Antinuclear

Santos fails to clean up uranium contamination  Green Left , May 17, 2014 An Environmental Protection Authority report says gas company Santos can’t fully clean up the uranium contamination of an aquifer in the Pilliga Forest in north-west NSW, saying that attempts to recover the polluted water were “impractical”.

Wilderness Society Newcastle campaign manager Naomi Hogan said: “Santos said it would never threaten groundwater, but it has polluted an aquifer with uranium and other toxic heavy metals, and the EPA report says Santos can’t fully clean up the mess. Santos’s plan for recovery was to pump contaminated water into the waste-water pond which is still leaking, and even that failed.”

Furthermore, the EPA report into the contamination in the Pilliga Forest is based upon a report commissioned and paid for by Santos, the company that caused the damage.

Santos refused to allow the government’s groundwater experts, the Office of Water, to fully review its original report, despite the NSW Health Department calling for it. Santos did allow the EPA to show it to Office of Water staff at a face to face meeting, but Water staff said the Santos report was “very technical” and they “would need to fully review the documents to be able to provide a full report”.

Hogan said: “What is Santos trying to hide by refusing to allow the government’s groundwater experts to review its report into the spill?”…….“The NSW government must tear up the agreement with Santos to fast-track the approval of all these wells until the inquiry is complete.

“The Pilliga is the state’s last great inland forest — its creeks feed the Murray-Darling river system and it’s a major recharge zone for the Great Artesian Basin, a critical water source for farmers and inland Australia.”https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/56479