Coal Seam Gas – Part 2
We are barely a 3rd into the year 2012 and the Coal Seam Gas (CSG) issue is bigger than ever. 
The year started off with a bang, or rather a leak. In February, Energy giant Santos reported 3 spills from their operations in eastern NSW. The spills consisted of water contaminated with heavy metals after being used in the gas extraction process.
CSG extraction uses vast amounts of water, forces it under pressure into deep coal seams and cracks them open, releasing valuable methane which is extracted. The water used is then supposed to also be extracted and put through a reverse osmosis process which clears it of any chemicals etc, that were used.
More often than not, the water is either left down there to seep even deeper into the earth, or left untreated on the surface in massive ponds where, you guessed it, the water seeps deeper into the earth, potentially polluting groundwater.
The spills occurred in November 2011, immediately after the acquisition of the facilities previously owned and operated by Eastern Star Gas.
Independent tests of the sites have shown high levels of arsenic, chromium and lead, Santos has not disputed these findings.
March 15 may very well be a date that shall live in infamy, as Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham moved to place a moratorium on all CSG projects across the state of NSW.
Thanks to the Coalition, Christian Democrats and the Shooters and Fishers parties, the motion was defeated 16-19.
According to Lock the Gate president, Drew Hutton, this move has allowed the government to ‘literally sell the farm to the coal and gas companies.’
A lot of focus has been given by the government to what it calls the ‘gateway process’, which aims to bring in independent panels to assess the potential for CSG mining in certain agricultural areas. If the independent panel is for a site, this swings the gate wide open and ‘the miners can drive right through’, according to Hutton.
The NSW Farmers Association have pointed out that nearly 100% of NSW is covered by applications and titles for mineral, coal or CSG exploration, and that Wollemi and Yengo National Parks have been earmarked as having ‘high and moderate CSG potential’.
All this is on top of increasing public backlash towards the CSG industry. In the past month alone, we have seen protests all over the country, with up to 1000 people protesting in Brisbane on March 15.
A petition of 20,000 signatures calling for a moratorium on CSG exploration, a Royal Commission to investigate the affects of CSG and an immediate ban on fracking, was also handed in along with Jeremy Buckingham’s motion. Sadly, this came across as a futile gesture.
The Coalition was of course, against the proposed moratorium, calling it irresponsible and that the government needed more facts before attempting a move such as that.
Perhaps they should look at the increasing number of studies coming out of the US, which show that gas leakages around shale gas wells are almost double the amount the of industries own figures.
CSG is also being sold to us as a cheap, low-polluting energy source, and to a world obsessed with Carbon Dioxide emissions, it may very well appear to be. But lest we forget that the gas extracted is methane, which contributes much more to climate change than carbon dioxide.
Also, the Australian Governments Carbon Tax come in later this year, and given the environmental cost CSG seems to be having across the world, it may very well prove to be too costly in the long term to maintain.
By Chard Core
(chardcore.com)
References:
Coal seam gas: People’s power can stop it!
Paul Benedek
Green Left Weekly
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Santos confirms three spills from former Eastern Star Gas operations
Rebekah Kebede
reuters.com
Friday, Feb 10, 2012
Government fails the people of NSW on coal seam gas
Green Left Weekly
Friday, March 16, 2012



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