The following (courtesy of Kingaroy local and HC poster, bunya) was published on the front page of the South Burnett Times on Tuesday 5 July 2011 under a composite image showing the Cougar plant as background to Kingaroy Concerned Citizens Group's Damien O'Sullivan holding a glass of water to an an animal recognisable as a cougar and overprinted with the block heading CHARGED. The image is captioned: CHEERS TO THAT:Kingaroy Concerned Citizens Group's Damien O'Sullivan toasts the government's decision to charge Cougar Energy over the rupture of a gas extraction well at its pilot plant in Kingaroy last July. If found guilty, Cougar could be fined almost $2.5 million.
The following by Danielle Lowe continues:
THE Kingaroy Concerned Citizens Group is revelling after being told Cougar Energy has been charged over the rupture of a gas extraction well at its Coolabunia site.
It's been almost a year since it was alleged the company released contaminants benzene and toluene into groundwater but did not notify the Department of Environmental Resource Management for 23 days.
Cougar Energy faces three counts of breaching conditions of environmental authority. DERM alleges Cougar also failed to properly install the gas extraction well, part of an underground coal gasification at its trial site, to ensure compliance with its environmental authority.
The company faces a maximum $832,500 fine for each count if proven guilty.
KCCG secretary John Dalton said the group was pleased with the government's decision. "We believe this outcome proves our concerns were justified," he said.
"We'd like to congratulate the government on their decision but we predict Cougar will come out swinging. They still hold a permit even though they've been told not to work on it at the moment. That permit hasn't been revoked yet and it's quite possible the company will challenge the government's decision to revoke it if that's what the government does."
In a statement released yesterday, Cougar Energy maintained the project at Kingaroy had not caused any environmental harm to the operating site, surrounding properties or the Kingaroy township. It also said test results had confirmed there had been no cause for concerns about water quality in local bores.
Mr Dalton said the KCCG was confident DERM had done its homework and was pleased the department contacted them on Friday to notify them of the charges.
"Our next goal is to ensure Cougar and DERM do all they can to rehabilitate the land," he said.
"The site is quite flat and we're hoping it will be eligible for the Strategic Cropping Land so we can snuff out Cougar for good."
However Mr Dalton said the group were concerned about how successful rehabilitation of the land would be because "it's scientifically new territory" and, at this stage, land rehabilitation had not been successful.
"Even though it was only a small (UCG) burn we're curious to see what DERM and Cougar come up with," he said.
South Burnett Regional Council Mayor David Carter said he was pleased with the government's decision. "The community wanted to know what was happening out there," he said. "Now they have some answers but this will be an ongoing issue because of the rehabilitation." Cr Carter said he was initially critical of DERM but said they were now "on top of their game".
He said he hoped the government had listened to the community's concerns and, in the future, DERM would consult with the community in relation to mining projects.
Nanango State MP Dorothy Pratt said the government's decision was the only outcome to be concluded from the evidence given to them but said she wasn't able to comment further.
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