coal seam gas report points to chemicals ban

http://www.smh.com.au/business/coal-seam-gas-report-points-to-chemicals-ban-20110202-1adt8.html

Coal seam gas report points to chemicals ban

Alexandra Smith

February 3, 2011

THE Planning Minister, Tony Kelly, has given the strongest sign yet that the state government would ban the use of a group of chemicals in the controversial technique known as fracking to extract coal seam gas.

Mr Kelly yesterday published a scoping paper on the coal and gas industry to provide an overview of the main problems facing the coalmining regions of the Hunter, Gunnedah and the western and southern coalfields.

The chemicals benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene - collectively referred to as BTEX - are sometimes used in the fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, process for extracting coal seam gas.

Advertisement: Story continues below Mr Kelly said the government was ''inclined'' to ban the mining practice of BTEX fracking, which the Queensland government banned last year, but he wanted community input before taking the matter to cabinet.

''We are probably of a mind to do the same [as Queensland],'' Mr Kelly said.

The terms of reference for the paper, which was first promised as a strategic plan for the coal industry before Christmas, were expanded to include gas in order to consider fracking, Mr Kelly said.

The paper will be on public exhibition until April 15, more than two weeks after the state election. A stakeholder reference group will be set up and public meetings held.

Mr Kelly said the decision to develop a coal and gas strategy came from a surge in demand for Australian minerals and the past impact of mining on other primary industries such as farming and horse breeding.

''They should be able to coexist,'' Mr Kelly said.

The NSW Minerals Council chief executive, Nikki Williams, said the paper was ''welcome if long overdue''.

"We need a land use planning road map so we can all move forward together,'' Dr Williams said. ''Ultimately it's up to our political leaders to get the balance right.''

The vice president of the NSW Farmers Association, Fiona Simson, said the scoping paper was ''too little, too late'' and was designed to assist the coal industry, not other industries.

The Greens MP Cate Faehrmann welcomed the strategy but questioned why it could not be matched with a moratorium on the coal seam gas industry, which she said had been ''proven to be dangerous for water supplies and productive farmlands''.