Alan Jones talks with Fiona Simson (of NSW Farmers) and Senator Bill Heffernan, about Australian food security, and says this is the gravest issue he has ever addressed. He talks of how our governments are virtually turning Australia into a giant mine, with no thought at all for the future.
The methane escape is only one of three major CSG cost externalities which will be paid for by the community whilst the companies bank their profits; the other two are health and water contamination.
THE Great Artesian Basin Co-ordinating Committee has called for tighter regulation of mining and exploration in the area. There has been a dramatic increase in exploration and drilling, particularly for coal-seam gas, in the basin in recent years. The fear is that drilling will break water-bearing seams, causing contamination and water loss.
“We are being told it is all under control, but we don’t have enough evidence to satisfy ourselves that it won’t jeopardise the GAB in certain areas forever.”
Coal seam gas extraction is the latest environmental battleground. Amidst the protests about land access, is the question of whether one of Australia’s geological and cultural icons is at risk.
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The race between multinational companies (facilitated by government) to get this gas out of the ground threatens the industry’s very development. If the CSG industry is worth so much to Australians, surely ensuring its safe, sustainable and timely development should be a matter of national importance.
This should never be portrayed as a David and Goliath battle. It’s not about who wins or loses. If we get this industry development wrong we all lose.
There was much fallout from the 4 Corners Show of a couple of weeks ago which investigated the level of gas exploration and coal seam gas mining in Australia
It raised concerns about the transparency of the coal seam gas industry, the impact on farming operations and the inability of farmers to halt the progress of wells on their land once it started – amongst other things.
Farmers, residents and environmentalists have gathered ready to stop the Queensland Gas Company from coming onto a rural residential estate at Tara. Drew Hutton is the protest organiser and says they’re there to stay as long as it takes.
Drew said “Governments have given it their approval, State and Federal, but the community has not. And until the community is prepared to cooperate with this industry it’s just not going to go ahead.”
Four Corners investigates the CSG industry, and its cost to farmers, the GAB and the environment. Matthew Carney finds leaking gas wells, falling borewater pressure levels, toxic chemicals that have never been assessed by by the national regulator, and fears that the Great Artesian Basin will be contaminated and depleted.
As expansion in the coal seam gas industry continues to boom, fears grow that the groundwater of Great Artesian Basin will be poisoned.
“So you can basically say of the 23 major chemicals used in this process, they have not been assessed by any national regulator,” Dr Lloyd-Smith said.
“It will take a long time before the oil and gas industries restore the loss of global trust that followed the BP Gulf of Mexico disaster, where executives simply did not work out what they had to do and did not understand the risks.
In Australia we have not encountered a BP-style disaster but the management style seems similar – they have not worked out what they have to do and the risks they face.”
Four Corners – The Gas Rush