From Childos's post on the woo thread... see his post for the link. Article in The Courier Mail (Qld paper) 21 May. We should send it to BOF and the Greens!!
THE Queensland coal-seam gas industry is about to blow up the world. The industry will poison our water and wreck the grain and beef industries.
So say the scaremongers in the gas belt west of Toowoomba.
If you believed all the stories, you would think Queensland was heading for an environmental Armageddon.
I was among the first to point out the benefits - and the dangers - of coal-seam gas extraction. Now I fear the debate about the industry's future has been hijacked by extremists.
Some landholders are exaggerating the risks and threatening to cause delays to extort more money out of the gas companies.
Of course there will be the environmental challenges that accompany all mining. And the gas companies and state regulators will have to be on their guard to ensure the safeguards written into approvals are not breached.
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But calls for a halt to gas exploration and extraction are, frankly, idiotic.
It won't happen. The world is hungry for energy and Queensland, fortunately, has much to share.
There is also the vexing matter of Labor's debt, which is fast approaching $80 billion.
Gas royalties will come to the rescue. Santos alone will pay the State Government $500,000 every two days in royalties and a total of $6 billion over the next four decades.
Both the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal National Party are committed to fostering the burgeoning gas industry, provided adequate environmental safeguards are in place.
Both parties sensibly acknowledge that high-quality cropping land must be protected and that companies must make good for any loss.
With safeguards in place, there seems no good reason to keep valuable coal-seam methane locked underground.
You might get the impression that most farmers are bitterly opposed to gas extraction. They aren't, as I discovered during a week on the road in the Outback gasfields. In fact, I found overwhelming support for gas.
Several landholders I spoke to are earning between $75,000 and $200,000 a year for the inconvenience of having wells on their properties.
Some are receiving upfront payments of $10,000 a well plus an annual payment of $5000 or $2000, which decreases over the life of the well.
Added to that are payments for access tracks, well pads dams and pipelines.
Gas companies are routinely upgrading roads and grids. And they are providing jobs. Communities are also reaping the benefits of treated water supplies.
At Kumbarilla, just off the Moonie Highway between Dalby and Tara, Trevor Postle and his son Andrew cautiously welcome the gas boom.
"Financially it will be a godsend," says the 63-year-old charolais cattle studmaster. "Remember, we are still getting over 15 years of drought."
He has agreed to five wells proposed by Queensland Gas Company.
"They won't impact greatly on our lives," he says. "They will put the wells where we want them. They are not in the way of anything.
"And they are reimbursing us for lost production. We are not rolling over, but we are trying to co-operate.
"We've had an excellent relationship with QGC. We cannot fault them; they have kept us informed every step."
Further west at Wallumbilla, Leon and Ree Price will have a well every kilometre on their 12,000ha grain and cattle property. Santos and QGC have already begun to sink 76 of them.
Beneath their feet is enough gas to light a nation.
"Santos is talking about being here for 40 to 50 years," Leon Price, 51, says.
"There is an enormous amount of gas here. We have made a decision to help make it work.
"We have to, because we are here for the long run.
"And we have a good relationship with the companies."
Like most farmers, he is concerned about risks to groundwater.
But he thinks the risks are exaggerated and takes comfort in regulations requiring companies to make good any loss.
"It's written into the legislation," Mr Price says.
Ree Price, a member of Maranoa Regional Council, says gas is delivering huge benefits to Outback Queensland towns that were struggling for survival.
"It's here, it's inevitable, so we have to accept it," Cr Price says.
"No one is going to stop it now. The Government makes too much from royalties."
The couple's children - Jessica, 26, Ashleigh, 25, Breeanna, 22, and Brandon, 19 - are not opposed to gas mining.
"They can see the environmental benefits," Cr Price says.
"They would like to see the world use more of it rather than burning so much coal."
And Cr Price says she would prefer to live beside a gas well than a coalmine.
This week, Santos will commission a reverse osmosis plant on the Price property to clean up underground water for cattle and crops.
Cr Price wonders if it is necessary, saying the cattle prefer the bore water. So does her son Brandon.
Nevertheless there will ultimately be five dams to water cattle and a 24ha leucaena plantation.
Leucaena is a leguminous forage tree producing a nutritious, high-protein leaf for cattle. It has a cattle stocking rate twice that of grass-only pastures.
Under the agreement, the Prices must pay Santos for the water.
It is an experiment offering great hope for cattlemen reluctantly forced to co-exist with gas.
"This is a pilot project for the beef industry," Cr Price says.
"They want to get this set up to show people what can be done."
The Prices are getting used to having more people around.
The cows have set a good example.
"They get used to the traffic. They are not spooked at all by vehicles now," Mr Price says.
"And the noise from the wells doesn't bother them.
"They graze right up against the motor."
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