Coal-Seam Gas Debate Starved of Solid Data

THE coal-seam gas lobby's assault on the ABC over its extensive online report into the industry has highlighted the serious lack of solid data in the controversial debate.

The Australian Production & Petroleum Exploration Association on Friday lodged an official complaint with the ABC over the report, labelling it as "riddled with factual errors".

"The ABC is held in very high esteem by the Australian public, but most observers would concede this piece of work fails to provide the objectivity, accuracy, or right of reply that is expected of quality journalism," the APPEA said.

In an impressive piece of journalism, an ABC team over four months pored over scores of government documents such as environmental impact statements -- often each more than 10,000 pages long -- in an attempt to paint a picture of the scale of the industry and its potential environmental impact.

APPEA said the ABC claim that CSG companies had received approvals for 40,000 wells was "not true".

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The Australian