People really should educate themselves and stop throwing around...

People really should educate themselves and stop throwing around Gaslands as a documentary. Gaslands is about the shale gas industry in the US and has no relevance to the practices in Australia. It is extremely biased, sensationalist and has no real science or peer review.

1-3ppb (I stand corrected) is minute traces and could easily be contamination from peoples hands who filled their car in the morning before doing the testing... or a minute amount of pipe grease or hydraulic oil that has entered the well. It is also a number that is very near the detection limit of labs that do the testing

You will come into contact with BTEX chemicals in far far greater quantities at a petrol station filling your car.

The government is correct that this does not constitute any major cause for concern. This is not wiping their hands it is an admission that they are monitoring CSG operators VERY VERY closely.

It does highlight the level of rigour that is currently applied to CSG operations.