Stop Coal Seam Gas in East Gippsland and keep East Gippsland pristine.
Frac Free East Gippsland is a non-party political group whose concerns cross all social boundaries; we believe in putting community before mining. We aim to inform individuals and communities about unconventional gas and experimental coal mining, particularly as it relates to the East Gippsland region. Coal seam gas IS NOT a clean source of energy; coal seam gas IS NOT safe; coal seam gas WILL NOT provide a lot of jobs; coal seam gas IS NOT good for the economy; coal seam gas leaves a significant footprint and CANNOT coexist with other land use; We DO NOT need or want coal seam gas in East Gippsland.
The CSG industry is not clean and healthy, it’s toxic and dangerous. Ground water is diminished due to the enormous amounts of water required in the extraction process; aquifers and groundwater are contaminated due to well casing leaks and leaks through fractured rock; the disposal of ‘produced’ (contaminated) water, sludge and drilling site discharge remains a significant and unresolved issue; soil becomes contaminated with methane and other, heavier hydrocarbons; our air is polluted by unmanaged emissions; and there’s been a rapid spread of weeds of national significance. Although regulations in Australia don’t require companies to list the chemicals they use in fracking fluids, we do know of carcinogens and other chemicals that affect kidney function, the lungs and heart, bone marrow, the blood system, hormone regulation and the reproductive system, and cause leukaemia.
Up to eight wells can exist on a 100 hectare farm, rendering about 25% of the farm unusable. Land value in NSW and Queensland has dropped as soon as a CSG project is announced, with more than 50% of farms for sale in Tara and Chinchilla. The extraction process is an industrial one, requiring 24-hour noise, dust and light pollution as a result of pumping, digging, desalination and flaring. Drilling rigs and large semi-trailers carrying compressors, generators, desalination units, and pipes as well as tankers full of chemicals and water make an endless convoy. Fire from lightning or human carelessness is a constant risk, and flaring continues even on days of Total Fire Ban. Food grown in contaminated soil becomes contaminated, milk and meat have been known to become contaminated, and livestock in affected areas have been known to refuse to drink the bore water that has been contaminated. There have been cases in the USA and England where tremors of between 2 and 3 on the Richter scale have been caused by CSG mining. Methane, the main fugitive emission of CSG mining, is an incredibly potent greenhouse gas, up to 86 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
Far from creating “over 150,000 new jobs”, the coal seam gas industry created less than 8,000 jobs in the past year, and employs less than 25,000 in total. To date, most of the CSG workforce is not local people but single men who drive in/drive out, are housed out-of-town in working accommodation, and their catering is done by sub-contractors. Ninety percent of our methane is being shipped overseas and domestic gas consumers currently pay approximately 25% of the world price because we have an over-supply of gas. CSG has been responsible for the deaths of workers, pollution of the environment, illegal waste disposal, dumping of industrial waste-water on roads, non-compliance with regulation, and numerous breaches of licence conditions. Children in affected areas have been known to suffer frequent nose bleeds, headaches and nausea; rates of suicide in gas field areas have risen sharply, especially among men; towns have been divided leading to community-wide stress; family unity has been undermined; and health systems and medical facilities have been swamped by a dramatic increase in demand for services. To have CSG anywhere in East Gippsland would tarnish our image as a clean area and producer of uncontaminated fine food. email: [email protected]