Coal seam Gas Issue is Heating Up
Flammable tap water from the film Gaslands treehugger.com
Northern Rivers residents have begun to question the benefits of the
MetGasCo Coal Seam Methane project in Casino following recent screenings
across the region of the film Gaslands.
MetGasCo responded to a query about the possibility of organic chemicals
leaching into groundwater by arguing that as they are not gasifying the
coal, no chemical reactions take place in the coal seam.
While it is true that the worst chemical pollution from underground extraction of gas from coal seams, including
the closure of the Cougar Energy plant at Kingaroy, have taken place when the coal is burned or otherwise chemically altered, all of the problems described in the film Gaslands are due to the process of fracturing the coal seam so that the methan can be washed off the surface of the coal. Commonly known as fracking, this process involves the injection of water into the coal seam after some physical fracturing has taken place.
The methane loaded water brought to the surface for extraction of the gas is highly saline, and loaded with a range of pollutants from the process and the coal seam itself.
Many of these chemical pollutants are associated with the mechanical processes used to drill the wells, fracture the coal and inject the water. In some casses, chemicals are injected into the coal seam to assist in the process of separating the methane from the coal. As well as the danger of this chemical cocktail leaching into waterways,
the mingling of coal seam water with bore water is a major concern. The film Gaslands shows people setting fire to their drinking water, burning the methane that has been extracted from the coal seam. Of more concern are the impacts on health with skin rashes, hair loss and other health impacts being widely reported across the gas fields of the USA and Western Queensland.
With gas fields in the Margaret River in Western Australia, the Otways in Victoria and the Hunter Valley, as well as across the bulk of outback Queensland, a national action is being planned for May, 2011. Broadly supported by farmers, local governments and environmental activists, this is a major confrontation between food security and the short term economic prosperity brought by mining.
Details available at http://westerndowns.group-action.com/
The people of Casino concerned about their drinking water are not alone.
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Joe Ebono
www.ebono.org
0402 779 375
youtube.com/joeebono
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