Great Artesian Basin Protection Group

Miners’ water rights changes won’t work October 15, 2010 – 11:04AM
Coal seam gas (CSG) miners will be able to pump unlimited amounts of water from underground, despite proposed amendments to the law, the Queensland Conservation Council says.

The state government’s proposed amendments to the Water Act 2000 and the Water Supply Act 2008, to better manage impacts to water supply sources from CSG production, won’t stem the extraction of groundwater, QCC spokesman Nigel Parratt said.

Mr Parratt said adverse environmental impacts will continue to occur as CSG companies still retain the right to extract unlimited amounts of groundwater under the Petroleum and Gas Act.

“Extracting unlimited volumes of groundwater is clearly unsustainable and no amount of management measures will be able to successfully manage the impacts that are likely to occur,” Mr Parratt said.

He said while the the proposed amendments were well-intentioned, they were fundamentally flawed.

They placed the stronger emphasis on managing impacts once they occurred, rather than introducing measures to avoid potential impacts from happening in the first place.

“The Great Artesian Basin and other aquifers will remain threatened while CSG companies retain the right to extract unlimited amounts of groundwater,” Mr Parratt said.

He said a far better approach was to remove groundwater extraction rights and make it possible through licensing.

“(This) would require CSG companies to sustainably manage groundwater, rather than treating CSG associated water as a waste by-product,” Mr Parratt said.

Comment was being sought from Resources Minister Stephen Robertson.

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/miners-water-rights-changes-wont-work-20101015-16mje.html

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