concern re csg drilling

Article from the Courier Mail 26th July. Also mentioned in Rural news on the ABC this week regarding graziers concerns.

"THE State Government has admitted the science behind the potential $50 billion coal seam gas industry isn't good enough, throwing down the gauntlet to the industry to fix it or go.
As farmers and environmentalists protested against the Government's gas plans for Roma and the Surat Basin yesterday, Natural Resources Minister Stephen Robertson said the companies had to "answer some fundamental questions'' to assure the community that their procedures had good scientific backing.

"The science is not complete and that is why the Co-ordinator General was so thorough and put those 1200 conditions on the projects,'' Mr Robertson said.

A prime concern is the impact the industry will have on groundwater, particularly the Great Artesian Basin, which supplies water to farmers and residents of inland Queensland.

The coal seam gas process includes pumping gas from underground coal seams but that also means water and salt come to the surface.
Mr Robertson said that if the companies did not meet the conditions then licences to operate would be withheld.

"Unless these companies demonstrate environmental sustainability and they can operate in an environmentally safe way then they won't get a licence to operate and they will not gain the acceptance of the community in which they wish to work,'' he said.

"As the landholders have pointed out if you get it wrong it could have long-term consequences.''

Premier Anna Bligh faced an angry 100-strong crowd at Roma yesterday, with the Basin Sustainability Alliance calling for an independent review into all coal seam gas projects.

Ms Bligh said the Government was committed to ensuring new coal gas industries met with a "great deal of rigour''.

"This is a great opportunity for new wealth and prosperity, but we need to get it right,'' she said.

Gas and petroleum industry spokesman Matthew Paul said there was "enough science there that we don't expect a lot of impact on the aquifers''.

"(But) you can't make a 100 per cent guarantee that something won't happen,'' he said.""

This kind of news doesn't help but I trust the company is in a position to satisfy the powers that be of the ability to extract the gas safely. This is not the first time that this matter has come up.