Ann: Response to Qld Government announcement on UCG industry-CNX.AX, page-44

Mogga from where I sit Labor are closing all types of employment and industries down here in Qld
However if you listen to the moronic premier she seems to spend a lot of time talking about things and says she is for job job jobs-what a load of political BS
I gave the link before to listen to the ABC radio report earlier but went in and found was now a transcript so here it is-its worse for the government when you see it in print
Its about time for everyone interested in UCG to now send this to their local member asking to explain
So far I have had replies from Robbie Katters office and the shadow DEHP minister-naturally nothing from the labor mob-chicken sh$t lot they are

Scepticism over ban on underground coal gasification

Annie Guest reported this story on Tuesday, April 19, 2016 18:25:00


  

   

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MARK COLVIN: A member of a scientific advisory panel has criticised the Queensland Government's decision to ban the fledgling underground coal gasification industry.

He says there's no evidence to support the Government's ban on the practice of burning coal underground and siphoning the gas.

The Government argues that the risks have been shown to outweigh the benefits at the trial sites.

Annie Guest reports from Brisbane.

ANNIE GUEST: With CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) technology and State Government backing, underground coal gasification promised low emission mining and unblighted horizons.

But farmers like Gary Tessman from Kingaroy were concerned about what was going on beneath the surface.

GARY TESSMAN: We saw it as a major chance of getting contamination to underground water supplies as our major worry here because of the close-knit farming area around it.

And we're very much an agricultural area. I mean water was a very big concern and any contamination of that would have been devastating.

ANNIE GUEST: The Kingaroy trial was shut down in 2010 after toxic chemicals were found in water bores.

Now the announcement of a permanent ban is welcome news for Gary Tessman, who is the chairman of the Kingaroy Concerned Citizens Group.

GARY TESSMAN: Oh, I don't know whether we'll be having any celebrations but I think we just, it's probably a great relief.

And hopefully we can get on with better sources of energy and get back to our farming.

ANNIE GUEST: Further west on the Darling Downs, Linc Energy is facing criminal charges over environmental breaches at its trial site, while a third player, Carbon Energy, has been progressing towards commercialising underground coal gasification, or UCG.

It is sometimes confused with the established coal seam gas industry, which draws water to reduce pressure and release gas from coal seams.

But UCG involves burning coal underground and siphoning gas through wells.

Surrounding the shut down Linc Energy plant there's now safety concerns in a 320 square kilometre area, including Shae Dougall's property.

SHAE DOUGALL: I was having daily headaches. The odour was absolutely overwhelming and we were very concerned about the damage it was doing. And I was pregnant at the time.

ANNIE GUEST: Worldwide, underground coal gasification has rarely progressed beyond trials.

And that's where it will be left in Queensland, according to the Resources Minister, Anthony Lynham.

ANTHONY LYNHAM: Basis of science, the basis of the environment, the basis of protecting our agricultural areas - the risks far outweigh the benefits.

It may stack up in Uzbekistan, but it doesn't stack up here in Queensland.

ANNIE GUEST: But the Resources Council's Greg Lane is scornful.

GREG LANE: What's really missing here is the evidence. Simply show us the basis for the decision that was made yesterday.

ANNIE GUEST: One of the members of a scientific panel that cleared the way for the industry to proceed in 2013 is also sceptical.

He is geochemist Chris Cuff.

CHRIS CUFF: No, I do not think that it is a rational decision at this time. From what I have seen of their evidence to date it's ambiguous.

ANNIE GUEST: Mr Cuff, who has worked for the industry in the past, says he suspects the Government is shutting it down because it doesn't have the evidence to sustain a criminal prosecution against Linc Energy.

Meanwhile, the third trial site operator, Carbon Energy, has released a statement, read here by an actor:

EXTRACT OF STATEMENT FROM CARBON ENERGY: Carbon Energy has spent more than eight years and $150 million successfully demonstrating its innovative and unique key seam technology.

ANNIE GUEST: Carbon Energy says the ban on underground coal gasification will harm Australian investors, mining and the manufacturing industry.

MARK COLVIN: Annie Guest.