It’s merely the latest development in a string of disasters.
The detection of toxic chemicals in the Pilliga state forest six months after a toxic spill from a coal seam gas (CSG) project was not the first public relations nightmare for one of the fastest growing sectors of engineering construction.
Nor will it be the last. From angry farmers to environmental groups to senate committees to local councils, to many politicians and perhaps most important of all, increasingly concerned residents – there seems to be a growing number of Australians who would rather see the entire industry shut down.
In the latest episode, soil and water samples taken by the wilderness society show high levels of a number of metals nearby where a saline water spill occurred at Santos’s coal seam gas project near Narrabri, in northern NSW.
According to Australian Associated Press, the samples showed lead at five times the acceptable drinking water standard, twice acceptable standards of arsenic and 3.74 times the acceptable standard of chromium.
“Our tests of the Pilliga spill have revealed for the first time just how toxic this coal seam gas water is – it is a cocktail of heavy metals, such as lead and arsenic, plus salts and petrochemicals,” Naomi Hogan of The Wilderness Society says.
Given the high concentrations of semi-volatile petrochemicals recorded, Hogan says, there are serious concerns that this is not a one off spill and that CSG water may still be leaking into the environment.
That’s not all.
Other developments in the latest episode of public relations disasters for the industry include accusations from Green senators of spying on CSG protesters and assertions that dredging operations at the port at Gladstone to make way for CSG projects was impacting the marine environment.
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Andrew Heaton, Engineering Source
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