The APLNG project’s Environmental Impact Statement, recently approved by Queensland’s Coordinator General, states that effects on groundwater in the Walloon Coal Measures, which are used for stock and domestic water supplies and are directly connected to the important Condamine Alluvium freshwater aquifer, are likely to be “widespread and long-term (in the order of 200 years)”.
TRACES of toxic chemicals have been found at a ”fracking” operation to extract coal seam gas – the third time this year that gas producers have detected contamination at a drill site.
Emails between department staff and Metgasco show that testing for coal seam gas using fracking can go ahead without approval being sought or required from the Environment Department.
Cate Faehrmann, a Greens MP, said the department appeared to do little more than apply a ”rubber-stamping exercise” to fracking applications.
The Greens say an alarming pattern is emerging and want a moratorium imposed on exploration licences for CSG mining projects, until water supply and other risks are properly assessed.
The National Farmers Federation also fears there have not been enough studies done to ensure groundwater won’t be adversely affected by CSG and other similar operations.
The state government does not conduct any environmental assessment of exploration drilling for gas into coal seams despite increasing concern about its impact on aquifers and water supplies.
Documents tabled last week in Parliament show the government has little understanding of the possible environmental impact of coal seam gas exploration wells that are being drilled.
Gasland is a film of ‘‘direct relevance for Australia as we are faced with the consequences of a coal-seam gas rush.’’
‘‘This is a huge issue because once you’ve contaminated an aquifer you can’t go back.’’
There’s one other point Fox is keen to make: it’s not just the water that’s the issue, it’s also the emissions. Methane, a key component of the gas produced, is up to 72 times more potent a greenhouse gas than CO2, and it is emitted all along the production path as well as when it is burnt.
NSW Greens Upper House MP Cate Faehrmann has again called for a moratorium on coal seam gas exploration in the state during a protest against the industry in Sydney. Ms Faehrmann’s call comes after a contamination scare on Tuesday in which a cancer-causing agent was found in three coal seam gas wells owned by Arrow […]
AN ENVIRONMENTAL lobby group says Queensland faces great environmental risks from the world’s first coal seam gas to LNG project. BG Group has given final investment approval for the first stage of the Curtis LNG Project in the state’s southwest. It committed $15 billion to the project, which includes building a liquefied natural gas plant […]
His concern was the depletion of aquifers through the CSG extraction process.
“We’ve had a drought for 10 years. Are we going to create another one?” he said.
Friends of the Earth spokesman Drew Hutton said farmers were facing irreversible damage to the Great Artesian Basin.
THE weight of scientific evidence fuelling landholder claims that coal seam gas extraction poses a real and serious threat to important freshwater aquifers is becoming harder for the Queensland Government to ignore. But ignoring the point it is, and despite a mountain of assurances to the contrary, the Queensland Government continues finding ways to avoid […]
ALL coal seam gas projects throughout Australia must be abandoned immediately as a matter of urgency. The very act of drilling has produced sinister results at every site and if state governments continue to ignore the grave consequences of drilling, Australia stands to lose prime farming land while simultaneously contaminating our waterways and running the […]
Origin stops coal seam gas drilling after chemicals found in water