Just what is the deal with coal seam gas? Is it safe and it is all it's cracked up to be?
COAL FORMS OVER aeons of time from dead vegetation buried under layers of sand, silt and clay at depths where it is compressed and heated to temperatures from 100˚C to 200˚C. As it changes into peat and then coal, gas is released (made up of methane, carbon dioxide and other constituents).
Some of this remains trapped in the layers, and this is what we call coal seam gas or CSG – it’s the gas that’s responsible for explosions in traditional coalmining.
Exploration of unconventional gas sources, such as CSG and shale gas, has grown rapidly since the mid-1990s as consumption has increased and Australia moves towards a lower carbon economy. All are found in complex geological systems and demand technical innovation to extract safely and economically. CSG is contentious because exploration pre-empts drilling and production in locations that house communities or have other land uses, such as agriculture and forestry.
National Geographic
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