SOMETHING is badly amiss when Queensland bushies embrace Green Left Weekly, and the opposite ends of the political fringe, the Greens and Bob Katter's Australian Party, find a common cause.
Much of the opposition to Queensland's expanding coal-seam gas industry, which has $70 billion worth of projects under way, appears to stem from misapprehension that can be easily exploited by those with other agendas. The Lock the Gate movement, which has become a lightening rod for opposition, encompasses many with genuinely held concerns about the competing demands of resources and farming. In a state traditionally well-disposed towards mining, the negative messages have penetrated, with Newspoll showing that 40 per cent of Queenslanders are against coal-seam gas extraction, 33 per cent are in favour and 27 per cent are undecided. A National Energy Security Assessment has warned that the backlash could restrict future production and force a downgrade of Australia's gas supply security from "moderate" to "low".
No mining venture is free of environmental impacts, but coal-seam gas producers, who have been producing gas from coal seams for 30 years in Queensland, have a good story to tell. CSG producers already provide most of Queensland's gas for domestic and commercial use and are about to create thousands of jobs piping the gas 435km to Gladstone where it will be chilled to -172C, processed into liquefied natural gas, then exported. In a world hungry for energy, LNG is cleaner than coal and a viable alternative to oil.
The Australian
Editor's Note: Mmmmmm
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