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| AGL FRACKING FARM on Prime Dairy Land near Gloucester NSW |
THE state government must create a map revealing subsidence under all of NSW before coal seam gas became a boom industry.
It must also produce annual maps starting from this year of new subsidence to discover any major damage from CSG mining, according to the State's chief scientist.
Professor Mary O'Kane yesterday released an initial report on her investigation of CSG activity in NSW, highlighting health and environmental challenges.
Premier Barry O'Farrell ordered Professor O'Kane to start the study earlier this year after announcing a ban on all activity within 2km of residential areas.
He also asked Professor O'Kane to look at the risks posed by CSG on groundwater and drinking water.
Her initial report said a subsidence survey going back 15 years was needed "and that, from 2013 onwards, an annual whole-of-state subsidence map be produced so patterns could be traced for the purpose of understanding and addressing any significant cumulative subsidence".
Professor O'Kane said there were wide-ranging community concerns about CSG and the industry faced "significant challenges'.
Prof O'Kane said her review would go into next year.
From the The Herald Sun News
Then from the Australian the story is more comprehensive:
The Australian – 31 July 2013
Australia’s multi-billion-dollar coal-seam gas industry lacks public trust and poses considerable challenges for government and the companies involved.
And a sweeping report by the NSW chief scientist and engineer Mary O'Kane recommends tougher regulation, increased penalties for breaches and thorough investigation of a raft of environmental and health effects.
Professor O'Kane said unanswered concerns remained over landholders' legal rights, land access and use; human health; the environment, particularly relating to the effect on water; engineering and operational processes; and industry regulation and compliance.
The 174-page report, commissioned by Premier Barry O'Farrell in February, made five recommendations including the establishment of a "world class" regime for extraction of coal-seam gas. It called for the creation of a data repository for all state environment data including water management, gas extraction, mining, manufacturing and chemical processing activities.
The report recommended a major, whole-of-state study into land subsidence, mandatory training and certification for all gas industry personnel and further research on underground models. The report said the health impacts of CSG remained a major community concern but there was "a significant lack of peer-reviewed publications on health and CSG".
The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association industry body said the report "raises complex issues regarding our industry's development".
Anti-CSG groups welcomed the findings and called for a national two-year moratorium on exploration while the studies recommended in the report were carried out.
But major CSG industry player Santos said the report did not call for a halt to operations across NSW while further studies were performed.
Professor O'Kane said the extensive monitoring system recommended in the report could be established in time to allow a CSG industry to develop before NSW suffered gas shortages and prices rose as contracts began to expire late next year.
"A lot of the data is together in various blocks. It is about bringing those blocks together," she said.
The gas industry has this week launched a multi-million-dollar ad campaign to build public support for the industry in the face of escalating attacks from landowners, farmers and environmentalists.
In a statement, APPEA said the continued failure of the NSW government to respond to increasing gas demand and facilitate the development of its gas resources would cost jobs. "Reactive policies such as the blanket exclusion zones need to be replaced with regulation that was effective, transparent, and based on science," APPEA said.
But Lock the Gate founder Drew Hutton, a high-profile anti-CSG campaigner, welcomed the chief scientist's consideration of no-go areas and setback limits to protect sensitive areas, homes and prime farmland.
Mr Hutton said the report recommendations should be adopted in Queensland where he said the industry was "out of control". "Queensland needs a new regulatory framework like the one set out by the NSW chief scientist," he said.
The report is based on the development of a statewide CSG industry in NSW but inevitably draws on controversy provoked by the early adoption of the industry in Queensland.
The report said CSG had proven divisive chiefly because of the emotive nature of community concerns, the competing interests of the players and a lack of public information.
It said the cumulative impact of widespread CSG extraction must be considered. Professor O'Kane's panel is working on a follow-up report that will set out appropriate performance bonds for companies and recommend tougher penalties to ensure world's-best practice.
She said the CSG industry was suitable only for major resource companies with substantial financial resources, and that the challenge was akin to major infrastructure projects, such as road or rail networks.
"From a technical and scientific standpoint, many challenges and risks associated with CSG are not dissimilar to those encountered in other energy and resource production, and water extraction and treatment," the report said. "Some challenges are well defined and can be effectively managed through high standards of engineering and rigorous monitoring and supervision of operations.
"Other challenges relating to long-term and cumulative environmental impacts are less obvious and require a commitment to significant and ongoing research, as well as a consequent evolution of engineering practice."
Based on the work done to date by the review, which will continue into next year, the report recommends the NSW government commit to adopting a vigilant, transparent and effective regulatory and monitoring system to ensure the highest standards of compliance and performance by the CSG industry.
The authors have commissioned new studies on risk and on exposure pathways for chemicals and contaminants. Additional legal studies have been commissioned on land owner compensation, company insurance and operator penalties.
The chief scientist said the state government must send a clear message to industry that: "High performance will be mandatory; compliance with legislation will be rigorously enforced; and transgressions will be punished with published high fines and revocation of licence's as appropriate."
The report recommended a "fair system for managing land access and compensation for those whose land is affected by coal-seam gas activities". It said the Health Department should continue to monitor any unusual symptoms reported in areas where CSG was being extracted and look for correlations with changing environmental factors.
A spokesman for Santos, which has the most CSG acreage of any company in the state, said it had always acknowledged that some communities had questions about CSG, and industry should work with government to provide science-based answers.
"Reassuringly, the chief scientist notes that many of the community concerns can be offset by best practice in regulation, monitoring and operation. That is what Santos has been saying and continues to say," he said.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/still-too-many-unanswered-questions-about-csg-says-chief-scientist/story-fn59niix-1226688415288
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