“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.”
“Listening to Julia Gillard’s meaningless pledge to deliver a “clean-energy economy”, it appears that the Prime Minister is deliberately ignoring a key energy report published by the government just last year.
Does Gillard appreciate that, with respect to greenhouse gases, every 2,000 MW of gas-fired baseload generation provided is equal to the construction of another Kogan Creek power station, the latest and most efficient coal-burning plant in Australia, commissioned in 2007? And that building about 20,000 MW of new baseload gas-fired generation to meet projected 2030 requirement is the equivalent, in emissions terms, of constructing 10 more Kogan Creeks?”
This excellent article by Orchison, explains about the govt’s total lack of commitment to renewable energy. http://www.businessspectator.com.au:80/bs.nsf/Article/Julia-Gillard-clean-energy-CEDA-pd20110202-DP67F?OpenDocument&src=kgb
THE Planning Minister, Tony Kelly, has given the strongest sign yet that the state government would ban the use of a group of chemicals in the controversial technique known as fracking to extract coal seam gas.
The vice president of the NSW Farmers Association, Fiona Simson, said the scoping paper was ”too little, too late” and was designed to assist the coal industry, not other industries.
The department has been notified of four coal seam gas operations in the Fitzroy region operating outside of their Environmental Authorities since 30 November. These are:
Fitzroy coal seam gas operations:
CSG Arrow Energy (Moranbah) (20 Dec) – unauthorised release of water.
CSG Molopo Energy (Moura) (7 Dec) – unauthorised release of water.
CSG APLNG (Wandoan) (27-28 Dec) – controlled discharge of produced water to prevent pond overtopping.
APLNG (Westgrove)* (27 Dec) – controlled discharge of produced water to prevent pond overtopping.
Please log on and vote for Gasland! It deserves to win.
A free community screening of the award-winning movie Gasland, to protest against the secretive plans for Coal Seam Gas exploration in St Peters, inner-western Sydney.
Earlier last year Landline reported on the extraordinary impact the booming coal seam gas industry was having on rural Queensland. The Federal and State Governments have since signed off on multi-billion dollar export projects that will take the industry to a new level of investment and production.
“If not adequately managed and regulated, the industry risks significant, long-term and adverse impacts on surface and ground-water systems,” Ms Munroe (National Water Commissioner) said.
She said mining should operate under the same rules applied to other water users.
A STRING of Coalition MPs appears to have promoted the cause of a coal-seam gas company headed by former Nationals leader John Anderson.
Nine coalmines and two coal seam gas operations have released water “outside of their Environmental Authority conditions” in recent weeks.
The department said it was investigating all of the releases “and will take enforcement action where necessary”.
The government has changed its reporting procedures since facing heavy criticism after 10 mining sites spilled poisonous material when overrun by the biggest floods in decades in 2008.
Alan Jones discussing “Gas Leak!”