Review of Environmental Factors Brawboy Vertical Seismic Profile - PEL 456 Prepared by: Prepared for: RPS AUSTRALIA EAST PTY LTD SANTOS QNT PTY LTD Level 12 32 Turbot Street 92 Pitt Street Brisbane QLD 4000 Sydney NSW 2000 T: +61 8270 8300 F: +61 8270 8399 E: [email protected] Report Number: PR108703 Version / Date: Final Rev B/September 2011 rpsgroup.com.au Review of Environmental Factors Brawboy Vertical Seismic Profile - PEL 456 IMPORTANT NOTE Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism, or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this report, its attachments or appendices may be reproduced by any process without the written consent of RPS Australia East Pty Ltd. All enquiries should be directed to RPS Australia East Pty Ltd. We have prepared this report for the sole purposes of Santos QNT Pty Ltd (“Client”) for the specific purpose of only for which it is supplied (“Purpose”). 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In this note, a reference to loss and damage includes past and prospective economic loss, loss of profits, damage to property, injury to any person (including death) costs and expenses incurred in taking measures to prevent, mitigate or rectify any harm, loss of opportunity, legal costs, compensation, interest and any other direct, indirect, consequential or financial or other loss. Document Status RPS QA Issue Version Purpose of Document Orig Review Review Date Release Review Date Approval Rev A Draft for Client Review PM BL 19/09/2011 BL BL 22/09/2011 KH + Santos Rev 1 Final for Submission BL 30/09/2011 KH BL 30/09/2011 Legal PR108703; Rev B/September 2011 Page ii Review of Environmental Factors Brawboy Vertical Seismic Profile - PEL 456 Contact Information and Declaration Applicant: Santos QNT Pty Ltd 32 Turbot Street Brisbane QLD 4000 Contact Name: Jorge Pinedo Position: Gunnedah Project Execution Manager Signature: Date: REF Prepared Belinda Lewis by: RPS Level 12 92 Pitt Street Sydney NSW 2000 Position: Senior Planner Qualifications: Bach Env Sci (Hons) Signature: Date: 30 September 2011 (Rev 1) Application Brawboy Vertical Seismic Profile Subject Land Land titles comprise the following: Address Lot 89 DP 750914 & 6 DP 237954 Titleholder As joint titleholder I declare that the information contained in this Review of Declaration (Joint Environmental Factors is neither false nor misleading. Titleholder) Name: Santos QNT Pty Ltd (as joint title holder declaration) Signature: Date: PR108703; Rev B/September 2011 Page iii Review of Environmental Factors Brawboy Vertical Seismic Profile - PEL 456 Contents CONTACT INFORMATION AND DECLARATION III EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 1.0 INTRODUCTION 6 1.1 Background 6 1.2 Technical Investigation 6 1.3 Structure of REF 6 2.0 SITE DESCRIPTION AND CONTEXT 7 2.1 Location & description 7 2.2 Topography 12 2.3 Flora and Fauna 12 2.4 Water Resources 14 2.4.1 Surface Water 14 2.4.2 Groundwater 16 2.5 Heritage 16 2.5.1 Aboriginal heritage 16 2.5.2 Other heritage 17 2.6 Environmentally Sensitive Areas 17 2.7 Climate 18 2.8 Soils 20 2.9 Geology 20 3.0 PROJECT DESCRIPTION 23 3.1 Introduction 23 3.2 Site Preparation & Equipment 23 3.3 Access 23 3.4 Proposed Activities 24 3.5 Duration 24 3.6 Staff & Hours of Operation 24 3.7 Chemicals 24 3.8 Justification & Alternatives 25 3.9 Stakeholder Consultation 25 4.0 REGULATORY CONTEXT 27 4.1 Petroleum (Onshore) Act 27 4.2 Environmental Planning & Assessment Act 28 4.2.1 Overview 28 4.2.2 Determining Authorities and the REF 28 4.2.3 Scone Local Environmental Plan 29 4.2.4 State Environmental Planning Policy No. 44 – Koala Habitat Protection 30 PR108703; Rev B/September 2011 Page iv Review of Environmental Factors Brawboy Vertical Seismic Profile - PEL 456 4.3 Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 31 4.4 Threatened Species Conservation Act 31 4.5 National Parks and Wildlife Act 32 4.6 Native Vegetation Act 33 4.7 Heritage Act 34 4.8 Protection of the Environment Operations Act 34 4.9 Water Legislation 34 5.0 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS AND MITIGATION 35 5.1 Introduction 35 5.2 Ecology 35 5.2.1 Flora & Fauna 35 5.2.2 Matters of National Environmental Significance 35 5.2.3 Key Threatening Processes 36 5.3 Heritage 37 5.3.1 Aboriginal Heritage 37 5.3.2 Other Cultural Heritage 38 5.4 Ground water 38 5.5 Air 39 5.6 Noise 40 5.7 Surface water 41 5.8 Soil 41 5.9 Chemical and Hazardous Substances Management 42 5.10 Contaminated land 43 5.11 Waste Minimisation and Management 43 5.12 Natural Resource Use 44 5.13 Local Community & Neighbouring Properties 44 5.14 Visual Impact 45 5.15 Land use 45 5.16 Cumulative Environmental Impacts 45 5.17 Summary of Mitigation Measures 46 5.18 Clause 228 Guidelines 48 6.0 CONCLUSIONS 50 7.0 REFERENCES 51 PR108703; Rev B/September 2011 Page v Review of Environmental Factors Brawboy Vertical Seismic Profile - PEL 456 Tables Table 2-1 Coordinates for Brawboy 2 Well Lease & Proposed Source Line.................................................7 Table 2-2 Environmentally Sensitive Areas.................................................................................................17 Table 2-3 Climate Statistics from Bunnan (rainfall) & Scone Airport (temp) BoM Weather Stations..........18 Table 5-1 Matters of National Environmental Significance..........................................................................36 Table 5-2 Key Threatening Processes ........................................................................................................36 Table 5-3 Summary of Mitigation Measures................................................................................................46 Table 5-4 Clause 228 Guidelines ................................................................................................................48 Figures Figure 2-1 Site Location.................................................................................................................................8 Figure 2-2 Proposed VSP Source Line .........................................................................................................9 Figure 2-3 Coal and Mineral Tenures..........................................................................................................10 Figure 2-4 Contour Detail ............................................................................................................................13 Figure 2-5 Drainage.....................................................................................................................................15 Figure 2-6 Protected Areas .........................................................................................................................19 Figure 2-7 Stratigraphy of the Gunnedah Basin..........................................................................................21 Figure 5-1 Closest residential properties.....................................................................................................40 Plates Plate 2-1 View north from northern extent of VSP source line...................................................................11 Plate 2-2 View south from northern extent of VSP source line ...................................................................11 Plate 2-3 View west from southern extent of VSP source line ....................................................................11 Plate 2-4 View north west for southern extent of VSP source line..............................................................11 Plate 2-5 View north from southern extent of VSP source line ...................................................................11 Plate 2-6 View south from Brawboy 2 well lease ........................................................................................11 Appendices