A place where Kingaroy community members and others can learn about the proposed coal mine near Kingaroy.
Who is KCCG?/Our History
Kingaroy Concerned Citizens Group (KCCG) was formed in February 2010. It is primarily a support and research group consisting mainly of local landholders in the Coolabunia area near Kingaroy. It first formed in response to the Queensland Government permitting a trial of Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) by Cougar Energy on a land holding in the Coolabunia area. KCCG conducted much research to support its concern that the trial was very poorly conceived and conducted. KCCG has been fortunate to have group members with extensive scientific, research (ex. CSIRO) and field experience. The trial was abandoned after a well-publicised contamination event at the site. In addition to benzene and toluene being present in elevated levels in the underground aquifers, toluene was also present in the fat of cattle located across the road from the plant. Cougar Energy was prosecuted in the Qld Environment Court, and there was a lengthy and on-going inquiry into the both the technical and scientific aspects of the failed trial, and also the administration of the UCG trial by the Queensland Government.
KCCG made submission several of these enquiries. Together, they describe the poor practice by the State Government in its approach to such trials in the State, and also the inherit problems with UCG as a concept industry. The submissions by KCCG are of particular relevance to the current Senate Select Committee into unconventional gas mining in Australia, for it illuminates the insurmountable problems associated with UCG technology, despite it promotion as a viable future energy form. These submissions also support and contributed to the conclusion by the State Ombudsman that the UCG trials in Queensland were poorly administered by the Government. KCCG has also been involved in other local coal and gas issues in the local area. Queensland Bauxite proposed to mine bauxite in the local area and undertook exploration in the area in 2012. Most recently, Moreton Resources (formerly Cougar Energy) proposes to develop an open cut coal mine in 2017 on prime agricultural land just kilometres from Kingaroy.