Recently the Senate inquiry into the coal seam gas industry’s potential impact on the Murray Darling Basin toured Queensland. As well as hearing from gas companies and farmers, Senators heard evidence from scientists representing Doctors for the Environment Australia. The toxic BTEX group of chemicals (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene) were banned from use in drilling and fracking (hydraulic fracturing) fluids in Queensland last year after they were found in aquifers close to gas wells. But the medical experts argued that these chemicals occur naturally in coal seams and can enter groundwater and the air when wells are fracked.
Northern Rivers Echo
No comments:
Post a Comment