Coal Seam Gas Mining Positively Affects Australia

CSGM lowers the quality of life of the farmers and their families whose properties have been found to be above CSG deposits. A farm business consultant told ABC News "I'm worried someone will pop some poor bastard from the gas companies" because "farmers feel ignored by government and powerless when dealing with the energy companies". The nature of property rights in Australia means that whilst a landowner may own their land freehold (that is, own the land as well as every immovable structure on the land, natural or man-made) the resources on their land belong to the Government. If the Government grants a CSGM company access to land on a farmer's property, then "Gas companies can legally enter private land, install wells, lay pipes and build the necessary infrastructure to compress and transport gas."(1) One of the problems farmers see is, on top of not having any rights to the energy under their soil, there is "no set figure" in the compensation they receive from the companies who develop on their land. A senior policy director told ABC News that another source of anguish for farmers was the "invasiveness" of the industry on their land, the "inability of you to be able to manage your entire area" as you always have, and the "sheer number of people in and out of the place". He also says "gates have been left open" and "dams sullied by on ground water […] from some of their drill sites or […] pipelines that have been put in place...", another cause of stress for farmers. The infrastructure regardless of malfunction can also cause distress, one farmer saying "It will be over my dead body. There is no way I want gravel roads built across my farming land", after his cropping land had been laser-levelled.(1) Farmers also fear that water security could be compromised. State Government experts are "unsure of what a massive dewatering of the region's coal seams over several decades will do to underground aquifers", but this doesn't stop farmers speculating on what removing up to 370 gigalitres per year from areas will result in. One farmer thinks it "quite easy for that shallower alluvium water, the water we depend on for our livelihoods in this area, just to drain down" into the coal seams, and become inaccessible or polluted, "As CSG water is usually saline". Another farmer claimed he may only have two years supply left in one of his key water bores as the water table had dropped from 15 metres to only 5 metres being available to pump, due to CSGM. Devastating effects can also stem from the CSG water should it be spilled onto the farmers land once pumped, as a previous quote indicates has already happened. The problems of salinity in the Murray-Darling have resulted in a reduction in water resources and agricultural land, and damage to urban infrastructure. (1) (2) One farmer sold his property after 77 wells were sunk in his land. The CSGM had offered another farmer only $250 a year per well as compensation and told him he might have to move his house so another well can be sunk.(2)(3) Four Corners also found more than half the wells on one property were leaking highly explosive methane gas. On another farm 2/3 wells were leaking even after being reportedly fixed. Methane is also a potent greenhouse gas, which has a negative impact upon the environment through global warming. (3) The methods used in extracting the natural gas can also contaminate the environment and important water reservoirs like the Great Artesian Basin (GAB). Fracking (the process of injecting chemical mixtures into wells to break up rock formations and release gases) in particular can result in contaminated aquifers which contain salty and toxic water, as has already been the case. The CSGM company responded by saying it had "unintentionally provided a route for water in the aquifer, as well as the coal measures to enter the well". This event resulted in a neighbouring farmer investigating whether the chemicals used by the company that leaked into the water supplies could affect their cattle. Upon finding the company's safety data sheet for THPS (a chemical used in fracking) was American, a decade out of date and lacking critical information, she sought a relevant data sheet which revealed THPS was highly toxic and can cause chemical pneumonia and death and also advised "DO NOT discharge into sewers and waterways". 130 litres of this chemical was pumped down the leaky well. The 23 major chemicals used in the process of fracking have also not been assessed for their use in fracking by any national regulator, like NICNAS. One farmer also heard that up to 40 per cent of the chemicals they use, including glycols and bactericides, will remain within the structure of the coal seam and can move through the groundwater. (3) The former principal hydrologist for the Queensland Government, John Hillier, is "concerned about the long term impact the CSG industry will have on the Great Artesian Basin". He says a leakage might not be detected for 20 to 40 years, in which time the GAB can receive a "lot of damage". He's also concerned that, since regulation is now in the hands of the industry and not conducted by an independent inspector, mistakes, miscalculations and leaks will occur as tens of thousands of newly approved wells are quickly sunk. The Water Group in the Environment Department of the Federal Government also concluded that in some areas "effects of the coal seam gas developments are considerable with at least 1,000 years passing before this part of the Great Artesian Basin will return to pre coal seam gas levels." The water bore driller for a farmer whose water supply has been getting more "gassy" reasons that, as the water table is lower by the CSGM wells, pressure is taken off the gases which are then released. (3) The list of anecdotal disasters goes on. Apart from those mentioned already, others include 120,000 litres of "dirty, salty, waste water" from a test bore being dumped into a paddock the company (AGL) owned, but which residents fear contaminated the groundwater. One AGL insider said that "It became too much to handle or too costly to handle so opted to pump it into the paddock." and "It shocked me because it was wrong." A problem many farmers see is that there is "a lot of money to be made out of this industry and in its current form" companies want to get a slice of the pie "at any cost." The farmers want a moratorium put on "coal seam gas until all the facts are known and strong legislation is in place." (3) I believe I have shown coal seam gas mining and its industry has a negative impact upon Australia, through its environmental disasters, both in the past and speculative (as there is still so much unknown about the long term effects of CSGM), and through the stress put upon farmers, their communities and the people they supply with produce as their land is taken over by CSGM wells. (1) http://www.abc.net.au... (2) http://www.abc.net.au... (3) http://www.abc.net.au...