Australians have every reason to be grateful to the mining industry.
At the moment, it is the only thing protecting us from following Europe and the US down the economic drain.
But in recent months landholders up and down the
East Coast of the nation have been confronted with a huge increase in
exploration claims lodged by coal seam gas companies wanting to ride the green
friendly anti-coal band waggon and exploit the rich gas fields that lie deep
below the earth.
Extraction of coal seam gas has been going on for years but there have been
some scare tactics on the part of those wishing to prevent further exploration
and there have been some rogue miners who have been ruthless in their pursuit of
profits.
We hear of frakking, in which a mix of chemicals, some toxic, are
pumped into the layers of strata holding the gas underground and used to
fragment the gas-bearing rock and free the gas for easier removal.
What does
seem certain is that not enough is known about the potential dangers these
practices may leave for future generations.
Piers Ackerman, The Daily Telegraph
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