The Greens NSW spokesperson on mining Jeremy Buckingham today called on Premier Barry O’Farrell to implement a moratorium on the coal seam gas industry in NSW after a scientific study showed high levels of methane leaking into the atmosphere from a coal seam gas field in Tara, Queensland.

“Barry O’Farrell must impose a moratorium on this industry until the true nature of coal seam gas leaks can be properly assessed,” said Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham.

“The levels of methane detected by the scientific study are extremely concerning from a climate perspective, from a health perspective, and highlights that fracking and depressurising coal seams is having wide-spread environmental effects.

“The methane in coal seam gas is usually associated with carbon dioxide and other gases including a number of volatile organic compounds and chemicals which can have serious impacts on human health such as benzene, toluene, and xylenes.  Are these volatile organic compounds also leaking into the environment?

“Given AGL’s has a proposal for 66 coal seam gas wells near Campbelltown currently before the Department of Planning, how can the Premier, who is also the Minister for Western Sydney, let this industry go ahead when scientific evidence suggests high levels of gas leakage.

“Industry body APPEA is sounding more and more like the tobacco industry in their public relations spin designed to discredit and dismiss the scientific studies.

“Coal seam gas is a major new industry and should not proceed while there are still huge questions relating to its safety, environmental impact and necessity,” he said.

Contact: Max Phillips – 9230 2202  or  0419 444 916

25 June 2012

Greens NSW mining spokesperson Jeremy Buckingham has called on Metgasco to clarify whether or not the evidence they provided to the NSW Parliament Inquiry into Coal Seam Gas was accurate, following revelations they have illegally disposed of coal seam gas water at the Casino Sewage Treatment Plant.

The revelations of the illegal disposal of coal seam gas waste water are stated in a letter from the Environmental Protection Authority to the Environmental Defenders Office: http://bit.ly/KHEPxe

“The recent acknowledgement by the Environmental Protection Authority that Metgasco was illegally disposing of coal seam gas water at the Casino Sewage Treatment Plant appears to contradict some of the evidence given by Metgasco at the inquiry,” said Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham.

“It is extremely serious to mislead a parliamentary inquiry. I will be writing to the committee asking it to look into this matter.

“What is clear is that Metgasco is continuing to treat the Casino, Lismore and Kyogle communities with contempt and dishonesty in relation to their plans.

“To any fair minded person the construction of their so call ‘temporary storage’ pond at Casino is a clear breach of the Government’s no evaporation ponds policy.

“They are hiding behind semantics and the Government continues to fail in its obligations to hold the coal seam gas industry to account.

Hansard record of  the evidence given by Mr Michael O’Brien Chief Operations Officer, Metgasco. 8 December 2011  http://bit.ly/MuiYsP

Mr O’BRIEN: Our water handling currently is that our water is disposed of in above-ground holding ponds. We have two styles of pond, one that takes produced water and another one that takes drilling fluids.

When those ponds are decommissioned, we will sample the water and any sediment in those ponds, and then we will dispose of both of those according to the quality at that stage.

The Hon. JEREMY BUCKINGHAM: Are they evaporation ponds?

Mr O’BRIEN: They are holding ponds. In the Casino area you get significant rainfall; you also get some evaporation. Over a 12-month period you will get net evaporation out of those ponds. 

The Hon. JEREMY BUCKINGHAM: The only way you deal with produced water and drilling fluids is to hold them in those ponds?

Mr O’BRIEN: Currently, for our production pilots, that is the case, but when we go into production we will look for a beneficial use for the water. We have done a number of studies so far and there appear to be a good range of options for disposing of our water. Our production water, on the knowledge we have so far, is of relatively high quality. It is good enough for stock use as it is, without any upgrading, and then there are multiple parts to upgrade it so that it becomes a fully usable water source. 

Contact: Max Phillips – 9230 2202  or  0419 444 916

“The Government grandly announced a ban on evaporation ponds last year but has now approved a 5-year wastewater storage pond that operates exactly like an evaporation pond. It is completely dishonest,” Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham said.

“The community has been forced to take this action because the Government has failed to adequately protect the water resources in the Northern Rivers.

“The Coal Seam Gas Inquiry recommended banning all open water storage of waste water from coal seam gas production including temporary storage and open storage in tanks. It viewed this as a significant environmental risk and the government should accept that recommendation in full.

“I will ask questions in parliament today about the Government’s position on open water storage and why they are continuing to allow coal seam gas companies to put our water resources at risk.

Metgasco was recently caught out disposing of produced water at the Casino sewage treatment plant, which was not permitted under the facilities environmental licence. Metgasco disposed of over one million litres between May 2011 and March 2012 before being told by the Environmental Protection Agency to desist.

Contact: Justin Field – 9230 2202  or  0439 205 835

Mr Buckingham’s attempt to incorporate a letter from the Northern Rivers community into his speech on the Coal Seam Gas Moratorium Bill was blocked by the Government. The document (attached) is backed by local scientists and academics and highlights the clear difference between the words and deeds of the NSW Government on its handling of coal seam gas exploration in the region.

“The Northern Rivers community have highlighted how much they have to lose in terms of biodiversity and high quality water if coal seam gas mining is green lighted in this area, Mr Buckingham said.

“The Greens support the argument made by the community that ‘sustainable industries create a basis for our future and must be protected. Not replaced by the short-term economic and unsustainable gains of the CSG industry’. These sustainable industries are the high quality and diverse agriculture of the region and nature-based tourism.

Mr Buckingham also criticised the Government’s new Strategic Regional Land Use Plans as being worthless for the Northern Rivers community.

Mr Buckingham said, “This new planning framework for coal seam gas will not apply to the Northern Rivers. This area is not slated for a Regional Land Use Plan and the exploration guidelines still don’t address the simple fact that the community wants a right to collectively say no to this industry.

“The Government might be consulting with the community but they aren’t listening. I support the position in the plea that the community has opted for the precautionary principle and there is simply no social licence for this industry in [the Northern Rivers].”

“Local Nationals MPs must start standing up for their community on this important issue. MPs like Geoff Provest from Tweed, Thomas George from Lismore, and Chris Gulaptis from Clarence should be representing this view in the parliament. In their absence the Greens are proud to stand up for the community,” Mr Buckingham said.

Contact: Max Phillips – 9230 2202  or  0419 444 916

“The National Party has either deliberately abandoned the interests of farmers to the big mining corporations, or else they’ve been comprehensively rolled by the Liberal Party,” Mr Buckingham said.

“This means projects like the Shenhua Watermark and BHP Caroona coal projects on the Liverpool Plains are still on the table and can be fast tracked by a political decision. This is Barry O’Farrell’s very own Part 3A plan.

“The plans and policies announced today rule in the entire state for potential coal and coal seam gas mining. Every part of NSW is still up for grabs to big coal and gas companies.

“While the coal and gas industry might have more certainty under the plan, communities will be tied up in more submission writing and have no confidence that their properties and farms will not be subject to mining.

“Under the Government’s ‘Gateway’ process, no part of NSW is guaranteed protection. Outside of National Parks, other sensitive environmental areas are simply ignored in the plan.

“The state’s agricultural land, water supplies, urban and environmentally sensitive areas remain at risk of being mined.

The new rules provide an overriding clause for the Cabinet to consider a project ‘exceptional circumstance’ based on the value of the resource. Under this provision the Gateway requirements would not need to be met meaning a public interest test and soil and aquifer impact assessments could be avoided.

“This ‘exceptional circumstance’ provision is a get out of jail card for the Government to allow coal and gas development on our most productive agricultural land,” Mr Buckingham said.

“The mining and gas industry will be very happy with today’s announcement.  It is business as usual in NSW.

“The Government has left out some of our most important food growing areas from these land use plans. Coal seam gas exploration is slated for the Hawkesbury, Central Coast, Mid North and North Coasts where there is significant agricultural production.

“These plans fail the most basic tests. The State’s food growing areas remain at risk of mining.

“If the Government won’t act to protect agricultural land and the environment the community will be forced to take their own action. The Greens are behind the community in this campaign,” Mr Buckingham said.

Contact: Jeremy Buckingham on 9230 2202

There are similarities in this debate to the early days of the climate change movement where a loud but small minority of environmentalists shifted their support to nuclear energy as a way of dealing with greenhouse gas emissions. The nuclear path proved to be a dead end and coal seam gas is quickly heading in the same direction.

Mr Williams’ article reflects a techno-centric reductionist view of the unconventional gas industry. It is one that operates well on a white board, but across the wheat fields of the Moree Plains, around the edges of the Wollemi National Park and on the banks of the Manning River it is a disaster waiting to happen.

While being a Greens member, John Williams does not speak for the party on mining, gas or energy issues. Nor does his piece reflect the consensus view within the Greens that the climate, environmental, social and economic risks of coal seam gas are just too great.  The opportunity cost of not investing in renewable energy today is a massive debt that will be levied on future generations and one the Greens are committed not to leave.

Neither conventional natural gas nor the coal seam product will stabilise atmospheric CO2 concentrations as demanded by science to avoid dangerous climate change. Only a combination of renewables and energy efficiency can get the planet out of the trouble fossil fuels have landed it in.

Even if the problems of fugitive emissions in gas drilling could be solved, the best available gas to electricity technology still produces about half the CO2 compared to modern coal-fired power plant. The reality is that ongoing research into methane leakage from the coal seam gas production process continues to show that it and other unconventional gases could be as bad, if not worse than coal from a climate perspective.

If NSW invested the billions of dollars needed to retire its seven large coal-burning power stations and replace them with fossil gas-fired generators, the state’s electricity emissions would be cut from 60 million tonnes of CO2 a year to at best 25 million tonnes. Spending up big on half a solution like fossil gas is an economic and environmental dead end. The very best that can be claimed for coal seam and conventional gas is that the time until the onset of the chaos caused by global climate change could be doubled.

If Mr Williams and the advocates of gas are suggesting that expanding fossil gas production buys a breathing space, then they are ignoring the possibilities of existing renewable technologies such as solar thermal power stations and wind generation and the promising new entrants such as wave power and hot rock geothermal.

Despite the end use plans for NSW’s coal seam gas, the exploration and production process cannot be divorced from a full assessment of the appropriateness of this technology.

The coal seam gas industry has slighted the communities in which it plans to operate, has regularly failed to meet its licensing conditions and has proven to be negligent in managing its environmental risks.

One only needs to look at the dozen serious environmental incidents that have occurred in the Santos controlled Pilliga Forest coal seam gas operations since January 2010. Despite water spills and gas leaks having caused widespread tree deaths, no action is yet to be taken against the company. This is with only 35 odd pilot production wells in operation; even if only a small percentage of the 40,000 planned wells across the east coast of Australia go wrong, the consequences will be enormous.

Mr Williams contends that the engineering problems with coal seam gas mining can be resolved at a cost and if this cost is too high, the gas won’t be mined. In an ideal world all of the costs of mining gas would be factored in to planning, but as we have seen with coal mining before it, the climate, health, social and environmental costs are all too easily externalised and are inevitably borne by the community. A renewable energy transition will cost, but it is an investment in the future, not a half-baked solution that will leave a trail of destruction across the NSW landscape.

Australia’s economic future is not about drilling yet more sophisticated holes in the ground but about generating quality employment in the clean tech industries.

Jeremy Buckingham MLC, Greens NSW Spokesperson on Mining and John Kaye MLC, Greens NSW Spokesperson on Energy

Greens mining spokesperson, Jeremy Buckingham has called on the Australian Petroleum Production Exploration Association (APPEA) to release the research conducted by their lobbyist Crosby Textor in its entirety after APPEA selectively released only one question to the media.

“APPEA have been flogging a poll result to the media and on social media, but they have not released the entire set of polling questions.  Given the question the poll result was based upon was question number seven, what were the first six questions?” asked Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham.

“I’m concerned that the first six questions may have biased the poll.  Unless APPEA or Crosby Textor release the entire set of questions, this poll has no credibility.

“Given Crosby Textor have listed APPEA as a client on their lobbyist declaration (http://bit.ly/pXUXAb) , it’s no great surprise that a Crosby Textor poll has found some support for coal seam gas.

“If the first six questions were extolling the virtues of coal seam gas, then how can the seventh polling question be taken seriously?

“While the questions remain secret, the public perception will be that the results are potentially biased.  Either APPEA should release all the questions or they should stop citing this poll.”

A poll commissioned by the Greens and conducted by Galaxy Research found that 68% of Australians wanted a moratorium on coal seam gas and 70% wanted coal seam gas mining prohibited in cities and towns. http://bit.ly/uU0kKb

Contact: Max Phillips – 9230 2202  or  0419 444 916