Coal seam gas is any naturally occurring gas that is stuck in underground coal seams.
Australian farmers have been stripped of the rights for their land. Their farms and livelihood have been violated and have now, as a result, locked horns with mining companies using their land for coal seam gas. Third-generation farmer David Brownhill explains to The Australian how manipulated he feels by the multi-million dollar mining companies.
"When farmers wanted to develop their properties they had to ask their neighbours, whereas gas companies only needed a permit from the royalty-hungry government," explains Mr. Brownhill. Pretty much, our farmers have no rights whatsoever to their land, despite the fact that they are the reason we have food. As if Aussie farmers didn't have a hard enough time dealing with little profits, Mother Nature and angry animals! Now they have to compete against huge, greedy companies that suck the land dry and ship off whatever they can.
But it doesn't end there. As it turns out, our farmers are in danger of being killed off, too. Coal seam gas can be extracted by a process called 'fracking' (AKA hydraulic fracturing). This is a method of extracting gas by drilling, then injecting fluid at a high pressure into the ground to break up shale and thin rock. The gas is then released. The fracking fluid is mixed with sand and chemicals. For each fracturing, approximately 151 416 litres of chemicals are used. These chemicals include lead, uranium, mercury, radium (radioactive), hydrochloric acid, methanol and formaldehyde. By-products of this process (such as methane)leech out into the ground and water. Studies have shown that only about 30 - 50% of fracking fluid is recovered, and the rest is left to evaporate. THESE CHEMICALS ARE NOT BIODEGRADABLE! So if we don't get sick from drinking radioactive water, we might from the acid rain. And if we still don't get sick, our grandchildren will.
The Stop CSG website has revealed that the government has allowed mining companies to drill for coal seam gas over 1/3 of New South Wales. This means that it is highly likely that the government has approved drilling on YOUR property.
Fighting on the other end are the energy and mining companies. Arrow Energy claims that "gas fired power stations create less than half the greenhouse emissions that a coal fired power station." Another website claimed that coal seam gas requires little treatment before use in homes and industry. The Australian Coal Seam Gas website explains that coal seam gas is the purest form of natural gas. Further reading reveals that Australia is building up an export industry to service countries such as India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and China. SURPRISE, SURPRISE! Time and time again Australia is milked to the extreme, farms and their farmers' lives destroyed, our lives put at risk all to save the hide of another country. China and Japan are on the verge of world domination. And what do they give us to say thanks? Greenhouse gases and a whale shortage. What's next? World War III??
To learn more about the dangers of fracking, visit this handy website http://dangersoffracking.com/. You'll be shocked at what you find.
These websites will also help you to put this issue in perspective;
http://www.wewantcsg.com.au/
http://www.nogasmininginsydney.com/
http://www.qgc.com.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=305
http://www.arrowenergy.com.au/page/Our_Company/What_is_Coal_Seam_Gas/
