The Pilliga Forest is located in north-west New South Wales, Australia.  It is in the North West Plains region and sits between the townships of Narrabri to the north and Coonabarabran to the south.  The forest covers approximately 500,000 hectares and consists of National Park, Nature Reserve, and State Conservation Areas, as well as privately owned land.  The Pilliga Forest sits within the state seat of Barwon and the federal seat of Parkes.  The Pilliga Forest lies within Gomeroi Country, where it has been a place of profound cultural and spiritual significance for the Gomeroi people since time immemorial, serving as a source of food, medicine, tools, and ceremonial connection to Country.

The Pilliga is sacred to Gomeroi people, woven through with songlines, oral histories, and Dreamtime stories.  One of these stories is the legend of the HairyMan, an ancient being believed to physically inhabit and protect the forest. There is a deep, unspoken respect for this presence; most Gomeroi people will not enter the forest unless it is for cultural reasons, and tradition holds that you must leave food for the HairyMan, or he’ll follow you home.

The forest is also threaded with ceremonial significance. Places like Borah Creek recall initiation grounds, and sites like Salt Caves and Sandstone Caves hold spiritual importance in oral history. Animal totems connect Gomeroi people directly to the land; everyone is born into a totem group, Kangaroo, Emu, Echidna, or Goanna, and is forbidden by lore from killing their own totem, a practice that sustainably managed the forest’s resources for generations.

In 2011, a collective of 19 Gomeroi people made a claim for Native Title in the Pilliga forest, covering an area of 111,317 square kilometres.  In 2021, Santos applied for a ‘future act determination’ in the National Native Title Tribunal (NNTT), requesting that the mining leases be granted without the consent or agreement of the Gomeroi People.  This court case is ongoing and to this day, Gomeroi have not given consent to Santos to operate in the Pilliga forest.

The surrounding communities have overwhelmingly opposed the Narrabri Gas Project. It became the most contested project ever to seek NSW Government approval, with over 23,000 people submitting objections, with 98% strongly against it.  Surveys show 98.7% of landowners covering 3.2 million hectares surrounding the Pilliga have said no to coal seam gas.

Regional communities in northwest NSW face genuine economic pressures, from limited employment opportunities to declining services and the financial strain of rural life.  It is understandable why a company like Santos, arriving with well-paying jobs and infrastructure investment promises can seem appealing.  There is no denying that Australia’s economic prosperity over the past two decades has benefited from the mining industry.  But the scales have shifted.  A gas project that may have made economic sense twenty years ago simply doesn’t stack up today, for three key reasons.

First, the environmental and social costs are devastating and long-lasting, which include, but are not limited to:

• contamination risks to the Great Artesian Basin
• irreversible damage to Gomeroi Country
• Harm to farmland that regional communities depend upon for their own livelihoods.

Secondly, it undermines Australia’s climate commitments at precisely the moment we need to accelerate our transition to clean energy.  The Narrabri Gas Project would generate over five million tonnes of carbon emissions annually.

And finally, the economic returns no longer justify the risk.  Independent analysis shows Narrabri gas is more expensive than alternative supply options, and with renewables hitting record highs, gas demand is already declining.

Whilst there may be short-term community benefits to a major infrastructure project such as this, the long term impacts on climate, environment, water and Country are too great to ignore.

70% of the project area is under claim by the Gomeroi Native Title Holders.   The Narrabri Gas Project has been staunchly opposed by the Gomeroi nation since the project’s inception.  In an effort to protect their country, cultural heritage, water and songlines, the Gomeroi Native Title Applicants have twice appealed against Native Title approval of the Narrabri Gas project.  The latest appeal will be heard in the National Native Title Tribunal in early March 2026.

The Narrabri Gas Project is located in a crucial recharge zone for the Great Artesian Basin (GAB).  The GAB underlies 22% of Australia’s landmass and provides water to thousands of inland communities.  Removing large volumes of groundwater from below the Pilliga Sandstone GAB recharge aquifer will cause long-term loss of water from the overlying aquifers and put groundwater at risk of contamination.

Coal seam gas is fossil gas found in coal deposits, and in this case, approximately one kilometre underground, beneath layers of Pilliga sandstone. Coal seam gas is held in place by water pressure. To extract it, wells are drilled through the coal seams and the water pressure is reduced by extracting some of the water. This releases fossil gas from the coal. The gas and water are separated and the gas is piped to compression plants for transportation via gas transmission pipelines.

The Narrabri gasfield is currently just a handful of exploration wells connected to water and gas processing plants in the Pilliga Forest and a small gas-fired electricity plant near Narrabri.   Santos is currently seeking approval to build the Queensland Hunter Gas pipeline and the Narrabri Lateral Pipeline, as well as the Kurri Kurri Lateral pipeline (near Newcastle).

The building of these pipelines not only creates their own immediate impacts on erosion, biodiversity, water, Gomeroi and landholders, but they also act as a “Trojan Horse” to open up more country for gas wells in the areas that the pipelines run through.

Additionally, the pipelines will remain in situ indefinitely.  The gas well pads will have surface infrastructure removed and will be “rehabilitated,” but will never be returned to their original state due to profound changes in soil chemistry caused by the spread of residual drilling material.  Subsidence resulting from the withdrawal of formation water will affect surface-water drainage and GAB recharge.  Once the gas has been extracted, the impacts to groundwater may be so great that the creeks will be forever changed. Weeds will flourish through the operational stages and eventually colonise disturbed areas.  Local environmental groups fear the forest will never be the same if a natural gas field is developed.

These high-pressure gas pipelines needed by the Narrabri Gas Project are largely buried underground.  Their construction requires 20-50 meter wide clearings of vegetation, blasting of rock and horizontal drilling under roads, rail lines, creeks and rivers.  The maintenance requires that these corridors remain free of vegetation for the duration of the project.  In some cases, these pipelines are proposed to go through state forests, some of Australia’s most productive farmland, nature reserves, significant rivers and floodways and areas of important cultural heritage for the Gomeroi people.

Pipelines have been known to explode, such as Santos’ Cooper Basin pipeline in 2023 and leak, such as the Moomba to Adelaide pipeline in 2015, as have gas processing plants such as Santos’ Varanus Island facility in Western Australia in 2008, putting people, livestock, critters, water and landscapes at risk.

The project received state and federal approval in 2020, following almost 20 years of exploration and appraisal of the gas in the Pilliga Forest.  The project remains in this exploration phase because it has not built the pipelines to export the gas, nor has the company made a final investment decision to build the gasfield and pipelines.

The gas extracted through the Narrabri Gas Project is likely to be used  domestically, rather than being exported like the vast majority (around 80%) of Australia’s gas.  However, many commentators anticipate that it is expensive gas that will do little to bring down prices and that there are better, most cost effective solutions. The Narrabri Gas Project isn’t due to come online until 2030 and has a lifespan of ~25 years.  Knocking off this project will knock off any future expansions, which will be a huge win for not just the community, but Australia’s energy transition to renewable sources of electricity.

The most up-to-date information can be found in the submission to the Narrabri Lateral Pipeline by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).

It references the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) assessment of four different gas supply options for eastern Australia, concluding that Narrabri would be less impactful in meeting NSW and eastern Australia gas demand than the other three options.

It also points out that the Australian Government’s Future Gas Strategy Analytical Report estimates that gas from undeveloped fields in the Surat Basin in Queensland could be delivered to Melbourne at a lower cost (A$9.16-A$10.42 per gigajoule (GJ)) than Narrabri gas (A$11.37-A$12.62/GJ).

Gas, such as that proposed to come from Narrabri, is usually only burned once the electricity market really needs it, and therefore, wholesale prices are spiking.  Even though only about 5% of electricity in Australia’s main grid comes from gas, research from Griffith University shows that because gas is so expensive, gas prices drive 50-90% of pricing periods in Australia’s main grid.

Furthermore, the Quarterly Energy Dynamics by AEMO for Q4 of 2025 report:Renewables met 51% of all electricity demand. A record high.

• Gas power at its lowest point since 2000.
• Emissions in the NEM at a record low.
• Wholesale electricity prices down 44% to $50/MWh.
• Gas demand down 3%.
• Queensland LNG (liquid natural gas) down 10 PJ.
• Gas demand for electricity generation is down 6 PJ.
• Gas production is down in all regions.

Of course, this is all balanced by:

• Renewables met 51% of all electricity demand. A record high.
• Record output from rooftop solar and home batteries.
• Record output from wind (up 29%) and large-scale solar (up 15%).
• Big battery discharge tripled.

The Narrabri Gas Project will generate approximately 1.25 million tonnes of new carbon emissions annually from mining and processing the gas, at a time when we are seeking to reduce our emissions. Burning the gas will lead to a further 3.8 Mt CO2-e in annual emissions.

The 2030 reduction target for NSW equates to 76.5Mt of CO2, and implies that Narrabri gas would account for 6.5% of the state’s total emissions in 2030, rising to 10.9% by 2035. Narrabri will emerge as one of the largest CO2 sources in the state if the NSW Government achieves it emissions reduction target, according to the IEEFA submission. 

Whilst this issue was raised extensively in the assessment process for the Narrabri Gas Project, the approval body said that they have ensured strict conditions that Santos must abide by.  Sadly, a pattern of polluting, then paying the fine has emerged over the years.

Selling gas to others who burn it is their business, and their CEO receives considerable bonuses for developing new projects, as well as the business receiving considerable tax advantages for establishing new projects.  The Wilga Park Power Station was built near Narrabri to process the exploration and appraisal gas coming out of the Pilliga before the full gasfield was approved.  It received a 7-year royalty-free holiday from the state government, meaning it received the gas for no cost and was able to turn it into electricity and sell it into the electricity market when the prices were peaking.

These high-pressure gas pipelines needed by the Narrabri Gas Project are largely buried underground.  Their construction requires 20-50 meter wide clearings of vegetation, blasting of rock and horizontal drilling under roads, rail lines, creeks and rivers.  The maintenance requires that these corridors remain free of vegetation for the duration of the project.  In some cases, these pipelines are proposed to go through state forests, some of Australia’s most productive farmland, nature reserves, significant rivers and floodways and areas of important cultural heritage for the Gomeroi people.

Pipelines have been known to explode, such as Santos’ Cooper Basin pipeline in 2023 and leak, such as the Moomba to Adelaide pipeline in 2015, as have gas processing plants such as Santos’ Varanus Island facility in Western Australia in 2008, putting people, livestock, critters, water and landscapes at risk.

The project received state and federal approval in 2020, following almost 20 years of exploration and appraisal of the gas in the Pilliga Forest.  The project remains in this exploration phase because it has not built the pipelines to export the gas, nor has the company made a final investment decision to build the gasfield and pipelines.

The Narrabri Gas Project has been approved, but not built.  The Gasfield has both state and federal approval, however Santos has not made a Final Investment Decision to build it.  In order to sell the gas, Santos needs the pipelines to be built.  Currently, the pipelines do not have approvals to be built and are moving through these processes right now.

Yes.  At 95,000 hectares (38 times the size of the City of Sydney) the Narrabri Gas Project is the largest by land area ever proposed in the state.

The NSW Government under Premier Chris Minns strongly supports the Narrabri Gas Project, viewing it as critical to the state’s energy security given the forecasts of significant gas supply shortfalls from 2026-27 onwards. More recently, Premier Chris Minns underscored his support by confirming its willingness to consider compulsory land acquisition to advance the project.

However, the project remains contentious, facing opposition from farmers over groundwater risks to the Great Artesian Basin, environmental groups concerned about the Pilliga Forest, and ongoing regulatory and legal hurdles that have so far prevented Santos from making a final investment decision.

The Federal Government under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has taken a broadly supportive stance on the Narrabri Gas Project, underpinned by its Future Gas Strategy.

However, the Albanese Government simultaneously added regulatory complexity, designating the Narrabri Lateral Pipeline as a “controlled action” under the EPBC Act in February 2025 — just weeks before Albanese called the federal election — requiring further environmental assessment of impacts on threatened species and adding further potential delays.  In February 2026, the Albanese Government initiated a broader Gas Market Review to streamline the regulation of the east coast gas market.  Narrabri remains central to its ambition of securing long-term, affordable domestic supply, however Santos and industry lobby groups continue to pressure the government to move faster and cut through the approvals backlog.

The NSW Government frames the Narrabri Gas Project as compatible with its net zero goals by positioning gas as a transitional “bridge fuel” that supports the grid while renewables are scaled up.   However, this sits in tension with NSW’s legislated climate targets — a 50% emissions reduction by 2030 and 70% by 2035 — with the state’s own Net Zero Commission finding NSW needs to accelerate action to stay on track, and critics questioning how approving a major new gas field is consistent with those targets.  The government’s core argument is that Narrabri gas is preferable to imported LNG as a transitional fuel, but independent analysts and climate groups remain sceptical, particularly given concerns about unaccounted methane emissions across the gas supply chain.

There are many ways you can help protect the Pilliga.  HEre are some ideas to get you started.

• Visit the Pilliga. 
• Throw your support behind “Ride the Gas Line” in March 2026.  An epic ride from Narrabri to Newcastle along the proposed gas pipeline route.
• Get off gas, become more energy efficient, install renewable energy where possible and join with other locals through Rewiring Australia 
• Encourage your council to get off gas.  Councils in NSW have the power to ensure newly built homes and businesses are all-electric without gas. Powering our homes with clean, renewable electricity reduces our reliance on gas, meaning we don’t need to build expensive, polluting gas projects like Narrabri. 13 councils across the state have now modernised their planning laws to ensure developers build all-electric – is your council next?  Get your council on board. Contact James Conlan from 350 Australia to get started in your community james@350.org.au  
• Participate in the assessment processes for the Narrabri Lateral Pipeline and Queensland Hunter Gas Pipeline in the coming months, stay up to date through Lock the Gate including signing our petition for Narrabri and sharing the videos we made on that page with your friends, work mates and family
• Support local initiatives to grow renewable energy around Narrabri through Geni.Energy