'We Want CSG Campaign' raises the ire of Greens and farmers



Coal seam gas, or CSG, has gone from relative obscurity to national prominence in the last year, and the coverage has been predominantly negative.

That's why The Association for Petroleum Producers (APPEA) has launched a media campaign to counter what it says has been a one-sided debate.

The campaign is called 'We Want CSG' and it looks to be as polarising as the debate itself.

It features about a dozen small business owners and farmers in regional Australia and within hours of its launch, social media sites were full of accusations those people were paid to appear.

Not so, says APPEA CEO Rick Wilkinson, who says the industry needs to counter large amounts of disinformation and alarmist reporting.

Rick Wilkinson accepts there's widespread concern by farming and environmental groups over CSG, but he says supportive locals need to have a voice.

"Now I want to be very clear that the people who talked on the advertisements received no remuneration whatsoever" he says.

"They're well recognised in the local areas and have businesses in the local communities.

"So I think they're the right people to put forward the messages about how they feel about coal seam gas."

Rick Wilkinson says activist groups and others choose to ignore the science the industry is working with.

"I think the research has been done" he says.

"The environmental impact statements do address and look quite closely at the risks and what it takes to develop a coal seam gas industry.

"There's over 1,500 environmental regulations, and you monitor what happens and that enables you to update your modelling and your understanding of the aquifers is absolutely up to the minute accurate."

Greens say the CSG campaign a sign of desperation

The CSG debate has not only split communities, it's formed some unusual alliances - in particular, that between farmers and Greens party members.

Jeremy Buckingham of the NSW Greens doesn't agree the science is settled on managing the coal seam gas risks.

"The gas industry seems to think it can spend millions on a slick advertising campaign to paper over the legitimate concerns of farmers and communities about the impacts of CSG on water, agricultural land and the environment" he says.

"Last month, a Galaxy Research Poll showed 68 per cent of Australians support a moratorium on the industry until its impacts are known."

Mr Buckingham has also taken a shot at the Federal Government for allowing what he says is a compromised CSIRO to take the lead on environmental guidelines.

"I'm very concerned that you've got the CSIRO entering into research that's funded by Australian Pacific LNG.

"I think the research should be fully government-funded, so that would remove the perception they could be persuaded one way or the other.

"Why is it, after we've seen thousands of CSG wells in Queensland, thousands planned for New South Wales, that they're actually doing the research to see if it's safe.

"This industry hasn't been proven safe - it needs independent research."

http://www.abc.net.au/rural/content/2011/s3311118.htm

Its CSG Or Farming : Greens


AGRICULTURE will suffer from the coal seam gas mining boom, NSW Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham has warned.
Mr Buckingham’s comments come after he instigated an upper house inquiry into the CSG industry that is predicted to triple over the next 20 years.

“I don’t think the case has been made that CSG mining and agriculture can co-exist,” he said.

Mr Buckingham called for the inquiry following concerns coal seam gas mining would contaminate and use a large amount of ground water, create carbon emissions, and threaten the state’s food security

A total of 5000 gas wells are predicted to be created in the state in the next two decades.

Federal Member for Calare and shadow minister for agriculture John Cobb said ground water and farmers’ rights needed to be protected before the boom.

“It can’t work if water is not protected, and at the end of the day the farmer has to get something out of it given the intrusive nature of coal seam gas mining and exploration,” he said.

Mr Cobb said he supported nurturing both the agricultural and mining sectors.

He commended the state government’s efforts in attempting to address both industries’ concerns.

While the state government’s submission to the inquiry says it is working to find a harmonious balance between the mining, agriculture and environmental sectors, Mr Cobb believes it will be hard to keep everyone happy.

“The state government is moving down the right path, (but) it’s not easy for anyone to deal, but we have to have both.”


http://www.centralwesterndaily.com.au/news/local/news/general/its-coal-seam-gas-...

Mining giant Santos has been given permission to access land in NSW's Pilliga State Forest for up to 30 years, with a view to mining coal seam gas (CSG)

The former Labor state government signed an agreement in February 2011, handing Eastern Star Gas - bought by Santos in November - permission to access the forest in the state's northwest until 2040.

The deal was revealed on Tuesday in documents obtained under freedom of information laws by environmental groups opposed to CSG mining.

Santos must still submit a successful application to the NSW Department of Trade and Investment before it can mine the area.

The documents, seen by AAP, also reveal that Santos would pay $2500 per year to the state government for every active CSG well in the forest.

"This revelation shows how little NSW taxpayers are getting for the massive amount of damage this industry is doing to the Pilliga Forest and potentially our waterways and aquifers," NSW Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Santos stand to make billions by pock-marking the Pilliga forest with gas wells if its proposal for 1100 coal seam gas wells is approved."

CSG mining is controversial because of the methods employed to release gas from the ground.

Mining companies inject liquid and other material at high pressure deep into the ground to fracture coal seams.

Environmental groups claim it can pollute water supplies.

In December the state government extended until April a moratorium on the technique, known as fracking, until the completion of an independent review of the environmental impact.

A Department of Primary Industries (DPI) spokesman said a petroleum exploration licence was granted for the area more than 31 years ago by the Wran government but was revised in February 2011.

Santos was unable to comment.

The company already has an exploratory drilling site in Pilliga Forest - a site it took charge of after buying Eastern Star Gas.

On Monday it denied reports that a leak from that site was killing local trees.


http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8397932/santos-handed-30-year-forest-access