Hi guys, I wish I could be revealing news of the 2nd flaring which was scheduled to begin about now, alas, that is not the case.
You will remember a few months ago where I reported on a meeting I attended when the KCCG (Kingaroy Concerned Citizens Group) had 3 speakers. I will give you a quick summation of that post as I feel it is important to be able to put things into perspective.
It was quite evident from the first speaker (a teacher) that they did not want Cougar in the area. He had obviously done a lot of research & of course the centre of his attention was to highlight all the negative issues he could find with the aid of visual displays. He said they had concerns about pollution of the underground aquifers by way of Benzene, Heavy Metals, Uranium, Arsenic & Mercury, left behind in coal ash to contaminate underground water & there were also concerns of subsidence. He added that it may also affect the town water supply dams Gordonbrook Dam & Boondoomba Dam & may also impact on Bjelke Petersen Dam. He referred to Hoe Creek in the USA and the environmental damage done there.
The second speaker was Toby Hutcheon from the Queensland Conservation Council. He said UCG was experimental, there was too much risk & he wanted people to lobby Qld Government to stop the process.
The 3rd speaker, an Environmental Lawyer, Larissa Waters (not Wells) as I had previously posted, suggested many ways for the KCCG to try and involve the media. Some of the programs she suggested they contact were Today Tonight, Current Affair, 60 minutes, 4 Corners etc. She also urged them to write to Parliamentarians & newspapers in an attempt to gain exposure about the "risks" of UCG technology. Further, she suggested that they contact people involved in the fight to stop the construction of the Traveston Dam - by the way, the people won that fight.
Now to real time events.
Well we have now turned full circle. They media were primed for this event & Cougar have been "hung, dried & quartered" before it has been proven that they have actually caused any contamination.
Sensationalism sells newspapers & is instrumental in getting people to watch the TV news & current affairs programs & it aids in lifting their ratings in the case of television.
There were quite a few TV cameras at the meeting - the meeting was hurriedly arranged & conducted at very short notice so someone obviously tipped off the media. Mayor David Carter allowed them to film briefly prior to him officially opening the meeting & then asked them to not to film whilst the meeting was in progress. He told them they could resume filming & conduct interviews upon completion of the meeting.
Local MP Dorothy Pratt was in attendance along with Queensland Minister for Energy Stephen Robertson & two representatives from DERM John Bradley & Dean ? (I did not get his last name). The meeting was conducted in an orderly fashion given its nature, one guy was rather loud but apart from him the meeting progressed quite smoothly contrary to what I have seen in the media.
Benzene & Toluene had been detected in the testing of 2 bores at the Cougar site but no Benzene had been detected in off-site bores. DERM acknowledged that levels at the site had declined since the initial reported contamination. Toluene at the miniscule rate of 3 parts per billion was detected in a bore at a neighbouring tree plantation. It would be reasonably close to the Cougar site but I could not be sure of the exact distance. I WONDER WHAT CHEMICALS ARE USE ON THE PLANTATION TO CONTROL PESTS?
DERM said they had conducted testing of 8 priority bores north & west of Cougar & also said that round 2 of sampling commenced today (Tuesday). Strangely no bores had been tested to the east as one farmer said. DERM said that they would be testing more bores. One important point that DERM made was that hydrocarbons naturally occur in coal seams. SO FARMERS WHO HAVE DRILLED THROUGH COAL SEAMS FOR WATER MAY HAVE CONTAMINATED THEIR OWN BORE (my thoughts).
As you will be aware, farmers within 2km of the Cougar site had been instructed not to drink bore water from their properties nor allow their livestock to drink it. They had also been told not to sell any cattle until they have been blood & fat sampled & cleared by the DPI. The test results take around 7 to 10 days.
Cougar Energy is responsible for providing water to all the farms within 2km radius of their site. This will be quite a costly exercise as one dairy farmer said he needed 5 to 6 truck loads per day. One farmer complained that it took 50 hours to have water delivered to his property.
Cougar, Council, Farmers & the 2 DERM reps were to meet again the following morning to thrash out issues relating to stock/fodder/water etc.
It was revealed that the Cougar burn lasted just 4 days i.e, from 16 March to 20 March. One farmer rang the Cougar Site Manager last Sunday 18th July & asked whether the coal seam was still burning. He evidently was told that they could not guarantee that the fire had been extinguished as there were still traces of gas being recorded. Someone said that if this level of contamination happened in just 4 days what would the contamination level be if the burn had continued for an extended period of time.
Len was asked for his opinion on whether the coal seam was still burning. He said there was no burning of coal currently & no gas was being recorded. Len went on to say that the Laboratory had admitted to making 2 errors with their testing but the townsfolk were disbelieving of his statement. NOT SURPRISING.
Another person asked whether a crack in the casing may have caused the contamination - no one knows for sure.
John Bjelke Petersen said he had received enquiries from people wishing to visit Kingaroy & stay at his cabins (roughly 3kms at a guess, north of the Cougar site). He stated that they were worried about the reports of contaminated water & whether it would be safe to visit. Can we believe this claim? Possibly, but it may only have been said to apply more pressure to Robertson & DERM to close the Cougar site.
The Mayor David Carter said that any contaminants found in the water were too many.
There were questions as to which direction the contaminated aquifer flowed. No one knew the answer.
DERM was accused of allowing the trial burn to progress without an EIS being done in the first instance.
There was a question about what penalties may apply to Cougar. If proven that Cougar contaminated the aquifer then a maximum of $2,000,000 fine may be applied to the company & up to 5 years imprisonment for individuals.
The KCCG people handed out a printed page of notes to all in attendance (I will type it up in a separate post as it will make this post far too long). On the flip side of it they had a map of the Kingaroy area & had drawn in the location of Cougar Energy tenement areas.
They also indicated the tenement areas of 2 other companies working in tandem Red River & Black Gold. The tenement areas of the later companies encompass huge areas of the Kingaroy township involving at a guess more than 1,000 homes & businesses. Anyway that is another matter unrelated to Cougar.
So what is my take on what had happened to date.
I think that there has been a complete over reaction by DERM & the State Government. Why have they over reacted? To be seen to be doing something to avoid voter backlash & to be seen to be protecting the environment there are elections coming up shortly.
In over reacting they have caused a lot of angst in the community & everyone is prepared to condemn Cougar which no doubt has delighted the KCCG. The KCCG have finally received the press they were longing for & they have gained the attention of decision making people.
In over reacting they have caused anger particularly within the 2km radius area of the Cougar site for people who have cattle & have not been able to sell them until they have blood & fat tests conducted. It has also caused anger at Cougar because the farmers have not been able to use their bore water to water their stock (I doubt anyone would drink it themselves they have tanks to catch rain water). Some may have bore water connected to flush their toilets.
In my opinion is too early to pre judge Cougar & to say that they are responsible for contaminating water aquifers & bores. An enquiry is in place but it will be some weeks before the Scientific Team receives all the relevant information. It may take a few more weeks for them to make its decision whether to allow Cougar to continue to operate.
Im sorry this post is so long but I feel you should be aware of what has transpired from a locals viewpoint & not solely have to rely on what you read or see in the media. I still hold shares in Cougar & I have some potentially valuable real estate here but I am not prepared to blame Cougar for any contamination at this point in time. Nor am I prepared to write them off. I am tipping that they will be allowed to operate once again but there will be changes to monitoring & reporting bore water sampling results. They may also have to monitor air quality at various points.
Good luck to all holders & the Cougar team.
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