INTERNAL advice to the Queensland government had warned five years ago that coal-seam gas development was dictated by misplaced "technological optimism" that environmental problems could be solved, when there was no way to assess the industry's "cumulative impact" on farming and water.
The scathing assessment was made by a then principal policy officer to the state Department of Mines and Energy, Geoff Edwards, who yesterday backed the finding of an all-party Senate committee that CSG projects in Queensland had been approved prematurely.
Dr Edwards, now an academic, said the problems he had identified with CSG development remained, ranging from its potential impact on underground water tables and aquifers to the disposal of heavily salted water produced as a byproduct of gas extraction.
"In the absence of a good technical solution, I would question the desirability of pushing ahead at the great rate we are seeing with the issuing of tenures for these projects," he told The Australian
The Australian
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