Politicians, what was in your GVKHANCOCK Coal Drinks?

The Galilee Basin Story so far . . .  GVK Hancock Coal Media releases state there will be 4000 jobs for the area and yet they still say there will be FIFO workers.  Why? 

Is it because they know they are lying and this is how they get around telling the absolute truth on the subject of real employment.

Thermal coal is uneconomic on the current spot price yet they still get approval from the state and federal governments.

June 2011:
Billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart flew Coalition MPs, including the Liberal Party's deputy leader Julie Bishop and Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce, to take part in a sumptuous three day-wedding of a prominent Indian industrialist in Hyderabad.

The Reddy family company, infrastructure behemoth GVK, is seeking a controlling stake in coal mines owned by the Hancock group.
(The Age, 17/6/2011)

November 2013:
The federal government has approved a massive coal mining project in central Queensland that will be the largest in the country.

The environment minister, Greg Hunt, approved the 37,380-hectare Kevin's Corner project on Friday. The mine (will) be operated by a joint India-Australia consortium, GVK-Hancock. 

March 25th 2015   GVKHANCOCKFrom the website:

As part of a comprehensive stakeholder engagement process over several years, GVK Hancock has all Indigenous agreements in place for its mine, rail and port infrastructure.
We value cooperation with all sections of the community and are proud to have reached collaborative agreements with the Indigenous groups which interrelate with our projects including the Wangan & Jagalingou People, Jangga People, Birri People and the Juru People.
Our agreements were negotiated and finalised between 2011 and 2012 and included:

• Native Title Agreements for each of our Alpha Coal Mine and Kevin’s Corner Coal Mine in accordance with the Commonwealth Native Title Act,
• Indigenous Land Use Agreements covering our 500 kilometre railway and our coal export terminal at the port of Abbot Point in accordance with the Commonwealth Native Title Act, and
• Cultural Heritage Management Plans over the areas of both mines and our rail and port infrastructure in accordance with the Queensland Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act.

We will continue to work cooperatively with all indigenous groups, governments, landholders and the broader community as we continue advancing our projects to a point where construction can commence.

Click here to download "20150326 - Media Statement - GVK Hancock has all Indigenous agreements in place for proposed mine rail and port.pdf"

May 28th 2015 
GVK Hancock has developed a plan to boost regional jobs for around 30+ years in the operational workforce of its planned Galilee Basin mining operations.
The plan to boost regional jobs involves adopting bus-in/bus-out services stretching over 300 kilometres from Emerald to Barcaldine to create sustained, long-term employment throughout the region.
This bus-in/bus-out service will complement the unavoidable need for fly-in/fly-out services, to meet the requirement of more than 4,000 direct jobs at our proposed mines.

Coal Mine

Images @ Flickr

ADANI TURNED DOWN FOR NOW ...

And a huge cheer went up across Australia at the end of this week and many breathed a sigh of relief to hear the Federal Government Court process turned down the Carmichael Mine in Queensland. 

Everyone that is except that fool Tony Abbott.  Yes, the Abbott is at it again acting like a total moron, so full of himself its hard to stomach.

Even though the headlines say its over... I don't think so!  The pressure being applied to all involved in the approvals process is still working overtime.  Those Queensland politicians are sickening to watch speak of the land in such a filthy manner. They ought to be put over a bully ants nest...

Read a few news articles regarding the Abbott's audacity on the subject of this mines scrutiny.  There is no thought for the environment in anything he says.  Nothing in what he is saying here shows any sense.  The man is clearly a another plane of existence.  He certainly has no handle on what the Australian people actually want  here.   They want jobs - yes, but not at the risk of the most precious resource we have and that is our W A T E R.  

Mr Abbott needs to be put in his place about criticizing the court system which overseer's this mining approvals process - he is nothing but a bigot and he just proved this to the Australian people once again.

More Here

• Uncertainty over massive Queensland mine
• Adani's Carmichael Mine is unbankable, says Queensland Treasury
• Michael West: Adani's gilded lily far from rolled gold

Read more:

Sydney Morning Herald (Business Day)

http://www.edonsw.org.au/carmichael_case_win

The Lithgow Coal Mine Wall in Collapse

Conservationists believe the collapse of a dividing wall at a coal mine in Lithgow is "equivalent to a giant oil spill".

READ MORE HERE

This is a most disastrous and terrifying outcome for any river system and its so close to the Blue Mountains which is a beautiful natural formation I have yet to see the beauty of and so it worries me no end this is happening.   The mining corporations will have this on their conscience too because I won't allow them to live this down.  How dare they be so useless in their thinking as they keep bleeding the mother dry.

The NSW EPA started  investigating the collapse yesterday.   Approximately 150 meters of the Wollangambe River is "showing signs of impact", which means damage has occurred, What are the ramifications of this?  I am very worried because they have exhausted beyond common sense the coal reserves and there is no further need for this fossil fuel.

There is so much money spent on keeping what they are doing secret and not enough money spent on actually mining safely.

EPA

Images @ Eminpee Fotography - Image

ADANI Telling Custodians they dont have a say!

Now I am guessing people will be able to see why a number of us said to do business with Adani from India is a nightmare waiting to just happen. 

I hope the United Nations steps in and has the actual balls to uphold its own law and make Australia's present government responsible for not standing by these people where the mining of cultural land goes because the brakes were already put on this in the past and all the "I'M SORRY'S" and the "CLOSE THE GAP" rubbish and inclusion in the constitution is all corrupt lies, trickery at large. 

After all who would think a government would be capable of such audacity?  That is what they are banking on here.  Stealth.

Read Full Story at the ABC Here

Indigenous challenge to Carmichael megamine in Galilee Basin

• Listen now(Link will open in new window)
• Download audio

 The Guardian ran a story on the Indian firm Adani has appealed to the native title tribunal to bypass the traditional owners’ rejection of the Queensland mine

"Aboriginal group fights to stop $16bn Carmichael coalmine, Australia’s largest!"

ADANI has said that those of the tribunal holding up the ADANI MINE plans are not authorized to speak on behalf of Wangan & Jagalingou people!!

Since when does INDIA tell the ORIGINAL PEOPLE of this land they have no jurisdiction to speak on their own land

Images @ Eminpee Fotography

POCOCK LOCKS ON AT LEARDS

Former Wallaby captain David Pocock and six other protestors were arrested at Whitehaven Mine site at Mauls creek in the Leards State Forest near Narabri NSW. All seven received conditional bail to appear back in court in the new year of 2015 on January 14 and 27th respectively.

David said its incredibly important we have conversations about this I would be doing this regardless of what career I had. In 2014 to put a coal mine in the middle of a state forest does not make any sense. He said local people were very concerned about the possible effect of the mine on the water table.

The approval of this mine was always a scandal .. Last year the former federal labor environment minister Tony Burke admitted he had been forced to approve the mine after the former NSW state resources minister Chris Hartcher released confidential letters from Burke to Hartcher. In this rotten game this was primarily designed to force Burke's hand by indicating Burke's intention to approve the mine at some time in the future.

Local farmers want a full inquiry on how the mine was approved by state and federal governments. They should be afforded the proper process to protest this coming onto their farmlands.

David Pocock has added his voice to the many voices who have already spoken up very loud. Pocock is a highly moral young man Alan Jones said. He may know him, I don't but I don't doubt that he is. Standing up for your country is no walk in the park because the ramifications are serious.

My rant on the issue at hand is about staying true to ourselves:

So does young Pocock quit now ... when his contract is up? Now he realizes actually who is who in the zoo?  Well, he may as well work off that precept because its highly likely the rich that covertly govern what happens at Australian Rugby Union will NOT re new his contract.
So, will he now be true to his ethics and walk away from the greedy raunches that control Rugby Union?
  It's the private school game.  Some who are involved believe only wealthy people should play this game.  I have heard that statement myself.

I also want to stress that I am not trying to take anything away from David Pocock.  The boy has guts to do this sort of lark inside of the high caliber 'old boys club' environment. He may have sunk his chances for a future in Union at a high level.  The corporations who run union won't take kindly to this sort of out burst from any of the players.

Images @ Eminpee Fotography

Drew Hutton and Alan Jones

It is wonderfully poetic how things turn out down the track!

Me and Alan Jones in Sydney

Queensland's former premier Mr Peter Beattie said on air on the ABC "that you would never think the pair "would be in bed with one another".

"Drew Hutton and Alan Jones on the one side? That would, at one point, have been totally unimaginable".

Drew Hutton and some children at Glenugie NSW

The pair go back years when both were in the same place at the same time at the Brisbane Boys Grammar School as teacher and student.  Drew was the gifted student and Alan the Master.  The pair etched a friendship that spanned past school days with Alan Jones attending one of Drew Hutton's weddings.  The pair often spoke about politics when in the former years but with Jones working for the Labor movement and Hutton following the greens the pair drifted apart.

Recently though Jones contacted Hutton regarding the burning issue of Coal Seam Gas Mining and Coal Mining and the degradation of farming land.  Both of these men have ties to the Chinchilla area with Jones fondly speaking of his early days at Ackland in Queensland.  This place is under siege now and both these men are now seemingly on the same side once again.   I hope these pair are instrumental in completely stopping this madness in Australia.

Read Full Story Here at the Channel 7 News

Images @ Eminpee Fotography

ICAC puts pressure on Three NSW Ministers in Corruption Scandal and they stepped down!

The New South Wales government is squirming in its corrupt little boots at the moment, Barry O'Farrell must be feeling sick in his stomach knowing it is only a matter of days but still he tried to cover up for his already disgraced political cronies.

The dark side of Sydney and NSW and Mining!

The government are refusing to say what connection the ex resources minister Chris Hartcher and notorious businessman Nick Di Girolamo who are both embroiled in an alleged dodgy coal mine deal on the central coast of New South Wales.

The matter is before ICAC.  The corruption Commission are investigating the obviously corrupt  Australian Water Holdings company now.  I can honestly say it is not before time.  Hartchers advisor Tim Koelma received regular payments to his company EightbyFive by Di Girolamo.

ICAC says it is alleged the payments were made ''purportedly for the provision of media, public relations and other services and advice'' in return for which Mr Hartcher ''favored the interests of Australian Water Holdings''.

In March 2012 Mr Di Girolamo registered as a lobbyist with the NSW Parliament via his company Westin Strategic Consulting. Kores was its sole client.

Signs in Sydney

 Barry O'Farrell is overseas at the moment and his department declined to discuss the matter while the Premier was out of the country.   

NSW Liberal MPs Chris Hartcher, Chris Spence and Darren Webber withdraw from party in wake of ICAC allegations.
 

Read more: Sydney Morning Herald  Ran a story on this in February 20th 2014

Images @ Eminpee Fotography

CORPORATE GREED

Out at Leards Forest

This is a material element of their CORPORATE GREED ... the SMASHING of the AUSTRALIAN BUSH / Aussies ought to be ashamed if they are not unequivocally outraged by this.

If 45% don't know yet what CSG is ... then tell someone today. Talk to Someone at the bus stop, the hair dressers or the doctors,  Don't forget the School P&C and the ladies of the  CWA.

Make sure you have a COMMUNITY RADIO PERSON on side in ALL AREAS so there is a voice that is free.

https://www.facebook.com/john.jenkyn

Read more here: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/09/materialism-system-eats-us-from-inside-out

Images @ Eminpee Fotography - Leards Forest

This was the funniest Story ever! Spreading truth with Humour!

http://www.smh.com.au/business/evasions-rub-salt-into-the-wound-20131129-2yher.html

Michael West is a very very good writer for SMH.  He could not have relayed what we all feel better.   It is a comedy of errors what we are facing!   I want to keep this article close to my heart as Kathy read this out to me as we drove to Canberra to see the Franklin Horses defend WATER at Parliament House ACT.

Michael wrote:

It might be an idea to rename the EPA the BPA. This minor change, from the Environment Protection Authority to the Backside Protection Authority, would enshrine more precisely the agency's central priorities.

The Backside Protection Authority sallied forth this week in strident denial of a story we had penned about coal seam gas. ''EPA refutes claims that it has been 'sidelined' or 'ignored','' the press release said.
Today, we will not only refute this refuting by the Backside Protection Authority, but we will also say the Office of Water has been sidelined too.
The Office of Water ought to be renamed the Office of Water Sometimes. Or perhaps, for ease of branding, we could just drop the last two letters and make it the Office of Wat.

Both the Office of Wat and the Backside Protection Agency are being steamrolled by the Office of Coal Seam Gas (yes, its real name; despite a leaked memo that revealed the government's plans to banish the words ''coal seam gas'' in favour of, ahem, ''natural gas from coal seams''). Anyway, the Office of Coal Seam Gas reports to the Department of Trade, which should be renamed the department for Stuff You're Not Meant to Know About (So Rack Off).
When it comes to coal seam gas, proper process and accountability are elusive at best. If you ask questions there is only one sure outcome, you will be given the run-around.
It took us a week just to get fobbed off by the Office of Wat (no, you can't see our advice, talk to the Office of Coal Seam Gas). As for the Backside Protection Authority, first it ensures a secret report with its real view on Gloucester finally sees the light of day - just in case it needs to show it opposed it when it wrecks the farmland, then it dodges questions about it and accuses your humble scribe of being grouchy on the phone … and hangs up.
To the heart of the matter then: AGL, which has been a fair corporate citizen over the years, has had a brain explosion. It plans to dump 37,500 tonnes of salt and a suite of other toxins onto the Avon River floodplain as its plan for disposal of produced water at the Gloucester coal seam gas project.
AGL denies, rather implausibly, that 37,500 tonnes of salt will kill the river and the farmland.
Trials are now afoot and the brine is already being sprayed - they call it ''irrigated'' - over the floodplain. AGL says its trials prove there is no environmental damage. Memo to AGL's board: there is a difference between going out for a few drinks and quaffing a bottle of scotch every day for 15 years. The cumulative effects of spraying 2500 tonnes of salt a year on pristine farmland can hardly be justified by a few trials.
In Queensland, they dispose of the wastewater from coal seam gas mining by reverse osmosis. In Victoria, the government has just extended its moratorium on fracking until June 2015.
In NSW though, where the geology is more sensitive to fracking than Victoria, it is open slather. And though supposedly still in the exploration phase, AGL's Gloucester project has all the hallmarks of a fait accompli.
The local community is up in arms. The local water authority doesn't like it. Behind closed doors, the Backside Protection Authority doesn't fancy it either - as evinced by a hitherto secret report that slams the project as ''high risk''. In spite of all this, and the fact that a full mining licence is yet to be approved, AGL is building its pipeline. It is clearly getting a nod and a wink from somewhere. Upping the ante in the lobbying stakes, Shaughn Morgan, AGL's manager of government relations, shot off a memo to state MPs this week singing the praises of the Gloucester venture.
''Please find a link to the views of third-generation Gloucester dairy farmer Mark Harris. In the clip, Mark talks about his first-hand experience in having an AGL gas well on his property for the past three years.''
Harris, like other landowners who have done a deal with the miners, not only enjoys a financial benefit but is also bound by confidentiality arrangements. His is hardly an independent voice.
There is a credible voice in all this though, and that is the voice of groundwater expert professor Philip Pells who has examined the project in depth and at his own expense.
Pells is a withering critic of both the project (on environmental grounds) and the state's process (''bizarre'' and lacking in accountability).
Whereas AGL cited the Bureau of Meteorology rainfall salinity data to support claims its wastewater is no more salty than rainwater, Pells pointed out the weather bureau did not actually measure salinity in rainfall.
In any case, AGL's salinity data incorporates the dilution effect from mixing the produced water with fresh water from the Avon River. But as Pells points out, in bewilderment, diluting the salty water does not reduce the amount of salt. ''And given that dilution does not reduce the amount of salt, what happens to the salt?''
Can't get an answer from the Office of Wat, can't get an answer from the Backside Protection Authority. Naturally, the Office of Coal Seam Gas and AGL reckon everything is hunky dory.
And who is doing the monitoring on soil and salinity effects in the Gloucester trials? Why, according to an obscure letter (which, unlike the BPA report, has been in the public domain), it is none other than ''the titleholder'' AGL.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/evasions-rub-salt-into-the-wound-20131129-2yher.html#ixzz2mlvzm36m

Images @ Eminpee Fotography

Philip Pells answers to John Ross from AGL!

Water Testing by Parsons Brinkerhoff - Gloucester NSW

ABN 74 978 620 434
Phone: 02 4381 2125
Fax: 02 4381 2126

The Old Post Office
49 Lakeside Drive
MacMasters Beach 
NSW 2251
www.pellsconsulting.com.au

Our Ref:P034.L411
October 2013

To Mrs J Trynes
Gloucester
NSW Australia
Dear Madam
STATEMENTS BY JOHN ROSS RECORDED AT AGL ON 3 OCTOBER 2013

INTRODUCTION
This letter addresses two sets of statements by Mr John Ross at the AGL offices in

Sydney on 3 October 2013 recorded and available to the public on the Internet:
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_YurzVMAmw&feature=youtube)

AGL GLOUCESTER OFFICE

1. PRODUCED WATER IS SAME AS THE NATURAL PROCESS

The first set of statements claims that the groundwater at coal seam level in the Gloucester Basin all reports to the Avon River, so that bringing it to the surface as Produced Water from CSG bores is no different to the natural process.

To examine this statement recourse is made to the Parsons Brinkerhoff Groundwater Report (PB) of January 2012

.Parsons Brinkerhoff provides the following facts:

1. The groundwater in the young, alluvial deposits in the valley is sub-modern”.  Meaning it is between 50 and less than 1000 years old.
2. The groundwater in the fractured rock above the coal seams is between 4000 and 19000 years old.
3. The groundwater in the coal seams is between 9600 and 21600 years old.
4.  “Groundwater discharge from the alluvium is primarily to the rivers as baseflow, and during the monitoring period the following salinity ranges observed: TSW01 – 25.7 to 753.5 μS/cm ASW01 – 20.2 to 774.4 μS/cm ASW02 – 93.8 to 301.9 μS/cm.”
5. “The low permeability inter burden units are locally saturated, but generally act  as confining layers between and overlying the coal seams. The layered aquitards of the inter burden units create separate and distinct groundwater systems with no connection evident between the deeper coal seam water bearing zones and the shallow rock and alluvial aquifers.
Contrast the above with the fact that a 1000m deep CSG bore will bring 10000 to 20000 year old   Produced Water to the surface in a matter of weeks, and according to the PB report that water would have a Total Dissolved Solids of about 3000milligrams per litre (conductivity of 3000 to 5000μS/cm) - i.e. about 10 to 100 times higher than the typical Avon water. In particular that water would have a high bicarbonate content which recent work at The University of Technology in Sydney has shown is significantly more toxic to river critters than are chlorides.

Therefore it is considered that it is misleading for AGL to claim that the Produced Water just mimics normal processes.

2..SALINITY

John Ross is recorded as saying that the Produced Water from The AGL wells at Gloucester will bring less salt to the surface than natural rainfall over 10 square
kilometres.

The facts are as follows:

According to published research by the CSIRO the chlorides deposited through rainfall diminishes rapidly with distance from the coast, and at Gloucester it can be expected that the deposition rate could be about 15kg per Hectare (10000 sq. metres) per annum. Therefore for 10 square km we would have 10*100*15= 15000 kg per annum (or 15 tonne). In this regard it should be noted that there are no data specific to the Gloucester-Stroud-Barrington area.

At this time there is no way of knowing how much Produced Water will come from the Stage 1 wells at Gloucester. We know that as of 2101 AGL had 56 million litres stored on site1, containing about 168 tonnes of dissolved solids (chlorides and bicarbonates).

We don’t know over what period this water was produced, but think it was about 3 years (giving 56 tonne per annum, or about 4 times John Ross’s 15 tonne.  We also don’t know what will be the annual Produced Water from the more than 100 Stage 1 production wells –but it is reasonable to assume that each well will produce between 2 to 5 litre per second.  If we adopt a value of 3 litres per second then each well will produce about: •3*3600*24*365 *32= 284 tonne of salt per year.

In order for John Ross’s claim to be true AGL would have to have only 1 CSG bore every 10 sq. km, with each bore yielding less than 0.16 litre per second of produced water.  This seems highly unrealistic to say the least.

Again, it can only be concluded that this statement by John Ross on behalf of AGL is misleading.

1. Parsons Brinkerhoff, Jan 2012  2 (litres per second)*(seconds in an hour)*(hours in a day)*(days in a year)*(gram of salt per litre), with PB measurements giving about 3 gram per litre in the coal seam water.
P034.L4
Pells Consulting
11 October 2013
PHILIP PELLS
FTSE BSc(Eng) MSc DSc(Eng) FIEAust MASCE

Irrevocably altering the Australian landscape!

Coal and gas mining in Australia

The Australian Institute! 

Detailed panoramic view looking west across part of the Upper Hunter Valley coal mining complex.

Author: 

The Australian Network of Environmental Defender's Offices

Posted on:

21 August 2013

Mining has always been an important part of the Australian economy.
What has changed is the unprecedented scale and pace of its expansion. This is already irrevocably altering the Australian landscape and affecting food production, water security and communities across the nation.

The coal seam gas fields approved to date in Queensland will cover tens of thousands of square kilometres with an industrial grid of wells, pipelines, roads and water treatment plants. They will feed three huge gas processing plants being constructed within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area on Curtis Island. There are proposals to increase this threefold.

Australia is already the second largest coal exporter in the world, but with a series of “mega mines” there are plans to significantly increase the amount of coal we mine and export within the decade.
These huge projects are staggering in size. No one visiting Central Queensland or the Hunter Valley in NSW would be left in any doubt that they are transforming Australia’s rural landscape. However, it is the impacts that we don’t see that are often the most serious.

Coal mines and coal seam gas drilling disrupt aquifers that are essential to farmers and the natural environment. Coal mines are known to have discharged large amounts of contaminated water into our river systems, and no-one knows what to do with the huge amounts of contaminated water and salt that result from dewatering coal seams for gas drilling.
The human health impacts of coal are well documented and greenhouse gases that result from burning Australian coal and gas are a major contributor to climate change.

While these impacts are primarily social and environmental, they are also fundamentally economic issues. Industrialisation of rural areas directly impacts on the agricultural and tourism industries, and damage to the environment and people’s health is ultimately paid for by the community.

The Australia Institute has always been concerned with a broad range of economic, social and environmental issues that are essential to Australia’s future. All of these are impacted in a multitude of ways by Australia’s coal and gas expansion.

State governments have had the primary responsibility for managing resource development in Australia, but have failed to find an appropriate balance between the interest of the mining industry and the rest of the community.

These activities will have a profound impact on all Australians for many generations. As such, we believe it is time to look carefully at how the Commonwealth government can protect our food, water, environment and communities.

The policy question that always motivates The Australia Institute is ‘what should be done?’ Over the past three years we have published dozens of research papers which highlight the economic, social and environmental consequences of the unprecedented expansion of the fossil fuel extraction industry. We are proud to publish this research by the Australian Network of Environmental Defender’s Offices to help start the conversation about what we need to do about it.

DOWNLOAD TB 24 Coal and gas mining in Aus..pdf

 

Leanne and Manja not really concerned with the world here.

Images @ Eminpee Fotography

Hungry Gutted Brainless Queenslanders! Grrr

I call them hungry gutted because their concern is for Money and not the environment and this means these people are not worth the air they even breathe. They pay no heed to the fact this mining will damage the water table.

GVK Hancock has taken the next step in its $4.2 billion coal project Kevin's Corner.   Decision's on the mines fate and the fate of its mining lease application is immediately delayed by the Federal Government's Department of Sustainability until October 30th 2013.

This farmer is exactly the sort of farmer who is dangerous to this country,  the ones who put the dollar first before the state of the land and how it will be effected for times in the future.

Shaun Dillon is a pastoralist where if the approved, 9000 acres of Kevin's Corner Mine will be on his property.
A  compensation arrangement  has already been struck with GVK.

Shaun understands there could be total loss of the water supply on his  land.   He fully understands the impacts of this industry but he doesn't give a damn about it. 

He cites Money as his motivation for peace of mind.   He and most of his neighbours are protected by a flimsy "make good" clause in their contractual arrangements  with GVK.

This decision to sell out like this is going to be the thing that will bring this country to its veritable knees.  These guys are not seeing the big picture.  They have been dazzled by the dollars and the short term gain.

Who are GVK-Hancock Coal?

Hancock Coal Pty Ltd is owned by GVK and Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd (HPPL) is a diversified Australian energy and resources company, with a strong record of pioneering the economic development of regional Australia.

Founded by Lang Hancock over 50 years ago, HPPL has a long and proud history in minerals, exploration and development industries in Australia. Since it was established in the mid 1950s, HPPL has demonstrated a strong commitment to the growth of Australia’s mineral wealth, and has continued to seek and develop additional resource deposits across the country.

The pioneering spirit of Hancock that led the development of the Pilbara region in Western Australia is now being directed to the vast potential of the Galilee Basin in Queensland with Hancock Coal Pty Ltd (HCPL) and the Alpha Coal Project.

In the 1970s, resource exploration commenced in the Galilee Basin, which was considered to be uneconomic due to the lack of associated infrastructure on Australia’s east coast. Now, some 30 years later, with more developed rail and port infrastructure coupled with the global demand for coal fired power, there is an exciting opportunity for this area of regional Queensland.

Read more here: GVKHancock Coal Pty Ltd

Images @ Eminpee Fotography

Clive Palmer and his Real Story!

The real story!

Coal Seam Gas in Australia

Coal seam gas extraction is fairly new in Australia  It has been mined in the United States for a number of years evidenced in Josh Foxes film Gaslands.

 Csg mining involves releasing gas from coal seams deep under the ground.  If the gas does not come up easily for extraction it is injected with high pressurized water and chemicals  straight into the coal seams to shake the gas free.
CSG mining processes extract masses of water and this water is known as used water and it is radioactive and salty.
CSG mining is unconventional gas extraction.   Shale gas offers another avenue of gas supply.
Here is Australia Csg Mining has exploded for want of a better description. 
Australia has experienced growth never before seen since gold rush days in the area of CSG mining.  There are exploration and production licences covering much of the continent.
Figures show that in the five years leading up to 2008, Csg production in Australia increased by 32 per cent a year

 One of the major  and most serious risks of Csg mining is the contamination of the surface water and and  the deep groundwaters in the various artesian basins located under Australia. Csg mining has been linked to issues that  have  been associated with the Great Artesian Basin, one of the largest underground water reservoirs in the world, covering about 22 per cent of Australia’s land mass.
 Another serious risk is Earthquake frequencies and there is some evidence from monitoring radon as it could reveal whether coal seam gas extraction is messing with the soil’s structure.
 Jeremy Buckingham
Two recent peer reviewed studies on opposite sides of the globe have shed light on how monitoring of earthquakes and determining greenhouse gas emissions from the coal seam gas (CSG) industry may be connected.
Predicting earthquakes has been a major scientific challenge, and so far considered impossible. In a recent case, Italian scientists were jailed for underplaying the likelihood of a major earthquake with the case sending shockwaves through the scientific community.

Not much is known about the chemicals these drilling companies use and just how much of the chemical mixtures that are used during the mining process. These are secretive and known as proprietary chemicals (don't have to be divulged - ie Colonel Sanders KFC)
While they keep all this secret it is hard to  measure the  impacts on  health and the ecocide to the environment.
It is known that a number of the chemicals typically used in CSG extraction have been associated with hormonal disruption, fertility and reproductive effects, and the development of some cancers.

While some evidence exists from US operations of environmental contamination, there is relatively limited evidence so far regarding the actual health effects of CSG in Australia according to certain health practitioners.  This is because there were no baseline studied down on health and the environment.  The studies that were done were all funded by mining companies and it is clear that this is corruption on all levels.  This is highly unethical because they are siding with large mining companies

In 2012, an inquiry completed by the  NSW parliamentary committee who looked into the environmental, economic and social impacts of CSG activities.
With reguards to  health the health impacts, the inquiry concluded:

1. The federal government can only step in where there is serious risk of environmental damage.  Other than that this is a State Government issue.  
2.  Coal Seam Gas companies are suspected that they may not be meeting all of their obligations.
3. More data is needed on the impact of Coal Seam Gas on contamination or depletion of water resources.

A joint statement made by the coalition made note of the risks to health from "Energy and Resources policies" were not well thought through and this is reflected in current policy decisions. The statement called for a precautionary approach.  To look at long term studies that could effect generations to come.  The science is just not there for this process.  There is a need for caution.Opponents to this industry come from all walks of life,  Mothers, Farmers, Indigenous and typical greenies all with a common goal of protecting the water. 

Environmental groups, such as Lock the Gate Alliance Inc, are fiercely opposed to CSG reduction. Their opposition is based on possible harm to the environment, even though their assessment may lack scientific backup. They believe that even the possibility of environmental damage is sufficient grounds to restrict CSG production.
I don't share that ideology as I want to see it completely banned in all countries.  It is banned in a few countries but I am holding on for this decision in Australia.

Communities, farming areas, and tourist sites near CSG production sites are concerned  about the  damage to their land and their farming income and the value of their properties.  Properties in the vicinity of a mine are worthless now.  The people are concerned in the country because they moved there for a sea change and are now confronted with this nightmare that runs 24/7 under flood lights with no respite from the noise.

More information re the pros and cons to this industry can be found here.
http://harounkola.com/coal-seam-gas-controversy-in-australia-explained/
Images @ Melonpopzdropz  Flickr

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Jonathon Moylan - Hero . . .

SAVE THE AREA AROUND KAPUTAR .... it is sacred ground.

 

I find it easy to see him as a hero.  This is the new platform people have to take to fight this corporate tyranny from the levels it has risen to.  Below is an interview with Jonathon himself who says Jail is not as scary as a Coal Mine at Maules Creek is.  He is a hero for the planet.  The planet will take care of him.  He has faith so strong this lad.

Published on 9 Jan 2013

SBS reporter Ricardo Goncalves speaks to anti-coal activist Jonathan Moylan who earlier this week issued a media release purportedly from the ANZ Bank withdrawing a $1.2 billion loan to Whitehaven Coal, which is developing a project in Maules Creek in the Gunnedah Basin.
Over the past month, there has been a great deal of talk about why I - a young translator from Newcastle - would risk jail to expose ANZ's investment in Whitehaven's Maules Creek coal project. But a more important verdict is expected to be passed down next Thursday, when the federal Environment Minister, Tony Burke, is tipped to make a decision on the expansion of Idemitsu's Boggabri coalmine and Whitehaven's Maules Creek mine.
For the past few years, Maules Creek farmers have shown a great deal of courage in their attempts to prevent the biggest expansion of the coal industry in NSW. The increase in deadly coal dust, the draw down and potential contamination of the aquifer and loss of thousands of hectares of critically endangered forest threatens farmlands and animals such as koalas, not to mention people.
Rather than requiring the mine to rehabilitate the forest after 21 years, the state government has approved a plan that would leave a final void, or pit lake, that would drain the water table for 1000 years. Those are Whitehaven's calculations, not mine.

The Iroquois people of North America survived by asking how people seven generations ahead would be affected by their actions - but here, hundreds of generations will be affected. The compromise offered by the Maules Creek community, underground mining, was dismissed out of hand by the industry and the Planning Department on the basis that it would not be as profitable.
Most people would have given up and rolled over by now but the community has pushed on. Despite letters, research, submissions, meetings with ministers, rallies and direct action, they failed to receive the attention they deserved. Farmers have found that when a coal or gas company comes knocking on your door wanting to buy your land, you have little choice - if you refuse, the value of your property will plummet and the company can eventually resort to compulsory acquisition.
Over my lifetime, I have seen the world's largest coal export port - my home town of Newcastle - expand rapidly, doubling its output in 15 years, with an accompanying increase in dust, asthma and respiratory illnesses. Current expansions would double coal exports again. It would be irresponsible and irrational for me to do nothing about this. The coal expansion in the Liverpool Plains will directly affect me and my home town.
I joined the Front Line Action on Coal blockade in Leard State Forest because I believed that the Maules Creek community deserves our support. We will curse ourselves in the future if we are too cowardly to meet the challenge of rapid coal mining expansion with the response it requires today. Clicking ''like'' on Facebook will not be enough to save our health, forests, farmlands and climate.
The NSW approval for the Maules Creek mine was given by an unelected committee, the Planning Assessment Commission, which failed to assess cumulative impacts as required by the Director-General of Planning. A convoluted process initiated by the O'Farrell government prevents mine approvals from being challenged on their merits in court. Cut off from a democratic remedy, it is little wonder that communities across NSW and Queensland are standing in front of bulldozers and chaining themselves to gates. And sometimes, as we saw in Felton, Queensland, this month, the community wins.
Whitehaven is a company with political influence that small communities can hardly match. The chairman, Mark Vaile, is a former deputy prime minister and former leader of the Nationals. The main lobbyist, Liam Bathgate, is Barry O'Farrell's former chief of staff and ex-general secretary of the Nationals.

 

The industry as a whole, which employs less than 2 per cent of the population and directly affects larger industries such as agriculture, tourism and manufacturing, has shown its willingness to use its clout to oust the prime minister (remember what happened to Kevin Rudd during the mining tax debacle), silence its opponents and impose its preferred policies whenever its interests are under threat.
This conflict transcends politics and has brought together people from all walks of life. Last week's heatwaves and bushfires have thrown light on a greater threat. Allowing a massive expansion of the coal and gas industries when we need to invest in renewable energy means we are playing dangerous experiments with the Earth's natural systems, which we do not fully understand.
We are living in a dream world if we think that politicians and the business world are going to sort out the problem of coal expansion on their own. History shows us that when power relations are unevenly matched, change always comes from below. Every right we have has come from ordinary people doing extraordinary things and the time to act is rapidly running out.
Life, water, health and climate are things you cannot put a price on. For Maules Creek, it is up to Burke to pass sentence. In terms of the bigger picture, it's up to us.
Jonathan Moylan is a member of Front Line Action on Coal.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/potential-jailing-not-as-scary-as-threat-of-maules-creek-mine-20130123-2d78s.html#ixzz2Mo2YUDQ0

Images @ Melopopzdropz Flickr

   

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