csg ags leak by agl - something smells here

article below from Business Spectator.

what intrugues me is that it says the gas leak of "a plume of soapy liquid" occurred over a period of 17 minutes.

it says the leak was captured on film by Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham.

SO HOW ON EARTH DOES AN MP JUST HAPPEN TO BE AROUND WITH HIS CAMERA AT JUST THE RIGHT TIME TO CAPTURE THE LEAK WHICH ONLY OCCURS FOR 17 MINUTES ????

AGL should ask the police to investigate.

this is very much relevant to ESG/STO because the Greens are evidently putting up a bill to ban csg exploration for a 12mth period.

these Green extremists are a sleazy lot, and appear to be willing to go to any lengths to get their way.

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AAP

Energy firm AGL has been formally warned by the NSW government after a leak at one of its coal seam gas wells in southwest Sydney.

The company said the incident, which happened about 10am on May 17 at AGL's Camden Gas Project - around 1km from Glen Alpine, was "unacceptable", but caused no environmental harm.

The leak was captured on film by NSW Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham and involved a large plume of soapy liquid shooting into the air from its Sugarloaf 3 Well.

AGL said the incident occurred by mistake as workers used soap and air to clean sand and coal debris from the well, a routine form of maintenance carried out every two to four years.

"As we have said from the outset, this should never have been allowed to happen," AGL group general manager of upstream gas Mike Moraza said in a statement posted on the company's website.

AGL received a formal warning from the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) this week.

OEH environment protection and regulation deputy chief executive Greg Sullivan described the incident as "concerning" but said no significant environmental harm occurred.

"As a result we have issued them with an official warning that will be recorded on their compliance history to be considered by the office if there are any further environmental incidents," Mr Sullivan said.

"AGL have given OEH assurances that it has put a number of corrective actions in place to ensure that an incident of this nature won't happen again."

Mr Buckingham said he remains unconvinced the incident did not cause environmental harm.

He said the soapy leak from AGL's well drifted towards homes at Glen Alpin and a nearby canal and continued for about 17 minutes.

The NSW Greens and some community groups are concerned about coal seam gas extraction, which involves removing natural gas from the ground via hydraulic fracturing, colloquially known as "fracking".

"We haven't had the release of the information about what was actually tested for, what chemical, what compounds, what toxins were found in the area," Mr Buckingham told AAP.

"Our view is that the findings aren't comprehensive and are incomplete and this industry remains unsafe."

The NSW Greens plan to table a parliamentary bill at the end of August calling for a 12-month moratorium on coal seam gas extraction and a complete ban on the method in the Sydney metropolitan area.