Great Artesian Basin Protection Group

It is one of the world’s largest underground water reservoirs, covering an area bigger than Iran. But a new report has found that the Great Artesian Basin’s pumping power comes from an area smaller than Tasmania. A scientific review has raised questions about the basin’s cap­acity to withstand water extraction necessary for coal-seam gas mining. […]

A series of articles from the New Internationalist magazine’s special fracking edition. Why are communities around the world rising up against oil and gas extraction through the controversial process of fracking? We present the essential information and key issues, sorting the myths from the reality. Click here to download the PDF document.

Click here to download the poster.

As federal policy makers in the USA decide on rules for fracking on public lands, a new report calculates the toll of this dirty drilling on their environment, including 280 billion gallons of toxic wastewater generated by fracking in 2012—enough to flood all of Washington DC in a 22-foot deep toxic lagoon. Read the full […]

Australia’s coal seam gas industry has rejected a peer-reviewed report that suggests greenhouse gas emissions from drilling and fracking are 50 per cent worse than thought. Read the article here: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/harvard-fracking-study-rings-methane-alarm-bells-in-australia-20131126-2y87s.html  

A major new study blows up the whole notion of natural gas as a short-term bridge fuel to a carbon-free economy. Read the article here: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/11/25/2988801/study-methane-emissions-natural-gas-production/

A new online mapping tool which identifies the locations of existing CSG wells in Queensland has helped to highlight just how large and concentrated the industry’s footprint has become in a few short years. http://www.beefcentral.com/p/news/article/3307

The culmination of ten years of research, the 93-page report is sure to cause a stir with the energy sector and its critics. Groundwater contamination has been a key concern surrounding the booming fracking industry. “Jessica Ernst has made a strong case,” says Will Koop, BC Tapwater Alliance Coordinator. “Her collection provides excellent and technically […]

This is a scanned copy of two letters to the editor which were published in the Gloucester Advocate on 1st May 2013: Mining’s contribution – by Dr. Richard Denniss, Executive Director of The Australian Institute. Water a priority – by John Ross, Manager Hydrogeology AGL Upstream Gas. Click here to download a PDF of the […]

A report released on April 24 by the Australian coal industry, Adding value to the Australian Economy, unsurprisingly documents only one side of the ledger. It is perhaps more surprising that this one-sided report has some academic imprimatur, when review of the international literature reveals a very different picture. The complete picture shows coal is […]

Article by Bob Katter – What do you call an industry that doesn’t create many job opportunities, doesn’t provide significant revenue for the economy and destroys structural homeland industries through systemic and endemic collateral damage? It’s called the coal seam gas industry. http://www.afr.com/p/opinion/more_risks_than_benefits_in_csg_rzi5tx8wymhIPv95zezhPO

“The largest single water user in the industrialised world is the energy industry. Prodigious amounts are needed to produce nearly every type of electricity and transport fuel across the energy value chain . . .
The link between energy and water is rarely discussed, yet is of huge consequence.
It is strange, strange, strange that when it comes to the most important subject on the planet, the basis of all life – water – governments, international agencies, economists, scientists and businesses have consistently underestimated the growth in global demand, and the growing stress on supply.”

Mr McLindon, a former LNP member and sitting Beaudesert MP, said he had joined the blockade because he shared the residents’ concerns about the mining practice.
“The coal seam gas threat has well and truly reached the heart of the Scenic Rim as the foreign-owned company, Arrow Energy, rolls out its exploration permits,” Mr McLindon said on Friday.

Walgett schoolteacher, Mr Robins, said the protesters wanted baseline water tests to be conducted on local aquifers before drilling was allowed to begin.
“We need to know what is in there now, because after drilling, once it’s contaminated we have to know who is responsible,” he said.

SOUTHERN Highlands representatives at the NSW Upper House Inquiry into coal seam gas (CSG) mining in Mittagong on Friday were overshadowed by a powerful statement from Rivers SOS.
Ms Graham spoke about the “white elephant” in the room being the “undue influence” that mining companies had over Australia’s political process.
She received rousing applause from the gallery.

“Country Labor has taken a stand and called on the O’Farrell Government to immediately suspend all Coal Seam Gas exploration licenses before irreparable damage is caused to ground water and aquifers in the Northern Rivers,” Mr Ellem said.
“We have said that until a regulatory framework is in place based on independent scientific research and conclusive evidence, we should not be allowing Coal Seam Gas mining to proceed freely.

The US Environmental Protection Agency for the first time has implicated fracking – a controversial method of improving the productivity of oil and gas wells – for causing groundwater pollution.

“Internal advice to the Queensland government had warned five years ago that coal-seam gas development was dictated by misplaced “technological optimism” that environmental problems could be solved, when there was no way to assess the industry’s “cumulative impact” on farming and water.”
This is just more instances of professional advice that Anna Bligh ignored. She – and Tony Burke – also ignored Dr Chloe Munro, the Commissioner of the National Water Commission, who warned them of the huge impacts to the GAB.

FORMER coal-seam gas mechanical technician Roy Michie, who spent eight years working fracking wells across Australia, claims the industry is dominated by “cowboys” who are subject to substandard regulation.

Yet it is fair to say the risks here are considerable. As the committee report emphasises, we cannot afford to be reckless with the Great Artesian Basin because it is one of the nation’s most precious natural resources.

GROWING community and political opposition to coal-seam gas production is beginning to make analysts doubt whether yet-to-be approved projects will get up.

FOR every “fracked” coal-seam gas well, between 10,000 and 35,000 litres of chemicals are injected into the ground, with up to 40 per cent remaining there.
The CSG industry has talked down the quantity of chemicals used in the process, repeatedly stating the chemicals represent roughly 1 per cent of fracking solution.
The Senate committee into CSG, which delivered an interim report this week, has examined the bulk of chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” process. It states that because of the very large volumes of solution involved, “even 1 per cent is still a significant volume”.

A legally blind farmer trying to stop coal seam gas (CSG) exploration on his farm in the NSW Hunter has been taken to the Lands and Environment Court.

Queensland’s environment minister will investigate claims her department allowed coal seam gas (CSG) water to be dumped into a river in breach of national standards.
An ABC Radio investigation found treated CSG water, containing chemicals and traces of heavy metals, was dumped into the Condamine River in southeast Queensland.

Crucially, we have rushed to develop coal seam gas reserves as a cleaner alternative to coal, assuming it will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and tackle climate change. But will coal seam gas reduce emissions? By how much? We don’t actually know.

COAL seam gas drilling at a flashpoint site on the edge of the Liverpool Plains has been halted after the state’s biggest coal seam gas operator, Santos, backed down, ending a three-week blockade by residents.

The halt came as the O’Farrell government was forced into damage control over coal seam gas exploration after the Minister for Western NSW, Kevin Humphries, appeared to foreshadow a suspension of pilot production across the state.

Protecting the water wealth of the Great Artesian Basin is the latest challenge for the coal seam gas industry, writes Ben Cubby.
The basin has existed in its current form for millions of years, but one of the biggest tests to its existence will come in the next decade. Beneath the layers of water lie some of the world’s most extensive coal seams. Just as the sandstone aquifers contain water, so the coal seams contain methane.

The root of the problem, he says, is that politicians pay little attention to the long-term effects of decisions, especially the impact of mining on water resources.
“One thing people must have is food and water, but we are destroying that for one-off payments from mining,” he says.
“No one has a clue of the geology of aquifers. Once fractured, there’s no possibility for them to be fixed. You can’t mine without fracturing the aquifer.”
“The single most important thing you can have is water,” Mr Ball said.

Senior energy analyst Gundi Royle has broken ranks with her colleagues, attacking industry and regulators for failing to conduct independent regional modelling of the groundwater impacts of up to $80 billion in planned coal seam gas (CSG) development.
She said that State governments were so enamoured with projected revenue “they cannot regulate efficiently. They have failed from the outset. They are trying to run behind the ambulance but they will not be able to catch it”.

With opponents to coal seam gas fighting the industry on many fronts the news that gas producers pay nothing for five years has been met with disbelief.
Those opposed to the industry have been questioning its impact on the environment in particular ground water – but now they want to know how a multinational run industry can receive such a significant financial boost from the state government.

The only company in Britain using hydraulic fracturing to release natural gas from shale rock says the controversial technique probably did trigger earth tremors in April and May. Fracturing operations were suspended on May 27 following the detection of a tremor centred just outside Blackpool.

Phillip Adams on Late Night Live (ABC Radio National) interviews Professor Lance Endersbee – “A Dissident View of Water and Warming”

The World Today (ABC) – Nick Xenophon and Professor Craig Simmons, warn that the ancient waters of the GAB are under severe stress (21/09/2009)

Michael McKenzie on Bush Telegraph (ABC Radio National) discusses the recent GAB water auction.

ABC Radio National – Monday 16/11/09

Two amazing interviews on Queenlsand Country Hour on 8/4/10 – First a Dalby solicitor found that the government had failed to set any trigger levels for the impact of coal seam gas on the aquifers; then suddenly the Minister announced they had (six years late!) set the trigger levels! Listen to the audios, the reporter is excellent. . . .

This is an abc radio interview with Kelly Fraser-Parle and Drew Hutton, of Queensland. They talk of leaking gas wells, and the enormous environmental impact posed by the coal seam gas and mining industries. Drew Hutton talks about the threat to the GAB from coal seam gas – and he says this is the biggest single environmental threat to Qld.

Ian Hayllor (Chairman of the Basin Sustainability Alliance) talks about the enormous amounts of water that the coal seam gas industry will extract, and asks why is the csg industry exempt from the government’s GAB Water Resource Plan?  http://blogs.abc.net.au/files/ian-hayllor.mp3

The viability of underground gas production is being questioned with a pilot project in Queensland’s South Burnett region ordered to shut down.

Gladstone Regional Mayor George Creed also says he is pleased the EIS process for the proposed LNG projects is thorough. Cr Creed says if Mr Garrett believes it is necessary for an extension of time to achieve that result, then that is the way it should be. He says he believes that Mr Garrett would […]

 Concerns about Coal Seam Gas –  ABC Blog – Liz Hedge 30/8/2010  A group of concerned farmers and local MPs are still unpacking after they took a trip to Roma and Dalby in Queensland last week to examine the effects of coal seam gas mining in the region.  Exploration is currently underway to determine the feasibility […]

Click the play button below to listen to the article [audio:bst_20101104_0747.mp3] Click the play button above to listen to the article The race is on in Queensland to establish the world’s first coal seam gas (CSG) to liquefied natural gas export market, despite growing concern about the long-term environmental impacts of a CSG boom.

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.”

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.

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.

A gas well blowout spilled thousands of gallons of hydraulic fracking drilling fluid water in the US state of Pennsylvania, state and local regulators said.

Alan Jones speaks to Rob McCreath about the impact of coal mining in Queensland.

“We have this dreadful meddling from governments that have grossly mismanaged the whole economy and I understand they need the mineral resources to balance the books.
But in 20 years’ time there’s no point in having the books balanced and the people starving, it’s ridiculous.”

In Alan Jones’ interview with Tony Abbott on Friday, Abbott said two things: he said that if you don’t want something to happen on your land, you ought to have the right to say “NO”. And he also said, as Opposition Leader he was obliged to be “the Voice for the Voiceless” – two great […]

Alan Jones speaks to Sean Berry from Channel 7 news about the coal seam gas mining story which airs tonight, on Channel 7 News.

Alan Jones speaks to Dr Reg Pascoe, Heather Brown, Nicki Laws and Rob McCreath about mining and the desecration of farm land.

Farmers will become more violent, depressed and even suicide as they face the biggest threat ever to their mental health unless there’s a change to current mining policies.

A wonderful and informative program from Alan Jones about the “agricultural vandalism” that politicians are engaging in – and the price they will pay at the next election. He said that the governments’ “endless pursuit of mining money” must end – they must realise that we can’t eat coal!!

Alan Jones talks about the massive Food Security Forum to be held in Gunnedah next Wednesday, 12th October, at 11 am. And he talks about what coal seam gas mining will do to our water and our farming land.

Liverpool Plains farmer Rosemary Nankerville told a Sydney rally very little of the power generated from CSG mining will be used in New South Wales because it is earmarked for export.
“So like the coal industry, New South Wales is letting in huge multinational companies to pillage our beautiful country, taking the spoils overseas and leaving us with issues which may never be resolved.”
In Western Australia, protesters gathered in Reuther Park at Margaret River, while in Queensland protests were held in Brisbane, Toowoomba, the Darling Downs, the Sunshine Coast and Gympie.

Hydrogeologist, John Polglase, digs into the many layers of the Great Artesian Basin, and gives a fascinating insight into how the GAB is formed.

Alan Jones talks to Gundi Royle, an energy analyst who is attacking CSG industry and regulators for failing to conduct independent regional modelling of the groundwater impacts of up to $80 billion in planned coal seam gas (CSG) development.

Alan Jones discusses corruption in politics, dredging Gladstone Harbour, and the coal seam gas industry. Then he talks to Senator Bill Heffernan about the govt. documents he has found, where the government was advised of the risks of this CSG industry in 2006.

NSW Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham tells Alan Jones about his push for a moratorium on coal seam gas mining in New South Wales.

Dr Gavin Mudd, an environmental engineer at Monash University, digs into the trend towards regulatory capture, a phenomenon that allows de facto self regulation for many companies such as miners. Regulatory capture occurs when the regulators lose their independence and their scientific objectivities when regulating a particular industry as a result of moving too close to the industries.

We’re all aware of the mining activity going on in Queensland, but what about the dirty side of mining? Matthew Benns, author of ‘The Men Who Killed Qantas’, has a new book out called ‘Dirty Money’ in which he outlines what he claims is the true cost of Australia’s mining boom. Here Matthew Benns begins by talking about who the really big mining companies are in this country.

Landline Program about the Great Artesian basin Sell-off

Farmers on the Liverpool Plains are fighting to save their land, and underground aquifers, from destruction by the mining giants – BHP and the Chinese mining company Shenhua http://player.sbs.com.au/naca#/naca/wna/FutureFood/playlist/Farmers-take-on-the-miners/    

A falsely ‘happy’ look at a booming csg industry – lots of jobs and money, but only for the very short-term – and will a “waterless wasteland” be left behind?

A lot of farmers are worried about the long term impact of industrial development on prime farmland and on water supplies, and whether local and State authorities are really up to the task of managing those risks. Wayne Newton says no one can tell farmers what the impact will be after thousands of square kilometres of coal seams are dewatered.

http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=1052462 How’s this for a raw deal? A big company marches onto your land, sinks a well without your permission and then proceeds to threaten your livelihood. And it does it all with the consent and approval of the government. Now this would be bad enough if it was happening halfway across the world in […]

Mr Hutcheon says it was wrong for the Queensland Government to conditionally approve the project in the first place.

“The Queensland Government gave provisional approval for these developments without knowing the answer to that question as to whether the Great Artesian Basin would be impacted,” he said.

Queensland Opposition MP Ray Hopper says he has no faith in the self-regulation process used to assess water quality at coal seam gas (CSG) mines. Environmentalists and residents have repeated calls to end CSG gas extraction after another water contamination scare at a mine west of Miles in Queensland’s southern inland. Traces of banned carcinogenic […]

US doco sparks gas debate

David Stratton from ‘At The Movies’ interviews Josh Fox, about GasLand

Excellent U.S. interview with Josh Fox, about his journey to discover the truth about coal seam gas drilling.

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.

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.

The Environmental Protection Authority is investigating, after a white, frothy liquid was filmed spurting from a coal seam gas mining site in Camden in south-west Sydney, a few hundred metres from an open drinking water channel.

The Federal Govt. has been put on notice of a new environmental battlefront, to save our water, agricultural land and urban areas.

“Why should our ratepayers be threatened with legal action, why should their lives be disrupted, why should our beautiful farming lands be ruined, and why should we have to put up with this because of government’s gross mismanagement?” Ms Humphries said.

Protesters have been arrested after they gatecrashed a mining conference in Sydney, calling for a halt on coal seam gas exploration.

Mining magnate Clive Palmer has launched a scathing attack on Australia’s coal seam gas industry, saying the technology is unproven and could have a devastating environmental impact.

A new poll has revealed that the vast majority of NSW supports a moratorium on coal seam gas.

Three of Australia’s top water scientists have told Lateline more research on the safety and environmental impact of coal seam gas mining is urgently needed.

Now rehabilitation sounds great in theory, but farmers here say cropping is a precision science, as demonstrated by this re-levelling of cotton fields damaged in the last wet season.
BEN SULLIVAN: “I don’t see how you can take something out from lower down, that it’s not going to subside on the top and that’s going to change the way water flows and it’s going to make it near impossible to grow crops. And we’ve asked to take us somewhere and prove to us so we can feel safe in ourselves and our kids’ future to show us where this has been done, but I’m still waiting.”

Mining companies have bought prime agricultural land near Sutton Forest south of Sydney to access key parcels of land without having to worry about landowners.

Coal seam gas is a massive undertaking. It’s estimated there are now close to 4,000 wells in Queensland. That number will grow tenfold over the next 20 years. The plan is to take a lot of that gas to Curtis Island, off Gladstone in the World Heritage Area, where it will be processed and exported.

To service the huge liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers and expand its coal loading capacity, Gladstone Ports Corporation is now undertaking the biggest dredging operation ever attempted inshore from the Great Barrier Reef.

A lack of information about recent exploration for gas has landowners in the Mid West worried, and wanting answers.

Underhanded tactics by a Korean coal mining enterprise has shocked a farm owner who thought he was selling to an agricultural company.

Farmer and Senator Bill Heffernan discusses the long-awaited and unanimous interim report into the coal seam gas industry, and its stern recommendations.

An American filmmaker shooting a documentary about the environmental and social impacts of Australia’s coal industry, says farmers have little power to stop mining projects.
Mike O’Connell’s documentary records the impacts of the coal industry in Queensland and New South Wales.

Mr McLindon, a former LNP member and sitting Beaudesert MP, said he had joined the blockade because he shared the residents’ concerns about the mining practice.
“The coal seam gas threat has well and truly reached the heart of the Scenic Rim as the foreign-owned company, Arrow Energy, rolls out its exploration permits,” Mr McLindon said on Friday.

Walgett schoolteacher, Mr Robins, said the protesters wanted baseline water tests to be conducted on local aquifers before drilling was allowed to begin.
“We need to know what is in there now, because after drilling, once it’s contaminated we have to know who is responsible,” he said.

First Eastern Star Gas, and then Santos, failed to report a 10,000-litre spill of toxic saline water from their CSG operation in the Pilliga State Forest. The State govt. says there is “potential for prosecution”.

As the fracking question gathers momentum in the US – are we glimpsing an Australian future? http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2012/s3441606.htm