qld's dept environment & resource management

Yet again the QLD Government has been caught deceiving the public
.. Seriously we need to get these clowns out and the LNP in..

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The Queensland government gave gas companies permission to dump toxic water into the headwaters of the Murray Darling basin, in breach of environmental safety guidelines.

Source - Click here to read this news article on ABC's Website which contains information I was not able to post here such as charts and pictures.

In June last year the government granted an environmental approval allowing the companies to discharge the equivalent of eight Olympic swimming pools of treated coal seam gas water per day into the Condamine River south of Chinchilla.

The water comes from the company's desalination plant on the Walloons gas field, which is part of Origin Energy and ConocoPhillips' $35 billion coal seam gas and liquefied natural gas plant near Gladstone.

The approval – issued under the state's environmental protection laws – allows the companies to release 17 chemicals and heavy metals into the Condamine River south of Chinchilla at levels considered to be toxic to animals, plants and micro-organisms that live in freshwater ecosystems under the ANZECC guidelines.

The companies have been discharging treated coal seam gas water into the Condamine River since September last year.

Asked why the government had ignored the environmental safety guidelines, the acting assistant director-general of the Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM), Anne Lenz, said that neither boron nor cadmium had been detected in the coal seam gas water at the time the environmental authority was issued.

However, an analysis conducted by the companies of the coal seam gas water prior to the government approval appears to contradict this claim.

In March last year - three months before the government issued its approval to release boron - Origin Energy and ConocoPhillips detected the contaminant at concentrations almost double the recommended safe level of discharge for the environment.

The government then issued an environmental approval for boron at more than 10 times the recommended safe level of discharge.

Following the ABC's enquires, Ms Lenz said in her statement that "recent" monitoring had now detected boron and cadmium at low levels in "source CSG water".

She said DERM would now be "issuing a notice concerning the amendment of the (environmental approval) to apply standards under the ANZECC guidelines in relation to boron and cadmium."

The safe level of discharge for cadmium is 0.2 micrograms per litre, while the Government allowed the company to release it at more than 10 times that level.

Toxic to animals

A media statement issued by DERM said the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines were applied as the default standard for the environmental authority.

"As part of the normal precautionary approach to placing conditions on projects, the human health guidelines for these compounds were applied," it said.

The Australian Drinking Water Guidelines are designed to set safe levels for drinking water but environmental protection standards are set through ANZECC aquatic ecosystem guidelines.

These are different standards and in many cases the environmental standards are much stricter because the contaminants are toxic at much lower concentrations to aquatic species than to humans.

For example, boron and cadmium are potentially toxic to freshwater ecosystems at much lower levels than for humans.

For some chemicals, the Queensland Government approved toxic waste releases more than 1,000 times higher than safe levels; these included silver, copper and chlorine.

According to Safe Work Australia's Hazardous Substance Information System, chlorine is very toxic to aquatic organisms.

Justin Brookes, director of the Water Research Centre at the University of Adelaide, says the guidelines are there to protect ecosystems, "so exceedance could be detrimental".

The murray cod, which is listed as vulnerable under federal threatened species law, is found in the Condamine River.

Prawns and crayfish are also found in the Condamine River, as are freshwater turtles such as the broad-shelled river turtle and the macquarie turtle.

Guideline oversights

For many of the contaminants that Origin Energy and ConocoPhillips are releasing into the Condamine River, the freshwater ecosystem guidelines do not provide safe discharge levels.

But that does not necessarily mean they have been evaluated and found to be safe.

"My feeling is that a range of chemicals are not in the guidelines because at the time of development there was insufficient data on occurrence or toxicity available to derive a guidance value for assessing impact or environmental protection," Associate Professor Brookes said.

For example, bromine is not in the ANZECC guidelines but according to the Hazardous Substance Information System it is very toxic to aquatic organisms.

Origin Energy and ConocoPhillips have also been allowed to release chemicals at concentrations above the ANZECC guidelines into the Eurombah Creek from their Spring Gully water treatment facility.

The Queensland Government has also given QGC approval to discharge water with levels of boron exceeding the ANZECC guidelines into the Wieambilla Creek, which runs into the Condamine River.

However, QGC says it is not discharging water into the Wieambilla Creek.

Under current approvals, Origin Energy and ConocoPhillips are allowed to discharge water into the Condamine River until March 2012.

Where was the contaminated water released?

The map below shows where Origin Energy and ConocoPhillips have been granted approval to release contaminated wastewater into the Condamine River, south of Chinchilla.

The company has been discharging the water since September last year, at a maximum rate of 20 megalitres a day.

The coal seam gas water comes from the company's gas wells on its Talinga gas field. The water has been desalinated first at the company's Talinga desalination plant to remove waste salt, then discharged into the river.

However, desalination and water treatment cannot remove all contaminants.


What chemicals are in the water being released?

The table below shows the 22 chemicals that Origin Energy/ConocoPhillips have been approved to release in excess of environmental guidelines.

They include boron, silver, chlorine, copper, cadmium cyanide and zinc, which at the limits approved are toxic to aquatic organisms.

The only published water analysis by the companies shows that boron and cadmium were detected at toxic levels.