A group of community advocates saddled up and set out earlier this week on an epic 400km ride along a proposed gas pipeline route to highlight a project they believe threatens NSW’s precious forest, water and farmland.

Farmer and advocate Sally Hunter organised the horse ride to send a clear message of community opposition to the NSW Government-approved Santos’ Narrabri gas project, which could see up to 850 coal seam gas wells drilled in the ecologically-sensitive Pilliga Forest.

“Our community has fiercely opposed Santos’ plans for more than a decade, and we’re not backing down,” Sally explained.

“This ride is about standing with farmers, residents and Traditional Owners who want to protect this beautiful country and the precious land and water that sustain it,” she said of the ride which set out on Monday, March 16, from her home in Narrabri.

“Mining more polluting and expensive gas won’t help NSW households and businesses, since recent analysis [by Kevin Morrison from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis] shows the Narrabri project is unlikely to lower NSW prices,” she added.

“What it will do is ruin the Pilliga forest, risk our water resources and open up more farmland to gas.”

The largest temperate inland woodland in eastern Australia and a site of Cultural significance for Gomeroi people, the Pilliga Forest is also of interest to Inland Rail, which describes its planned route through the forest as the “missing link” in the Narromine-to-Narrabri section of the interstate rail project.

The proposed Hunter Gas and Narrabri Lateral pipelines would connect the gasfield to the eastern gas market, putting the productive Liverpool Plains farming region in the path of coal seam gas expansion.

However, critics of the project say that Santos has not made a final investment decision on the gasfield or pipelines, and the project still faces legal and regulatory hurdles.

The group of riders have a planned stop at Breeza on Sunday, March 22, for a community event hosted by the Gomeroi Traditional Owners, NSW Farmers, the Country Women’s Association of NSW, Unions NSW and Lock the Gate Alliance, all of whom oppose the Narrabri gas project.

Liverpool Plains farmer Margaret Fleck described the project as “the most controversial [one] in NSW’s planning history.

“The Narrabri gas project won’t just damage land and disrupt communities – it will threaten our nation’s food and water security. That’s too high a price to pay for a fossil fuel company’s profits,” she said.

Baan Baa farm managers Shaine and Jack Maunder, whose property lies on the proposed Narrabri Lateral Pipeline route, said they believed they should have the right to refuse this project.

“It will be hugely disruptive to our land and livelihood. We are deeply concerned about the impacts on our cattle, cropping operations, and the young family who lives on the property,” Shaine said.

The group aims to finish their ride in Millers Forest, just outside Newcastle, on Saturday, March 28.