tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6601355103716900050.post1498405691405048261..comments2024-03-25T17:14:57.213+08:00Comments on Hands off Country: 'Critical information missing' from LNG approvals - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)Red Handhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147253130448944470noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6601355103716900050.post-72870767148067317892013-04-02T11:16:56.519+08:002013-04-02T11:16:56.519+08:00Transcript : http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/storie...Transcript : http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2013/04/01/3725150.htm<br /><br />....<br /><br />GAS LEAK.<br /><br />MATTHEW CARNEY, REPORTER: At the head of the Murray Darling Basin, the Condamine River is bubbling gas.<br /><br />It's mostly methane and it's seeping up all over this area from the coal seams deep underground.<br /><br />The Condamine River runs through one of Australia's most developed coal seam gas fields in the Tara area of Southern Queensland.<br /><br />Some see this as an alarming sign that permanent damage has been done to the structures below. <br /><br />The coal seam gas industry, backed by the Queensland Government, says it's natural and has nothing to do with the wells that have been drilled and fracced in the area.<br /><br />But it's started to happen in at least three different locations along the river.<br /><br />Old timers like George Bender have never seen anything like it.<br /><br />GEORGE BENDER, FARMER: Never seen it before. <br /><br />MATTHEW CARNEY: And other farmers in the area have seen it? <br /><br />GEORGE BENDER: A lot yeah, all the other farmers said they'd never seen it like that before. <br /><br />MATTHEW CARNEY: So is it natural then? <br /><br />GEORGE BENDER: Well, if it was natural wouldn't it be there all the time?<br /><br />(Very high aerial shot of the area)<br /><br />MATTHEW CARNEY: George's property is in the heart of Australia's coal seam gas industry, which is growing at a phenomenal rate.<br /><br />The $50 billion industry is sinking up to 40,000 wells with a network of pipes gathering lines and roads that crisscross the landscape. <br /><br />(Aerial image shows network of CSG infrastructure)<br /><br />.<br /><br />Massive holding ponds - these ones five kilometres long - contain water sucked from the underground.<br /><br />.<br /><br />With the growth has come more evidence that Australia's greatest underground water source - the Great Artesian Basin - is being depleted and contaminated.<br /><br />...<br /><br />SIMONE MARSH, SENIOR ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIALIST: I think the truth is that it's not an ecologically sustainable activity. <br /><br />Obviously they didn't want to say that. They wanted approval to come in and conduct that activity. They didn't want anyone to understand what the long-term, um, impacts were going to be and the long-term costs associated with this activity. <br /><br />...<br /><br />SIMONE MARSH: I was taken into a meeting room, sat down and told that there wasn't going to be a chapter on groundwater and I was... stunned. <br /><br />I said "What are you talking about? What do you mean there's not going to be a chapter on groundwater? It's one of the biggest issues for the project".<br /><br />And he just repeated the words that there was not going to be a groundwater chapter in the Santos Coordinator General's report and wouldn't give me any reason why or why not.<br /><br />MATTHEW CARNEY: But a document from the 4th of May 2010 offers some explanation. It's a brief sent by the Department of Planning and Infrastructure to the Coordinator General. <br /><br />It states:<br /><br />"As advised previously, not all the 'usual' information is available." <br /><br />And goes on: "This has been difficult and uncertain without the full suite of information normally available. We are mindful of the CG's (Coordinator General) Report being able to provide a 'bankable' outcome.<br /><br />SIMONE MARSH: They're after a bankable outcome, which is not anything to do with an environmental impact assessment process. They basically just want an approval. <br /><br />That's all they want is an approval with some conditions that the companies can live with. <br /><br />................<br /><br />The poor old Fitzroy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com