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Senoj...bit dissapointed in your research skills. Couple things that you might want to research a bit more:

1. Whoever said anything about UCG being a substitute for CSG or natural gas??? They are similar, but significantly different and that is one of the keys as to why I think they can both move ahead.

CSG is shaping more and more to be an export product via LNG, and for gas powered stations obviously.

UCG is looking like being used domesticly for power generation and the production of diesel, jet fuels, fertilisers etc. A reason for this is of course the different charecteristics of the gas.

The only crossover there is power generation, which by all accounts we all need more of anyway. And the power stations can be customised for both obviously.

2. On UCG being an ineffective gas works.... I think you couldn't possibly be more wrong on this. Commercially it would be a lot more economical over a surface gassification plant... because by gassifying the coal underground it cuts out the majority of the surface gas works!!!

Check out slide 8 from this presentation by Cougar Energy. Good graphical shot of how UCG is good in this way.

http://www.cougarenergy.com.au/PDF/26Nov2007_3161dcw0n0g0xz.pdf

3. As for the pollution... Was at the Surat Basin Energy Conference a couple weeks ago and this is obviously a major issue worldwide at the moment. The slides used at the conference were not distributed at the time but I assure you that the CO2 output by a UCG power station is much less than the coal fired stations, although slightly worse than the CSG fired stations. Given that the majority of power generation is from coal at the moment, anything better than this will be a step in the right direction. Also with other clean coal technoligies the slides showed that the Co2 output could be drastically reduced.

4. Now for CSG environmental impact... at the conference mentioned above, this was a dominant theme. CSG is no longer the sweetheart of the environment that it was portrayed to be. There are massive massive issues with the coal seam water, being the salinity, and the drainage of the water tables. The contractors used to drill some of these wells aren't the cleanest bunch and there are a fair few instances of leaks from wells running very salty water into the water catchments. The agforce representative at the conference really gave it to the CSG players. Salinity in the surat basin is particularly a major problem. The water is very salty, being in the regions of 4,000 ppm and above. Mind boggling when you consider how much salt there is from the water evaporated in those evaporation ponds. This salt ruins the environment for a very very long time. So much for the environment returning to normal. Next issue of drainage is also a major one. There is a meeting in the Dalby area next week with the department of natural resources to consider the aquifers... they are considering cutting the allocations back to 30% due to depletion of the water tables.... hmmmmmm wonder who is pulling up all the water and just evaporating it???

5. Finally your last comment about Soviet Russia / South Africa... have a bit closer of a look at the trials that have been conducted for UCG, oh Australia and the US feature very prominently as well. And it was in the US where the only two trials had an adverse impact due purely to human error. The lessons have been learned from this, and the technology is a lot better in 2008. The US is very keen to pursue this UCG technology as well as they have the biggest coal reserves in world. China, who is fast becoming the most hungry of all in the world already has UCG fields in operation as well.

I might add as well that LNC, CXY, CNX all have many many monitoring bores and years of data to prove that there has been no contamination of water tables from their operations.

And I would also warn you that as part of the LNG environmetnal impact study for the Gladstone area, the QLD government is in the same time going to finally look into the issue of coal seam gas water. This could throw a bit of a spanner in the works later.

Now before everyone starts attacking me for talking down CSG as most would know I am a long term happy holder of MPO, and other CSG stocks that I believe have a major future. I am just sick and tired of closed minds that try and make unsubstantiate posts on limited information.

Everyone do a bit of research... it will pay off for you in the long run!