Great Artesian Basin Protection Group

When petroleum giant BP spilled millions of litres of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico three years ago, it was the worst ever offshore oil disaster. To try and break up that massive slick, vast quantities of chemical dispersant was sprayed on the spill. It seemed to work: the oil disappeared. But people started […]

Farmers and activists are furiously lobbying cross-bench members of the NSW Upper House over planned changes to the Petroleum Act and are demanding more protections around legal costs, entry permits and arbitration rights but the gas industry say NSW is already too tough and tighter regulations could make future exploration untenable. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-21/cotton-growers-voice-concerns-over-csg/4773128

This is a collection of videos capturing the personal and environmental consequences of CSG mining. Hear first hand the stories of people who have been directly impacted by rushed assessment processes, broken promises and had their health, homes and land threatened by CSG mining. Click here to visit http://www.welloftruth.org/

The coal seam gas industry promotes itself as a cleaner carbon-fuel alternative; but how do we know this is true? Until now much of the information used to back this claim has come from the industry itself. http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2013/04/01/3725150.htm

Coal seam gas has the potential to make Australia an energy superpower, but at what price? http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/101east/2013/01/20131771222674145.html

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

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”.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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

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.

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

“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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

US doco sparks gas debate

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 […]

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.

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 […]