How very honourable and gentlemanly of BG owned QGC, one of Origin/APLNG's main Qld CSG tenement JV partners, almost gloating over the injustice served up to Cougar. They know full well just how dangerous UCG is to the entire viability of their CSG business:
http://qccqld.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=449&Itemid=99999999
QCC Welcomes Decision to end Cougar Energy UCG Experiment
Queensland Conservation (QCC) has welcomed the decision by Minister Kate Jones to stop the UCG trial in Kingaroy.
?We are delighted by this decision and for the people of Kingaroy who potentially faced the contamination of their groundwater,? said Toby Hutcheon, Executive Director of QCC
?Kingaroy is an agricultural region so maintaining and protecting groundwater supplies is absolutely essential.?
?We congratulate all those who stood up and voiced their concerns and opposition. You are heroes of your community.? The Queensland Government has allowed three UCG trials to be conducted to demonstrate this technology. This was despite major concerns about groundwater contamination and ground slumping and increased greenhouse gas emissions from this technology. These trials were, in effect, experiments with the environment and local communities as the guinea pigs.
?By stopping the Cougar Energy trial the Government has now restored some faith that it will act to protect the environment and local communities.?
According to the principles of ecologically sustainable development, which the Government is a signatory to, development must demonstrate that it will not threaten the environment or local communities-before it is approved. It is inappropriate to ?trial? a technology when failure could be devastating to the environment or local communities.
?The Precautionary Principle must be applied to all major developments, if it can?t be proven that it is safe to environment and community, it should not be given approval,? said Hutcheon
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