Monday 26 July 2010

Toxic test for farm land

Australian
Thursday 22/7/2010 Page: 4It

FARMERS' concerns about the growing coal seam gas industry on the fertile Darling Downs have pushed the Queensland government to appoint extra monitors to check mining activity. While the state government has approved two major coal seam gas projects on the Darling Downs, federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett last week delayed final federal approval for three months to seek further information from Santos and the British-based BG Group. Conservation groups and the National Party have been running a strong campaign against the industry, largely because they feel it has the potential to destroy valuable farming land.

The Bligh government has been a major supporter of the industry but the monitoring decision changed the tone. In a new announcement, it said: "This tougher stance... will significantly ramp up the monitoring, inspection and enforcement of the industry". Mines and Energy Minister Stephen Robertson said the new positions would "ensure that environmental obligations are strictly delivered on, and approved gas extraction processes are followed by the book". Acting Climate Change and Sustainability Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk said: "If the industry cannot operate within the limits and conditions of their government approvals, they have no place in Queensland".

In a related development, the state has put a temporary ban on the slaughter of cattle from near a pilot underground coal gasification plant near Kingaroy, after small quantities of the poisons benzene and toluene leaked last week. While gasification is a different means of extracting power from coal from that used in the coal seam gas industry, the government faces the same political problem, with farmers concerned about the integrity of their land. The government's Biosecurity Division aims to be able to tell cattle farmers today whether they can continue normal operations. In the meantime, it has advised them not to let animals drink bore water.

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