‘Fountains’ of methane 1,000m across erupt from Arctic ice
The greatest environmental threat?Water issues in the Great Artesian Basin (Water for the future)
Government website (Water for the Future) – http://www.environment.gov.au/water/locations/gab/index.html
Ancient Mound Springs Under Threat
The mound springs of South Australia are a unique groundwater discharge feature of the Great Artesian Basin (GAB), a deep regional groundwater system that covers 22% of the Australian continent. They are the principal sources of surface water in the arid to semi-arid inland heart of Australia, and have great ecological, scientific, anthropological and economic […]
Queensland government to ban BTEX chemicals
An underground coal gasification (UCG) pilot plant at Kingaroy, 210km northwest of Brisbane, was closed down earlier this month after traces of the cancer-causing chemicals benzene and toluene were found in bores near the plant.
“It is our commitment to legislate to ban them from ever being used in Queensland,” he said. “The message is very clear, no one is allowed to use these chemicals in the extraction of coal seam gas.
Underground coal gasification plants must be shut down
The Queensland government has shut down the underground coal gasification (UCG) project by Cougar Energy at Kingaroy, due to the discovery of carcinogenic chemicals in surrounding bores. UCG is a ludicrous technology where coal seams underground are set on fire and the resulting gas is extracted. The State Government is conducting an uncontrolled experiment with the environment of Queensland with both UCG and coal seam gas
It is unbelievable that the thought of proceeding with this technology could be entertained.
Gas is dirtier than coal – it is NOT clean and green
The Australian Labor Government is utterly incorrect in its repeated assertion that “natural gas is clean energy”. The truth is otherwise – natural gas is dirty energy and on combustion is twice as carbon dioxide (CO2) polluting as brown coal.
60 Minutes – “Undermined”
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 […]
“Fracking” bad for health
An article from the U.S. – but it could be talking about the Darling Downs in Qld.
“It all happened too quickly, Volz said. “What was the rush?” he asked rhetorically.
“You would have thought we would have learned our lesson,” he said, referring to the state’s legacy of pollution problems with coal and other minerals.”
Risk Management – Landline Part 2
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.
Pipe Dreams (Landline, Part 1)
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?
Water Worries
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