government has rejected an environmental repor

THE State Government has rejected an environmental report prepared by the company at the centre of a water contamination scare near Kingaroy.
Sustainability Minister Kate Jones last night told more than 80 people at a community forum in the south Queensland town that Cougar Energy's environmental assessment report into their nearby operations was inadequate and the Government would not accept it in its current form.

Testing of water around Cougar Energy's underground coal gasification project earlier this year initially found traces of cancer-causing chemicals and forced farmers within 2km of the site to stop watering cattle from bores.

Later testing gave the water the all-clear, but Ms Jones last night said that the Government had demanded more information from Cougar and would not lift the environmental protection order which is preventing the company from reopening its operations.

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She said the Government would carry out its own investigation.

Earlier, Kingaroy Concerned Citizens spokesman John Dalton said questions remained about what sort of contamination may have occurred if the UCG trial was allowed to continue. He said the residents also wanted to know if water samples containing high levels of benzene were apparently switched or mislabelled between collection and analysis.

UCG has also been added to a list of activities that can be stopped by the State Government if it is found it threatens strategic cropping land.

Mr Dalton said there were about 20 questions the Government had yet to answer about the way UCG operated, before the community would be satisfied.

He said the residents were still demanding to know why it took three months for the community to be told about the contaminated water samples.

Farmers are concerned the UCG project is a sign the town will be rezoned from rural to heavy industry.

UCG companies, coal companies and even the Government-owned Tarong Energy have either bought up land or have exploration and development licences over large areas of the region, which has some of the best cropping land in Queensland.

All of his neighbours have been bought out by Tarong and he's aware that even if the town wins the fight against UCG, the next one against Tarong will be bigger and tougher.