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From South Burnett.biz http://www.southburnett.biz/
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March 22, 2011 - A group of angry Cougar Energy shareholders is warning that Queensland could be moving towards a nuclear-powered future because the State Government has chosen to shut down a potentially much cleaner alternative.

The Cougar Energy Action Group is stunned by the Queensland Government's decision in January to end an Underground Coal Gasification project near Kingaroy.

Group spokesman Steven White said as Queensland's population grows, and energy demands increase, "Queenslanders could find themselves staring into the eyes of a nuclear future". He said UCG technology, which is not new to Australia, could help avoid this.

Mr White said the Kingaroy project had been shut down in a "climate of scaremongering" following a laboratory reading which had later been shown to be false.

He said Cougar Energy had been unfairly singled out by Premier Anna Bligh and made a scapegoat because of public fears over the unrelated coal seam gas (CSG) industry which had suffered similar teething problems but had been allowed to continue unhindered.

Mr White also warned that the way Cougar Energy had been treated could create "serious jitters" amongst future investors in Queensland.