cougar energy 'vindicated'

Now it lookis as though the media can't win against Cougar they are targeting Carbon energy
Just out in ABC News.http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/13/2981737.htm?section=business

Contaminated creek test results kept from property owners
By Sam Burgess

Posted 1 hour 44 minutes ago


Government tests of Kogan Creek shows levels of hydrocarbons do not exceed stock-watering standards. (7pm TV News QLD)

Map: Kogan 4406 Related Story: Bore water contamination levels lower: tests Related Story: Government defends water contamination testing time Related Story: More tests amid new water contamination scare Related Story: Energy firm downplays UCG project fears A family on Queensland's Western Downs has been told to fill out a freedom of information (FOI) request to see test results conducted on a waterway on their property.

Testing of Kogan Creek, south of Kingaroy, by the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) has shown levels of hydrocarbons do not exceed stock-watering standards.

But landholders, including the Lohse family, say independent testing shows toxins in the waterway.

Farmers believe the nearby underground coal gasification (UCG) plant run by Carbon Energy may be linked to dead turtles and higher-than-normal mercury levels in the nearby Kogan Creek.

Sharon Lohse says the Queensland Government still has not shown her the results of the latest tests.

"Why would they not put the results out? They say everything is open for landholders to be able to get this information, however in one of their letters to us they said we had to FOI the information if we wanted the test results," she said.

Ms Lohse says their lawyer has been given a press release on the Government test results, but not the results themselves.

"We want to see a complete copy from the lab, not just a media release that everyone got," she said.


Cougar Energy 'vindicated'

Meanwhile, the chairman of another UCG company has lashed out at critics of its South Burnett project.

Cougar Energy's pilot project at Kingaroy has been put on hold after the chemicals benzene and toluene were found in monitoring bores.

The State Government says tests have shown levels of the chemicals in the bores are consistently well below national guidelines and landholders are again being allowed to use groundwater sources near the site.

Cougar Energy chairman Dr Len Walker says the results vindicate the company.

"A lot of the queries that have been made in relation to contamination of water bores and threatening of drinking water etc have obviously been significantly exaggerated," he said.

"They're certainly not borne out by our test results nor the test results that have been tabled by the department."