Broome: Dubai Down Under

The far north-west of Australia is a sparsely populated oasis where ancient Aboriginal superstitions still prevail. The trouble is, there's gas there – and developers who want to turn it into a new Emirate. Kathy Marks reports from Broome:

The small, remote town of Broome in Australia's far north-west is known for its pearl hunting history, unique ethnic mix and stunning sunsets over the Indian Ocean. But with the country's largest gas refinery set to be built on its doorstep, townsfolk fear a revenue-hungry state government is planning to turn Broome into the next Dubai.

The proposed plant – which would process gas from a massive offshore field – has horrified environmentalists, and sown bitter divisions among indigenous locals. While traditional owners have agreed to give up their land in exchange for an A$1.3bn (£814m) package offered by Australia's biggest oil and gas company, Woodside Petroleum, the deal was only struck after they were threatened with compulsory acquisition by the Western Australian government.

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The Independent

Australian State Extends Temporary Ban on Fracking to April

New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, will keep a temporary ban on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, for three more months to strengthen standards for the process used to extract natural gas from coal.

The state will extend the moratorium until April from the end of this year to complete an independent review of the health, safety and environmental risks, Chris Hartcher, New South Wales’s resources minister, said in a statement today.

Santos Ltd. (STO) and AGL Energy Ltd. are among companies with coal-seam gas operations in the state. Fracking, which injects water and chemicals into rock formations to free trapped gas, has drawn criticism from environmental groups and politicians who say it may contaminate water supplies.

“We’re proceeding with caution and making sure the proper frameworks are in place,” Hartcher said.

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Bloomberg

Fraccing moratorium extended to April

THE NSW government has announced the extension of its moratorium on fraccing until April 2012 pending the completion of an independent review process.

The moratorium, previously scheduled to end on 31 December 2011, will allow for the review and strengthening of existing standards for fraccing in NSW, as well as the development of technical guidelines.

The fraccing standards are to be reviewed by industry experts and will also be peer reviewed by the NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer, Professor Mary O’Kane, prior to implementation.

“The NSW Government recognises significant recent community concern over the potential for pollution of aquifers by the coal seam gas industry as part of the fraccing process,” Mr Hartcher said.

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The Land

Origin boss blasts industry critics

Origin boss Grant King has attacked opponents of the $60 billion coal-seam gas industry, accusing them of an "ideologically driven" agenda. Source: Bloomberg

THE head of one of the nation's biggest energy companies has attacked opponents of the $60 billion coal-seam gas industry, accusing them of an "ideologically driven" agenda and making misleading claims about the release of toxic chemicals during extraction.

Origin managing director Grant King said yesterday: "Continual references to the release of toxic chemicals by opponents of CSG production is simply not informed by the facts and is at best misleading, if not a deliberate misrepresentation."

He defended the controversial "fracking" process, in which a mixture of water, sand and chemicals is injected into the coal seam to free up the gas, saying it has been used in Australia since the 1970s and globally since 1948.

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The Australian

The Dark Side of the Boom

GRAHAM Evans has lived in Dampier, on the Pilbara coast, for 43 of his 50 years. As a boy, he rode the school bus with the famous Red Dog, and swam off the beach in a now-vanished children's enclosure, near where a busy hub for commercial seacraft now sits.

Evans' livelihood is linked to the resources sector that dominates Dampier and nearby Karratha; his business, Australian Marine Services, runs a fleet of vessels that services the enormous and bustling Port of Dampier, from where 140 million tonnes of iron ore are shipped each year.

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Sydney Morning Herald

Alan Jones Comment: 02.12.11

Alan Jones on the consequences of coal seam gas mining.

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Di Morrissey joins Manning Alliance against coal seam gas mining

ONE of Australia's best known authors - and a Manning Valley icon - Di Morrissey, has accepted an invitation from the Manning Alliance to become its first patron, helping the fight to protect and insulate the valley from coal seam gas mining.

Alliance chairman Peter Epov announced Ms Morrissey's involvement yesterday, saying she is passionately concerned and committed to the future of the local environment.

 

"We are delighted that Di Morrissey has agreed to join the fight against coal seam gas mining. Di was born in Wingham, she loves the Manning Valley and still resides in the district."

He said he understood "Di is very worried about the manner in which coal seam gas mining has been allowed to develop in Australia, particularly without reasonable and proper controls, nor any accurate scientific studies and information to adequately demonstrate that it can be carried out safely".

 

"She wants to protect the Manning River and our water resources for future generations," he said.

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Manning River Times

Queensland Parliament passes laws to protect farmland from mining

Farmers have been up in arms over proposed mines on the Darling Downs, one of the farming areas protected by the new Queensland legislation. (Sophie Benjamin)

Queensland has become the first state in Australia with specific laws to keep open cut mines out of the best crop-growing areas.

The Strategic Cropping Land Act passed State Parliament last night.

Natural Resources Minister Rachel Nolan says any activity which would permanently damage the land is subject to the new law.

"The State Government has established a soil science test which allows us to tell right across Queensland exactly where is the best quality agricultural soil," she said.

"As you'd expect, that is a pretty enormous area, running from Mossman all the way down the coast and then some inland areas like around Emerald and around the Darling Downs."

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ABC Rural

New Zealand Poised to Be the Next Frontier for Fracking

Some Kiwis Worry that the Process Could Exacerbate Earthquake Threat

Earlier this year, New Zealand’s Canterbury region was shaken to its core by a devastating earthquake that literally ripped the community apart. Today, as people there continue cleaning up, many feel like they are once again under siege. The new threat: hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) for natural gas and shale oil, a procedure that has been linked to increased seismic activity.

Because oil and gas reserves are owned by the Crown, all New Zealanders should benefit from its development. But many people are worried about increased off-shore oil drilling and natural gas and shale oil exploration, and wonder how more fossil fuel extraction will impact the environment. The Green Party has called for a moratorium on natural gas fracking, and the party’s success in the recent general election reflects public support for that position.

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Earth Island Journal

Palmer confident of Qld mine approval

Mining magnate Clive Palmer is adamant his $8 billion Waratah Coal project in central Queensland will be approved within months, despite an outcry by environmentalists.

His project in the Galilee Basin, west of Rockhampton, is sited in the Bimblebox Nature Refuge.

But Queensland's richest man has laughed off any question of a moral conflict in mining an area that was handed over to the state government as a nature reserve.

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Sydney Morning Herald

Cotton growers concerned an underground coal mine could be approved below valuable farmland

Central Queensland cotton growers are concerned about plans for the development of a coal mine below their irrigated paddocks.

Stanmore Coal's Tennyson project is still in early exploration stages but the company's tenement covers an area of 131 square kilometres adjacent to the town of Emerald.

Cotton Australia's Michael Murray says that means it includes the Emerald irrigation area which produces hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cotton each year.

He says a meeting with Stanmore officials last night has led him to the conclusion that current Queensland Government strategic cropping land laws wouldn't stop the mine.

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ABC Rural

Coal port expansion means 1300 ships a year inside reef

THE Queensland government will super-size the Abbot Point coal terminal in the state's north to increase its capacity eightfold and create one of the world's largest coal ports, on the edge of the Great Barrier Reef.   

Premier Anna Bligh said the capacity of the port, outside Bowen, 1200km north of Brisbane, would expand from 50 million tonnes of coal a year to more than 400 million tonnes to keep pace with mining output.

This means the number of ships accessing the port, after threading their way through the reef, will grow from about 200 last financial year to more than 1300 by 2017.

The $9 billion redevelopment will allow 11 bulk carriers to be filled with coal at the same time.

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The Australian

Bacchus Marsh Coal Mine Could be Better Than Latrobe Valley: Claims

BACCHUS Marsh brown coal could be of a better quality than that of La Trobe Valley, preliminary results have revealed.

Mantle Mining, which is currently conducting a controversial 15 hole drilling program in the region, has released the results of its laboratory analysis of the first four holes.

However, Moorabool Environment Group president Kate Tubbs said history showed that Bacchus Marsh coal was not of a high quality.

Mantle Mining operations manager Callum Lamont said the company was pleased with preliminary results however the report was only “indicative”.

“The quality seems to suggest the coal is of a equal or higher grade than the Latrobe valley coal,” Mr Lamont said.

Mr Lamont said a better idea about the quality of the coal could only be achieved once all the 15 holes had been tested.

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The Courier

Coal Miner Feels Heat of Corruption Hearing

THE mining company at the centre of a corruption investigation involving the former Labor minister, Ian Macdonald, will hold an emergency meeting with the Resources and Energy Minister, Chris Hartcher, this morning, after the government suddenly called for a suspension of its operations.

The call by Mr Hartcher sent NuCoal Resources into a trading halt and came a day after the Premier, Barry O'Farrell, was questioned on radio about the plight of a farmer, Ian Moore, who has been fighting to keep the company from exploring on his land.

Mr Hartcher wrote to NuCoal on Wednesday night flagging the call, only hours after Mr O'Farrell was taken to task over Mr Moore's plight by the radio host Alan Jones.

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Sydney Morning Herald

Concern Builds over Chemicals Left Behind

FOR every "fracked" coal-seam gas well, between 10,000 and 35,000 litres of chemicals are injected into the ground, with up to 40 per cent remaining there.   

The CSG industry has talked down the quantity of chemicals used in the process, repeatedly stating the chemicals represent roughly 1 per cent of fracking solution with the remainder comprised of water and "proppant" such as sand.

The Senate committee into CSG, which delivered an interim report this week, has examined the bulk of chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" process. It states that because of the very large volumes of solution involved, "even 1 per cent is still a significant volume".

Fracking is thought to be used at up to 40 per cent of the 18,650 CSG wells approved for development in Queensland.

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The Australian

Coal-Seam Gas Boom Puts Pressure on Governments

JUST 15 years ago there was no coal-seam gas extraction in Australia.

The realisation of this vast resource and the rapid expansion of the industry to exploit it has been dramatic. Hundreds of gas wells have been drilled annually and there are now 2800 productive wells connected by more than 4000km of pipeline, supplying 90 per cent of Queensland's domestic gas. The industry is set to expand tenfold as $60 billion is invested in projects to liquify and export the gas, creating close to 20,000 jobs. The CSIRO estimates there is enough CSG in eastern Australia to power a city of a million people for 5000 years.   

The statistics are mindboggling and help to explain why landholders, communities and regulators have been struggling to keep up. The Senate's rural affairs committee interim report on the industry's impact on the Murray-Darling Basin provides a timely opportunity to assess progress and prepare a sustainable plan. A range of significant issues has emerged over recent years, such as the right of access to properties for exploration, and the appropriate planning procedures to determine land-use priorities.

Concerns about environmental issues are also prominent, with fears that extraction could reduce or pollute groundwater supplies. There have also been cases of contamination from fracking chemicals, and the disposal of saline water extracted from wells could damage agriculture.

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The Australian

Warning on CSG Impact 'Ignored': Report

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

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The Australian

Bligh accuses Heffernan-led Inquiry of Bias

QUEENSLAND Premier Anna Bligh has accused the Bill Heffernan-led Senate inquiry into the coal-seam gas industry of setting out to undermine the emerging resources sector in a bid to score cheap political points.   

A day after delivering its report, recommending CSG development be suspended in areas tapping the Great Artesian Basin, Ms Bligh said any moves to enforce a moratorium would cost the 9000 jobs that have already been created by the new industry in Queensland.

But Ms Bligh's sharpest rebuke over the report was aimed at the inquiry chair, Senator Heffernan, a NSW Liberal, whom she accused of leading biased hearings into the industry. There were 15 senators involved in the hearings, including five Labor members, at various times during the inquiry.

"We will have a good look at the report . . . it is always important to look at material that might be of use," Ms Bligh said.

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The Australian

Gas Projects Left Under a Cloud

GROWING community and political opposition to coal-seam gas production is beginning to make analysts doubt whether yet-to-be approved projects will get up.   

In a note to clients yesterday, Credit Suisse analyst Sandra McCullagh said that while $50 billion of CSG export projects being built by Santos, BG Group and Origin at Gladstone were likely to overcome some landowner issues, this week's Senate committee recommendation that CSG development in some areas be suspended was a worry for others. Ms McCullagh said the 50-50 Arrow Energy joint-venture between Shell and PetroChina, whose $535 million bid for Bow Energy was cleared by the competition watchdog yesterday, could face hurdles.

"It is hard to see they will have any easy path to approval as their Surat CSG acreage (in Queensland) is all strategic cropping land," she said. "Focus will have to be on the less-sensitive Bowen Basin so the concern is that Arrow will not have enough gas to feed a two-train LNG project."

AGL Energy's NSW designs would be a tough ask and as such are not included in Credit Suisse's valuation, the note said.

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The Australian

Answers Needed on Coal Seam Gas

Australians have every reason to be grateful to the mining industry.

At the moment, it is the only thing protecting us from following Europe and the US down the economic drain.

But in recent months landholders up and down the East Coast of the nation have been confronted with a huge increase in exploration claims lodged by coal seam gas companies wanting to ride the green friendly anti-coal band waggon and exploit the rich gas fields that lie deep below the earth.

Extraction of coal seam gas has been going on for years but there have been some scare tactics on the part of those wishing to prevent further exploration and there have been some rogue miners who have been ruthless in their pursuit of profits.

We hear of frakking, in which a mix of chemicals, some toxic, are pumped into the layers of strata holding the gas underground and used to fragment the gas-bearing rock and free the gas for easier removal.

What does seem certain is that not enough is known about the potential dangers these practices may leave for future generations.

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Piers Ackerman, The Daily Telegraph

CSG 'Ignores Social Costs'

POLITICIANS representing the gasfield electorates believe the Bligh Government's plan to channel half of royalties earned from the State's coal seam gas industry into an educational trust fund ignores the immediate infrastructure and social costs on impacted regions.

With Queensland set to head to the polls in the coming months, Premier Anna Bligh has unveiled a pre-election "mines for minds" plan to place 50 percent of royalty fees garnered from the State's controversial liquefied natural gas industry into a future education trust fund, in a move she likened to superannuation.

Under one option being considered, the government would create individual trust funds for Queenslanders born after July 1 next year, making a nest egg of between $7800 and $9500 available for educational, skills and training expenses after they turn 18. Feedback on the education trust proposal is due by February 17, with the document available at www.getinvolved.qld.gov.au

Liberal National Party leader Campbell Newman immediately branded the scheme a "desperate political thought bubble".

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QCL

Govt asks NuCoal to Suspend Mining

Ian and Robyn Moore

NUCOAL has today called a trading halt, pending a further announcement from the company, following an announcement from the NSW State government asking it to suspend its activites.

The request was called pending investigation by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).

Coal Exploration Licence 7270 was granted to Doyle’s Creek Mining Pty Ltd on 15 December 2008. Doyle’s Creek Mining has since been purchased by NuCoal.

The award of the coal exploration licence by former Mineral Resources Minister, Ian Macdonald was formally referred to ICAC last week by a resolution of NSW Parliament following an independent review finding that there had been “a circumstantial case of wrongdoing and a breach of public trust.”

Minister for Resources and Energy, Chris Hartcher has written to NuCoal said there was considerable interest and concern in the community related to the granting of the licence and the company’s exploration activities.

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The Land

Drill Rigs Give Grazier That Sinking Feeling

Farmers Anne and Brian Cameron are concerned about the possible effects of CSG extraction and coalmining on their water supply. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen Source: The Australian

BRIAN Cameron doesn't trust what he's been told about his slowing water bores, and he likes it even less that coal-seam gas and coalmining are literally on his doorstep.   

The third-generation grazier had hoped that he would ease into retirement on his 3600ha cattle run, Waikola, 90 minutes' drive from Roma in southern Queensland.

But the arrival of gas and coal exploration crews in his fertile corner of Brigalow Country, 400km west of Brisbane, put paid to that.

Now, like many others in the area, Mr Cameron and his wife Anne are uncertain of what the future will bring.

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The Australian

Coal Seam Gas Exploration Still Being Examined in Protected Conservation Areas

"We are undertaking stringent reserach and work on coal seam gas" ... NSW Environment Minister Robyn Parker. Photo: Edwina Pickles

The NSW Environment Minister, Robyn Parker, would not rule out allowing coal seam gas exploration licences in conservation areas, in a budget estimates hearing yesterday.

Questions were raised by Labor in relation to a proposal by Eastern Star Gas, now Santos, for a coal seam gas project that includes land in the protected Pilliga East State Conservation Area.

The opposition's environment spokesman, Luke Foley, called on the minister to rule out any approvals of such projects in protected areas.

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Sydney Morning Herald

Coal Seam Gas Mining Catastrophe

Wake up, Australia. Gas coal seam mining will ruin the land, foul the underground water, foul surface water, degrade the soil and the atmosphere and generally bring about ruin to the families that own property that is subject to a mining lease.

 

I have recently viewed a documentary on this type of mining and the after effects on the countryside in the heartland of USA, mass destruction of the environment both above ground and below ground, plus the health and well being of land owners, all for the sake of the almighty dollar.

 

Thousands upon thousands of wells across America from Texas through to New York state.

 

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