nsw slaps conditions on coal seam gas industry

More dramas for the industry and ESG










NSW slaps conditions on coal seam gas industry

BY LEONIE LAMONT AND ALEXANDRA SMITH

22 Jul, 2011 04:00 AM


In what it has described as a ''watershed'' for mining in NSW, the State Government has detailed new environmental and community consultation conditions for the coal and coal seam gas industry.
Announcing the measures yesterday, the minister for resources and energy, Chris Hartcher, said there needed to be balance between the demands for agricultural land and mining.

The conditions include changes to water use by the industry, with a ban on evaporation ponds used in CSG operations, and miners will have to abide by water licence conditions if they extract more than 3 megalitres of water a year from groundwater sources. Toxic chemicals including benzene and toluene, which are used as additives during CSG drilling, have also been banned ahead of a review.

And while Mr Hartcher said there was currently no hydraulic fracturing, or ''fracking'' in NSW, a moratorium has been placed on its use until December 31.


He said the Government was developing an online database where people could type in their addresses and find out what mining or petroleum licences and leases were over their properties.

The new conditions come ahead of the lifting this weekend of a 60-day moratorium on new exploration licences, and all new coal and CSG exploration and mining applications will come under the new rules.

Mr Hartcher's office has confirmed that existing exploration licences and mining leases would not be covered by the new conditions.

Farmers and environmental groups said the NSW Government 60-day moratorium ended prematurely.

The NSW Farmers' Association's president-elect, Fiona Simpson, said there should be an independent inquiry into the environmental impacts of coal seam gas drilling and extraction.

''Little progress has been made to understand the impact of this relatively new industry, and the best legislative and regulatory mechanisms to police it,'' Ms Simpson said.

''We should learn from the mistakes made in Queensland where the coal seam gas industry has been allowed to develop rapidly with relatively few controls, which has led to horrific examples of gas leaks and contamination on farms.''

Environment groups including the Wilderness Society and the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, said the temporary ban was unlikely to lead to much change in the coal seam gas industry in NSW.


The NSW Minerals Council welcomed the plans to share more information with the community on planned explorations for mineral deposits.

But the council warned that conflicts about land use would not ease until strategic land use plans were in put in place.



http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/national/national/general/nsw-slaps-conditions-on-coal-seam-gas-industry/2234657.aspx




ESG use evaporation ponds , but also treats the water using reverse osmosis