacted, the responses were less robust.

And there’s the rub – after the dash for gas is over and the miners have moved to pastures new, will our water, our soil and our communities still be there to produce clean food?