APPROVED coal-seam gas projects in Queensland will alone produce up to seven million tonnes of salt -- enough to fill dump trucks sitting bumper-to-bumper from Brisbane to Melbourne.
The Senate committee on CSG last week predicted that the total amount of salt to be produced over the 50-odd-year life of the industry nationwide would be "conservatively" over five times that amount, at 37.5 million tonnes.
But despite the massive quantities of the by-product involved, industry and government currently have few established plans for handling the salt, which farmers fear could have devastating impacts on the soil if not disposed of correctly.
The Senate committee into CSG, which handed down its interim report last Wednesday, has labelled the management of salt a "major concern".
"The industry does not have fully developed plans for the management of the water and associated salts and brine . . . (which) are very significant issues," the committee said.
The Australian
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