well, trigger me

DERM and the Qld Govt as informed by DERM have imo not understood the concept and relevance of trigger values" and as a result may have misrepresented their importance.

Trigger values are simply a level that if exceeded, warrant closer investigation and possibly some action. Trigger values are not, I repeat are not a level which if exceeded indicate contamination and harm to human health and/or the environment.

The triger value apparently adopted for Kingaroy for benzene is the Australian Drinking Water Guideline value of 1 part per billion (ppb). Only 2 of 530 samples at Kingaroy exceeded the trigger value, and were in fact transient readings of 2ppb ... transient meaning short lived and then not detected. This just happens to be 2.5 x lower than accepted WHO and/or US drinking water guidelines.

The groundwater at Kingaroy is non potable ... that is, not fit for human consumption. The national relevant water quality guidelines are the ANZECC 2000 Guidelines.

Given the groundwater is non potable, the most applicable trigger values imo are those for "Fresh Water Aquatic Ecosystems" (FWAE).

FWAE trigger values for benzene are as follows:

# 600 ppb for 99% confidence
# 950 ppb for 95% confidence
# 1300 ppb for 90% confidence
# 2000 ppb for 80% confidence

This means that any regulator applying the national water quality guidelines for freshwater aquatic ecosystems shouldn't be concerned at benzene levels <600ppb in terms of investigating and assessing the need or not for intervention ... the obvious inference being benzene levels that may actually be of harm to a fresh water ecosystem must be a lot higher than 600ppb.

The Qld Govt by its own press releases have on record that benzene levels at something like 50-200 ppb detected in Qld CSG is perfectly reasonable. We also know from a little googling that people unknowingly consume up to something like 60 ppb of benzene in som soft drinks.

So, with 2 transient readings of 2ppb in deep non potable groundwater, why has Cougar been bullied, bludgeoned and shut down and it's officers threatened publicly with jail terms and massive fines?

Likewise, why have local, state and national print and electronic media carelessly regurgitated Qld Govt reporting and releases pertaining to Cougar and in doing so repeatedly slandered the company and its officers in a sustained and unrelenting manner over 15 months?

No wonder Cougar have launched procedings imo.

Dex