The coals they use are deep but not that deep and certainly...

The coals they use are deep but not that deep and certainly shallow compared with shale .

The heat can and does fracture the cap rock which will be under tension anyway due to the void created by UCG . The cap rock itself may be hydrocarbon bearing and contribute to production once heat and stress induced fractures increase permeability .

When these article compare UCG with frac'ing they do so from the implicit position that frac'ing is environmentally bad which is lazy journalism because frac'ing has shown itself to be a very safe industrial process .

It makes me despair that people get so upset about frac'ing yet don't think about what they tip down their sink and toilet everyday and what is sprayed on their food and where it ultimately ends up .

My position , with money in this game , is that for UCG site selection is key .

The geology must be right with regards to sealing formations , there should not be freshwater aquifers anywhere near , it should be in the back of beyond and the Poli's should not have a track record of using any excuse to shut down operations .

Once it get established , monitored and accepted it may be possible to relax the site selection criteria - a little .