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.
Queensland’s environmental regulator the Department of Resource Management (DERM) is powerless to stop flood waters creating massive pollution from mine sites across the state.
A message from a member in the U.S. –
“Go Australia, and fight for your water, and land, and rights”.
ONE of the world’s biggest merchant banks has raised serious questions about the reliability and safety of the $50 billion coal seam gas industry, citing the potential for large, uncontrolled gas releases. The National Water Commission has claimed Queensland underground aquifers could be depleted and take centuries to recover because of gas extraction. Now a […]
“Work camps have a profound impact upon the patterns of violence in host communities,” Professor Carrington said. “The communities are ill-equipped to deal with this. Regional and remote areas are under-resourced, lacking enough police, medical facilities and other emergency and human services. There’s a real urgency to address these problems.”
“The mining boom is great for job growth, but the dark underlying fact is these practices contribute little to local economies and have serious criminological and social impacts for residents and affected communities, ultimately at the expense of the nation,” she said
Companies seeking to exploit the lucrative NSW coal seam gas reserves are likely to face a new federal regulatory barrier as the independent MP Tony Windsor prepares to use his balance-of-power position to require region-wide water assessments before new mining proceeds.
Farmers and environmental groups have called for a mining moratorium until fears about groundwater contamination are resolved.
On Friday the national water commissioner, Chloe Munro, said the coal seam gas industry needed to be better managed because it could have a ”significant” impact on surface and groundwater.
She said the commission believed coal seam gas developers should operate under the same rules as other water users.
Last month the Water Minister, Tony Burke, approved $35 billion worth of coal seam gas projects in Queensland, but documents released later showed his department had ”significant concerns” about it and said the gas extraction could have implications for the Murray-Darling Basin.
The States are too enthusiastic in approval processes that will bring revenue, jobs and electoral hope.
The science and distribution of aquifers and other groundwater systems is rudimentary. Yet the coal seam gas sector and indeed the mining industry are currently exempt from the National Water Initiative which is responsible for water reform and water security. The water management rules which apply to every other industry, do not apply to the one sector that needs more regulation than any other.
http://www.afr.com.au:80/p/national/millionaires_not_in_our_backyard_E3sB01Jq0IRg0cYNsu4zvI
BACK DOWN: The Federal Government has relaxed environmental conditions after a mining company threatened to walk away from its $15 billion project.
Documents tabled in Federal Parliament last week show that at least one of the three projects approved had raised its own concerns about shallow groundwater contamination from salt ponds and chemical and fuel storage sites associated with processing plants.
There have also been warnings that underground acquifers would be so depleted by the projects that it could take centuries to replenish them.
“If not adequately managed and regulated, it risks having significant, long-term and adverse impacts on adjacent surface and groundwater systems,” the NWC said.
“Queensland has a long history of non-enforcement of environmental regulation with regard to the mining industry which, basically, regulates itself,” Drew Hutton said. “This industry is too big and too powerful to be effectively regulated.”
The peak national advisory body on water issues has warned the coal seam gas industry could have a “significant” impact on surface and groundwater if not managed properly.
“We also recognise that if not adequately managed and regulated, the industry risks significant, long-term and adverse impacts on surface and groundwater systems.”
Quest for coal