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.
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http://www.afr.com.au:80/p/national/millionaires_not_in_our_backyard_E3sB01Jq0IRg0cYNsu4zvI
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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.”
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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.”
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Josh Fox talks about his recent trip to Australia
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This is happening regularly in the U.S. and will start happening here as well, if we don’t stop this deadly csg industry.
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It was “extraordinary” that such valuable food-producing land was being placed at risk when world populations were escalating and global freshwater reserves and agricultural land was disappearing, Dr Stanley said.
An environmental lawyer by profession, Ms Waters criticised the Queensland Government’s approval of mining developments before questions about their large potential impacts had been answered, and its decision to adopt an “adaptive” management approach instead.
“I have a lot of difficulty with adaptive management, which says ‘let’s approve it, if they muck it up, they can make good’,” she said.
“Well how do you make good? When the groundwater table drops, how do you fix that?”
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Laws allowing miners to enter properties in Queensland are “incredibly draconian” and ignore the rights of landholders, the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties (QCCL) says.
Amendments to the law mean that when a dispute over a miner’s right of entry to a property reaches the Land Court it automatically gives miners a right of entry to that property before the court even begins to hear the dispute.
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“The LNP (Liberal National Party), in particular, have sold out their true believers – the Queensland farmer in regional Queensland – to please the mining companies that fund them.”
“The Queensland Party will stand up for them and continue to call for a moratorium until it is certain that there will be no long-term adverse environmental impact from the coal seam gas industry and genuine consultation has taken place with landowners.”
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“Handing the job to the Government’s Water Commission is completely inappropriate because the Water Commission was established to set water restrictions for householders in urban Brisbane – not oversee the protection of streams and aquifers in areas of CSG activities.”
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Fracking for coal gas is a health hazard