Landowners living on the Hunter Gas Pipeline route have hit out at an advertising campaign that claims normal agricultural activity will be permitted above the pipeline.
Pipeline proponent Santos published the full page advertisement in the Newcastle Herald last week. It said the pipe will be located underground, "allowing normal agricultural activity to continue within the easement once constructed."
It coincides with a new round of community consultation for the 413 kilometre project, which is proposed to be built between the Narrabri gas project and Newcastle.
The Hunter Gas Landholder Rights Alliance has 120 members who live on 100 properties between Hebden near Muswellbrook and Millers Forest.
All of the alliance members, who represent almost 60 per cent of the properties in the area, have indicated they do not want the pipeline on their land.
Alliance President Mick Fetch said Santos' recent Deed of Option gave a very different message to the one promoted in the recent advertisement.
"In fact the restrictions being placed on landholders who sign this document will make it near impossible to continue any farming operations they're accustomed to," he said.
"Normal agricultural production, including cropping, can occur on the easement after the pipeline is constructed. Low shrubs and vegetation can also be grown over the pipeline," a Santos spokesman said.
"Normal vehicles and machinery registered for use on roads can be driven over the pipeline easement. Heavier vehicles and farm machinery can drive over the easement at purpose-built crossings which will be constructed as required by landholders."
The Alliance says it has been seeking a full list of restrictions and prohibitions from Santos without success.
"The pipeline will cross irrigation paddocks with no consideration of the paddocks current operation. We have asked basic questions like how will water flow on a flood plain during floods or in a paddock during a cropping irrigation cycle when Santos after construction will leave a levy bank on top of the pipeline until the soil subsides back down - this may take up to 5 years. They can't or won't answer how our paddocks might still operate after construction," Mr Fetch said.
Elsewhere Santos has said the pipeline had been designed to transport hydrogen in the future.
At present the project is not approved to transport hydrogen.
"At the moment, there is no customer demand for hydrogen. Santos will assess customer demand for hydrogen during the life of the pipeline and will undertake engineering modifications and seek relevant regulatory approvals should there be any future customer-led proposal to transport hydrogen through the pipe," the Santos spokesman said.
The federal government is reconsidering a 14 year old decision not to assess the Hunter Gas Pipeline under Commonwealth environmental laws.
It followed submissions from Lock the Gate Alliance, 10 community groups and the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union which argued the project's environmental impacts were broader than originally thought.
Former environment minister Peter Garrett did not declare the project as a controlled action under the Commonwealth Environment Protection Biodiversity and Conservation (EPBC) Act when he gave the project approval in late 2008.
New information has since come to light revealing the presence of threatened species along the pipeline route, including critically endangered Grassy White Box woodland, as well as the Regent Honeyeater, Spotted-tailed Quoll, Booroolong Frog and Corben's Long-eared Bat.
