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AGL FRACKING FARM on Prime Dairy Land near Gloucester NSW
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Malcolm Holland
The Daily Telegraph
July 31, 2013
12:00AM
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
