COAL SEAM GAS & THE BATTLE FOR THE REEF
In the most recent development, The ABC’s Four Corners featured a story about the four giant shipping terminals planned along the north Australian coast near the Great Barrier Reef.
The terminals for the export of coal seam gas require a massive dredging project which is threatening the habitat of fish an dugongs and the reef itself.
As The Age newspaper reported: ”The Gladstone Ports Corporation (GPC) has approvals to dredge 46 million cubic metres from within the harbour boundaries, inside the World Heritage area, over the next 20 years.. a volume equivalent to 27 Melbourne Cricket Grounds.”
The activist group Get Up! says:
It’s the largest dredging project ever undertaken in Australia, and one that has the United Nations’ Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) so alarmed they’re warning the Reef could lose its iconic world heritage status. We’ve created an emergency petition to stop this. Sign here, tune in and spread the word now.
As The Hoopla previously reported:
“The controversy over the safety of “fracking” in Australia continues after revelations that the practice was the likely cause of 50 tremors in the UK earlier this year.
The Sydney Morning Herald says:
“A panel of seismic experts has found it ‘highly probable’ that fracking conducted by Cuadrilla Resources – 41 per cent of which is owned by the Australian drilling company AJ Lucas – was the cause of two significant tremors and 48 aftershocks near Blackpool in England in April and May.
“The findings come after the independent MP Tony Windsor told the federal government this week he would not support its mining tax unless more was done to investigate the safety of fracking in Australia.
“Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a controversial gas extraction technique that uses high pressure solutions to fracture rocks deep underground. The process is used in both coal seam gas and shale gas extraction and, if poorly executed, can contaminate groundwater and trigger seismic activity.”
I wrote on the battle between the mining companies and farmers on October 17:
Have you seen the TV advertisement that says Coal Seam Gas mining is good for Australia? (How could you have missed it?)
It’s the one titled, “We Want CSG” where various weathered country types stare down the barrel and tell you earnestly that the industry is clean, green and will have minimal impact on our farming land.
Before you believe everything you see (although, since when did you ever do that), you should know that it’s only one side of the story.
Only one aspect of the David and Goliath battle that I believe every Australian should take a long, hard look at.
On one side of the gate are the mining titans: AGL, Santos, Arrow Energy and Origin Energy and major foreign investors such as ConocoPhillips. On the other, the Lock the Gate Alliance representing Australian farmers.
This past weekend thousands of protesters staged rallies across the country condemning Australia’s multi-billion dollar coal seam gas (CSG) industry.
Australian farmers gathered in NSW, Queensland and Western Australia in the biggest series of demonstrations against the controversial extraction technique which uses chemicals pumped into the ground to release gas (for an explanation of the technique, see the second video below.)
The Lock the Gate Alliance has asked the Advertising Standards Bureau, the body that judges consumer complaints against Australian advertisements, to discontinue or order the modification of the television advertisements authorised by the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association.
As reported in New Matilda, Drew Hutton, president of Lock The Gate Alliance said: “This multi-million dollar advertising campaign is a slap in the face to rural communities who are living in fear of the impacts on their farms, their health and their water resources… we are not prepared to tolerate it.
“The TV advertisements are based on a whole lot of misleading concepts such as: CSG has a minimal impact on farm land, can be conducted harmoniously with agriculture and is a clean green energy source.”
“In the interest of balance, I have to bring you the advertisement from the Lock the Gate Alliance.
“When I first saw it I wrote:
This is horrifying. I cannot imagine the heartache for farmers when they see their beloved properties scarified by a patchwork of wells and pipelines. Are animal wildlife corridors taken into account when pipes are laid and habitat hacked into jigsaw pieces?
And what of Landcare projects and organic ratings? Not to mention the health and welfare of farmers and their families. They must be living a waking nightmare.
All Australians must be alarmed and aware of the issues in coal seam gas extraction. Our future is at stake!
“And to leave you with a jaunty, informative but no less disturbing take:
