Great Artesian Basin Protection Group

A family on Queensland’s Western Downs has been told to fill out a freedom of information (FOI) request to see test results conducted on a waterway on their property.

Testing of Kogan Creek, south of Kingaroy, by the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) has shown levels of hydrocarbons do not exceed stock-watering standards.

But landholders, including the Lohse family, say independent testing shows toxins in the waterway.

Farmers believe the nearby underground coal gasification (UCG) plant run by Carbon Energy may be linked to dead turtles and higher-than-normal mercury levels in the nearby Kogan Creek.

Sharon Lohse says the Queensland Government still has not shown her the results of the latest tests.

“Why would they not put the results out? They say everything is open for landholders to be able to get this information, however in one of their letters to us they said we had to FOI the information if we wanted the test results,” she said.

Ms Lohse says their lawyer has been given a press release on the Government test results, but not the results themselves.

“We want to see a complete copy from the lab, not just a media release that everyone got,” she said.

No Comments »