Katter, McLindon Join Forces in Merged Party

It has been confirmed that federal MP Bob Katter will merge his newly formed party with the Queensland Party.

Mr Katter, the independent Member for Kennedy in north-west Queensland, and Queensland Party founder and Beaudesert MP Aidan McLindon, will announce details of the merger in Brisbane today.

They have agreed to unite under the name of Mr Katter's Australian Party.  Read More

ABC News

Maranoa Region Business Overview - Sold Out to Surat Basin Corporation

Please have a look at The Surat Basin Corporation Website. Click Here to Go to Website.   It has a Blog and a Forum.  If your not up to speed with how the Surat Basin Corporation is helping Queensland, please see below for their list of major projects:-

Coal

New Acland Coal Mine Stage 3 - Read More

The Stage 3 proposal is to expand the existing New Acland open cut coal mine from 4.8 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) to produce up to 10 Mtpa of thermal coal for sale on the domestic and export energy markets.

Wandoan Coal Project

The Wandoan Joint Venture (WJV) is proposing a new open cut thermal coal mine and supporting infrastructure with the capacity to the produce around 30 million tonnes per annum of run of mine (ROM) coal, over a 30 year period.

Cameby Downs Expansion Project

Syntech Resources Pty Ltd proposes to expand the Cameby Downs mine, located approximately 360 kilometres west, north-west of Brisbane and 16km north-east of Miles, in south-east Queensland. The mine extracts thermal coal from the Juandah Formation in the Surat Basin.

Elimatta Project

The Elimatta project site is situated within the Western Downs Regional Council area, approximately 35 kilometres west of the Wandoan township. The project would have an open-cut pit mining thermal coal at up to 8 million tonnes a year (Mt/y) run-of-mine (ROM) coal to produce 5 Mt/y of product coal for export.

Felton Mine and Dimethyl Ether Pilot Plant Project

The proposalis for the operation of an open cut mine and a dimethyl ether (DME) pilot plant to produce syngas for the production of 455 tonnes per day of DME and the co-generation of electricity.

Glen Wilga Project

The Chinchilla East Coal Project has been established to develop the Glen Wilga and Haystack Road coal deposits.

Woori Coal Project

This project is situated west of Gulugaba. The proposed open cut coal mine would produce an initial rate of 3 million tonnes a year (mt/y) run of mine (ROM) thermal coal for export.

Water

Future coal mines and associated communities as well as power station development in the Surat Basin will require significant water in coming years. Planning has already started around the building of a significant dam 70 km downstream of Taroom.

Electricity Generation and Transmission

Energy

Recently there have been a number of gas fired power stations built with others being proposed. There are both solar generated power and wind generated power projects being proposed in the Western Downs

Braemar 3 Power Station

Braemar 3 will be an integrated 520MW open-cycle gas-fired power station and high-pressure gas pipeline. Initial construction of the project is planned to occur in 2012 with commercial operations expected to start by the end of 2013. The project will create 400 jobs.

Kogan Creek Solar Boost Project

The proposed Kogan Creek Solar Boost Project will be the largest solar thermal project in the southern hemisphere. The project will increase the amount of electricity generated by up to 44 megawatts during peak solar conditions, providing an additional 44,000 megawatt hours of electricity per year.

Wandoan Power Project

The Wandoan Power Project is a proposed 400 MW power station using Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) with carbon capture and storage technologies

Coopers Gap Wind Farm Project

The proposed Coopers Gap wind farm is located between Dalby and Kingaroy. The proposed installed capacity of the wind farm is approximately 350MW, to be delivered in two stages.

Columboola to Wandoan South Transmission Project

The project is the construction of a new 275kV high voltage transmission line between the Columboola Switching Station (located approximately 9km east of Miles), and a proposed new substation, to be known as Wandoan South, in the Woleebee area south-west of Wandoan.

Columboola to Western Downs Transmission Project

This project is the construction of a new 275kV high voltage transmission line between Western Downs Substation near Kogan Creek Power Station and a proposed substation (to be known as Columboola East) adjacent to, and connecting to, the Columboola Switching Station (located approximately 9km east of Miles on the Warrego Highway).

Braemar to Kumbarilla Park Transmission Project

It is proposed that a 275kV transmission line run between Powerlink’s Braemar Substation and a new substation to be developed at Kumbarilla Park.

Western Downs to Halys Transmission Project

The proposed Western Downs to Halys 275kV transmission line is the second phase of the Western Downs to Halys transmission project, which is needed ensure a reliable supply of high voltage electricity is maintained to Southern Queensland.

Gas

The Surat Basin is about to become one of the boom economies in Australia, challenged only by the LNG regions in Western Australia with the potentially massive export industry of coal seam methane gas. Queensland coal seam gas projects are part of a larger boom in the Australian LNG industry, which has A$200 billion worth of projects that are expected to make Australia the world’s second-largest LNG exporter by 2015.

Arrow gas LNG Project

The project is the development of an LNG facility on Curtis Island off Gladstone which will play an important role in meeting growing world demand for cleaner burning fuels. The proposed LNG Plant Project will be supplied with coal seam gas from reserves located in the Surat Basin.

Australia Pacific LNG Project

The project involves the development of substantial CSG resources in the Surat and Bowen Basins; building a 450 km transmission pipeline; and construction of a multi-train LNG facility on Curtis Island, near Gladstonewith a total capacity of up to 18 million tonnes of LNG per annum.

Linc Energy Underground coal gasification Project

This project aims to produce ultra-clean synthetic liquid fuels through the underground coal gasification process. Located south-west of Chinchilla the goal is a commercially-viable GTL plant producing approximately 40 000 bpd of diesel, as well as using the syngas to produce 200 megawatt of power in combined cycle power generation plant.

Gladstone Liquefied Natural Gas Project

This project proposes to develop a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility at Gladstone to commercialise coal seam gas (CSG) resources in the Comet Ridge and Roma region.

Qld Curtis Liquefied Natural Gas Project

The Queensland Curtis LNG project proposes to develop an integrated liquefied natural gas project in Queensland comprising the expansion of coal seam gas operations in the Surat Basin to provide gas for two liquefied natural gas plants or trains and gas for domestic markets as well as the development of a gas and water pipeline network of approximately 800 kilometres.

Bloodwood Creek Underground Coal gasification Project

This project proposes an open-cut coal mine, a large scale syngas production facility using UCG and an electrical power generation station approximately 40 km west of Dalby.

Chinchilla LNG Plant

This project will construct a LNG plant near Chinchilla to convert coal seam gas to liquefied natural gas (LNG) on a commercial scale to create fuel for trucks from coal seam gas.

Surat Gas Project

This project proposes to develop coal seam gas production wells and associated facilities within an area covering approximately 8,000 square kilometres. The tenures cover an area from Wandoan to Chinchilla, extending further south to Cecil Plains in the Darling Downs through to Goondiwindi in southern Queensland.

Surat to Gladstone Pipeline Project

The pipeline proposed is to deliver coal seam gas (CSG) from Kogan North near Dalby to a proposed Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility at Fisherman’s Landing near Gladstone

Gladstone LNG Project Fisherman’s Landing

This project proposes to develop a mid-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant at Fisherman’s Landing Wharf (FLW) near Gladstone. The proposal has an expected life of 25 years and the first stage would produce up to 1.6 million tonnes of LNG per year. A proposed second stage would double the capacity within three years of Stage 1.

Dams

The Nathan Dam and Pipelines Project

Is a major initiative aimed at providing long-term, reliable water supplies to mining, power, urban and agricultural customers in the Surat Coal Basin and the Dawson-Collide sub-region of Central Queensland. Visit the Department of Local Government and Planning or the SunWater websites for more information.

Linc Site Causes Big ‘Stink’

THERE is a mysterious odour wafting through the farms south of Chinchilla.

Residents describe it as like “burning oil”. It is most often reported in the air during the night and early in the morning.

It is strong enough to wake some landholders from a deep sleep.

A few weeks ago, Linc Energy, whose underground coal gasification (UCG) pilot plant neighbours the complainants, sent a letter – which Queensland Country Life has sighted – offering to purchase a split-system air-conditioner (to the value of $7500) for some of the surrounding farmers’ houses...Read More

Queensland Country Life

The Drum...

“The quickest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it back in your pocket” – old drovers saying. G’day there 7th Aug 2011.

OK team, gather into a huddle and that includes you Ponsonby-Smythe, we need to have a chat! Firstly, who watched last night’s rugby education given the Wallabies by the All Blacks and who knows what was missing?

Well done, Smythe, correct. It was THE WANNA!!!

The what I hear you say? The “wanna” is the want to win that was missing from the Wallabies and ever so evident, as shown by the look in All Black centre Ma’a Nonu’s eyes prior to kick off, in the All Blacks.

So what does this have to do with a real estate publication like The Drum? Plenty, for unless we in the bush show the “wanna”, we’re going to be run over just like road kill in a couple of coming battles.

The first one is the battle over coal seam gas mining and this one has the capacity to do three things and only one of which is positive.  Read More


The Drum

The Development of Australia’s Coal Seam Gas Resources

C/- Parliamentary Library Michael Roarty Science, Technology, Environment and Resources Section

Click Here

Black Cockatoo says:   I came across this on one of my many visits around the net.  Makes for interesting reading especially where is says that the Queensland Government in encouraging a change from coal to gas.

The Clash of Coal Seam Gas and the Great Artesian Basin

My step father told me about this issue today. The clash of economy and ecology. One has short term profit and the other millions of years to cumulate. I will be interested to learn the outcome.

Coal seam gas extraction is the latest environmental battleground. Amidst the protests about land access, is the question of whether one of Australia’s geological and cultural icons is at risk.

ACROSS MOSTLY peaceful pastoral lands and farming communities some very clear and defined battle lines are being drawn. The nation’s vast stores of methane gas, locked up for millions of years in coal seams, are ripe for exploitation and major national and international companies are already moving in.  Read More

Clowning Around Australia

Bob Katter Releases Draft Policy on Mining and Agriculture

The founder of the Australian Party Bob Katter says he will give the owners of freehold land rights to say no to mining proposals.

Bob Katter caught up with The ABC's Mitch Grayson to talk about the release of The Austrlian Party draft policy on Coal Seam Gas.

Listen and Read

Ever Wondered....

what chemicals may be used in Australian Coal Seam Gas Fracking Fluid? 

Click Here!

Health, Mining Reform Needed for Coal Seam Gas Industry

Enough evidence has emerged at the Senate Inquiry into coal seam gas to merit significant reform orchestrated by the Federal Government.

The New South Wales inquiry, followed no doubt by those in other states, is likely to illustrate the need for national action.

There are two fundamental issues.  Read More

The Drum Opinion (ABC)

Mining Companies Buying up Prime Farmland Across Queensland, Despite Public Opposition

MINING and energy firms have swooped to buy more than 390,000ha across Queensland despite almost unanimous opposition to the sell-off of prime farming land.   

An exclusive Sunday Mail-Channel 9 survey has found 96 per cent of Queenslanders want the best farming land protected from mining and development.

The Heart of the Country survey, based on 1000 responses, was conducted in the lead-up to this week's Ekka. The full results will appear in The Sunday Mail next week.  Read More

Sunday Mail

Heather Brown Speaking Tonight

Heather Brown, speaker from The Australian Food Security Forum last Thursday night will be on 4BC tonight at 8.00pm.  Click this link to tune in

Broome Against Boom

AS the blood-orange and crimson sunset works its magic on Broome's Cable Beach, it is easy to understand how this northwestern piece of paradise has managed to capture the imagination of travellers and the souls of those who call it home.   

The evening blaze is the cue for the tourist camel trains to lope along the beach and for an orderly traffic jam of four-wheel-drives to form in the sand dunes near the Cable Beach Club.

Much has changed since English lord Alistair McAlpine first succumbed to Broome's seductions, building the beach club and a zoo. But the town still has its high-profile guests. James Packer and his family reportedly were there this week, staying at media and mining machinery magnate Kerry Stokes's house.  Read More

The Australian

Mayor Defends City Councillor

MAYOR Peter Taylor has come to the defence of Cr Noel Strohfeld after he had allegations of corruption levelled at him during a mining forum in Oakey this week.

Cr Strohfeld was accused of receiving a $10,000 payout in 2007 from a mining company when he was mayor of Rosalie Shire Council.

The inflammatory claim was made during the Forum on Australia's Food Security, hosted by shock-jock Alan Jones at the Oakey Cultural Centre on Thursday night.  Read More

The Toowoomba Chronicle

Greens Welcome NSW Coal Seam Gas Inquiry

Greens Senator for Queensland Larissa Waters has welcomed the announcement that the NSW Legislative Council will conduct an inquiry into the coal seam gas industry.

“While the Queensland government has given the go-ahead for an unbridled stampede into the unknown, the NSW parliament will investigate the CSG industry’s impact on the environment, particularly on groundwater and on good agricultural land,” Senator Waters said. Read More

Queensland Greens

Courier Mail Survey

The Courier Mail is giving us the opportunity to have a say about what makes this great State so great (or not so great as the case may be).  They want to know what makes Queenslanders tick.   There is an opportunity to  voice opinion in this survey and there are some mining questions.

I have filled it in and have told them what I think..... ""Squawk, Squawk, Squawk!!!""

Below is the URL, it will only take you 5 minutes to give them your thoughts:-

Courier Mail Sunshine Survey

Coal Seam Gas Industry Under The Microscope

THE environmental, social and economic impacts of coal seam gas mining and exploration in NSW will be examined by a wide-ranging parliamentary inquiry.

The inquiry, by the upper house committee responsible for resources and energy, is expected to hold public hearings in October and November to examine the environmental impacts of coal seam gas mining, including the use of hydraulic fracturing, or ''fracking''.  Read More

Sydney Morning Herald

Riding Our Resources 'Dumb Luck' to Ruin

ON 361 mining complexes all over Australia, workers and their mammoth machines are operating around the clock on a scale never before seen in this country's history.

   

Australia now produces more than one billion tonnes of minerals each year, and that's only counting the finished product. This is five times more than we were producing at the end of the last boom 30 years ago. It is enough to fill 3000 of the biggest bulk carriers that ply the world's oceans, and the prices obtained from those shipments have risen on average by more than three times since the current boom got under way in 2003. While the impact of this boom is changing our continent in ways that will be irreversible, our politicians lack the courage and capacity to put in place policies to ensure that we, and our descendants, reap a lasting legacy from this once-in-a-century opportunity.  Read More

The Australian

NSW Inquiry on Coal Seam Gas, Fracking

THE controversial coal-seam gas industry will be scrutinised by a NSW parliamentary committee inquiry.

It follows the outpouring of concern from a growing number of affected communities, including parts of the Hunter.

Various party members of the Legislative Council general purpose standing committee agreed unanimously at a meeting yesterday to establish the inquiry. Read More

The Newcastle Herald

Imagine If.....

Imagine if an Energy Company came to your house to let you know they were going to put a gas well on your property. How would you feel?

Gary Hargreaves - 4BC: Australia Food Security Forum Recap Live

Is live now on Radio 4BC talking about last night's forum. 

Click on this link to listen:  http://4bcsaves.com.au/stream/listen.php

Government Slated over Southern Qld Farmland Mining

About 600 people attended an anti-mining rally on southern Queensland's Darling Downs last night.

The meeting at Oakey, west of Toowoomba, drew a range of speakers, including radio presenter Alan Jones, federal MP Bob Katter, state MP Aidan McLindon and environmentalists Drew Hutton and Bob Irwin.

It was billed as a forum on Australia's food security.  Read More

ABC News

ABC Lateline - Coal Seam Gas - 2.8.2011

ABC Lateline - coal seam gas - 2.8.2011

Drew Hutton, President of Lock the Gate Alliance debates Ross Dunn from APPEA

Coal Seam Gas Legislation Changes: Win News 02/08/11

Win News:

Stop CSG Illawarra spokesperson Jess Moore talks about the changes in CSG legislation for NSW.

A Coal Seam Gas Story - Scenic Rim

Report on Scenic Rim resident's fight to stop coal seam gas mining plans for their region.

Reporter: Courtney Wilkie
Camera Operator: Courtney Wilkie
Editor:  Courtney Wilkie.

Set to Take on 'Arrogant' Miners

BOTH the emotions and the stakes were high during the inaugural Forum on Australia’s Food Security held in Oakey and hosted by radio broadcaster Alan Jones last night.

The forum, the first in a series of rallies to be held across mining-affected areas across Australia, attracted hundreds of politicians, environmentalists, academics, farmer and concerned residents from the Darling Downs and across Queensland.

Mr Jones was particularly passionate about the fate of local agricultural land considering he was born in Oakey and went to school at the now mine-ravaged town of Acland.  Read More

The Toowoomba Chronicle