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Toxins inevitable from coal gasification
February 5th, 2011

Cougar Energy?s trial at Kingaroy, in southern Queensland, was shut down last year after chemicals were found in water samples and the State Government has now ordered the project to close permanently.

The company says it intends to appeal against the decision. Judy Bailey from the University of Newcastle says the gasification process will inevitably produce toxins.

She said that ?the coal seams themselves often operate as aquifers ?-because they hold water, ?so it doesn?t seem outrageous to claim that some of these chemicals could get into the water in the coal seam and perhaps that water is being used for stock and town water.?
What I don?t get is the ?inevitability? of increasing the amount of toxins in the aquifers and runoff.

At the moment the coal mines are asking for approval to add a load of toxins to the flooded rivers as they pump out their mines. Where rivers are still swollen, this will spread toxins over the land that our food is grown in and in the rivers themselves it affects the irrigation water pumped onto our food and drunk by stock.

Coupling this with the intrusion by the roads, pipes and exploration wells onto farmland and one has to wonder about the sense and sustainability.

I do realise that coal appears to be a black god to some politicians but being able to produce toxin free food would seem to me to be a target worth aiming for. Unfortunately we do not know where our food is grown or what toxins are in it or were sprayed on it and we do depend on getting clean water.

This is simply not good environmental management
Jean Cannon