Fracking-- just when you get your head around one environmental disaster. . .

[Pakanohida]

ACTIVISM does not sit easily with some of the women of country NSW.
But the conservative Country Women's Association is steeling itself against the prospect of rubbing shoulders with ''greenies'' and preparing to march on the streets of Sydney to voice its concerns about mining and exploration around farms and rural villages.

''For the CWA to have a march on Parliament House, it's got to be something that we care about,'' said Sue Nicholls, 66, a resident of Gulgong, north of Mudgee.

The local CWA branch, with 19 members the youngest in their 40s, received the message from head office last month: country women would break with 90 years of tradition and join farmers, environmentalists, horse breeders and wine growers at the May 1 rally against the government's rural land use policy.




Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politi...#ixzz1sdQPJfZW

./clap

YOU GO GIRLS!

[eco4560]

At least you can count on a really good cuppa and something to go with it when you go protesting with the CWA crowd.

[Michaelangelica]

Who owns coal seam gas in New South Wales (and who can stop it being mined)?
http://theconversation.edu.au/who-ow...ing-mined-6969
The difficulty with coal seam gas is that, arguably, it isn’t a mineral under section 4 of Mining Act 1992 (NSW). This means that coal seam gas is not a mineral which has been reserved by the Crown and therefore, in New South Wales, ownership of coal seam gas remains with the landowner. There are a number of reasons why this position may be argued.

. . . .
This argument has been supported by cases in the United States. In Carbon County v. Union Reserve Coal Co, the Montana Supreme Court overturned an earlier decision and concluded that coalbed methane gas “is separate from coal and is not a constituent part of the coal estate".

[ecodharmamark]

Meanwhile, down in Victoria, we don't have to worry about trying to define the stuff. For us, its just known as 'brown coal', and we have millions of tonnes (worth billions of dollars) of it, all just waiting to be ripped out of the ground...

ABC TV (15/05/12) Brown promises allure of gold in new coal economy

And if the Australian Federal Government has its way, looks like we'll not be the only state to have some new, big holes in the ground (and under the sea) opened up. Never before have I seen so much 'resource industry activity', in so little time...

Geoscience Australia (14/05/12) Australian Gas Resource Assessment 2012

Geoscience Australia (14/05/12) 2012 offshore acreage release and updated gas resource figures

Geoscience Australia (15/05/12) Exploring Australia's onshore petroleum potential

Australia: Beautiful one day, a f$%&ing great hole in the Earth the next...

[Michaelangelica]

Now they're just outright lying
Reply-To: info@getup.org.au

-- Have you seen the coal seam gas (CSG) industry's latest advertising campaign? The CSIRO's slammed it for misusing their research to claim CSG is safe for Australia's precious water and aquifers. Send the CSG spin doctors a message now demanding they publicly commit to ending their campaign of lies: http://www.getup.org.au/stop-csg-lies --

CSIRO clearly stated: "At no time has CSIRO made such a statement, and nor do the results of CSIRO research support such a statement. CSIRO has stated on the public record that coal seam gas extraction is likely to pose a ‘low risk’ to groundwater quality through contamination."

[Lesley W]

To get the Advertising pulled we just could also complain to the Australian Advertising Standards Bureau. It only takes one complaint, that they uphold, to get a tv commercial pulled, however the more complaints the more quickly they'll consider it http://www.adstandards.com.au/process/theprocesssteps

ps. The sky is pink! This update from the creator of Gaslands includes specific stats on problems with concrete casing breaks in current and so-called decommissioned CSG wells.

https://vimeo.com/44367635

[Michaelangelica]

https://www.facebook.com/events/4277...4240606613802/
A major protest and concert at Murwillumbah to kick off the Lock the Gate Alliance "National Week of Action" against coal and coal seam gas in the Northern Rivers. Come and join with other Northern Rivers residents to send a strong, clear message to local, state and federal governments that the Northern Rivers Community says "Lock the Gate" to coal and coal seam gas.

Gates open at 9.30am for a 10am start. March through the Murwillumbah CBD from 12 noon.

Concert starts at 1pm back at the Showgrounds.

[Michaelangelica]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=Di8cCrlyW6k
Vast amounts of methane appear to be leaking undetected from Australia's biggest coal seam gas field, according to world-first research that undercuts claims by the gas industry.
Testing inside the Tara gas field, near Condamine on Queensland's Western Downs, found some greenhouse gas levels over three times higher than nearby districts, according to the study by researchers at Southern Cross University.

The researchers drove back and forth on public roads through the gas fields at Tara, taking measurements every second via a cavity ring down spectrometer - the only instrument of its type in Australia. It enabled them to take thousands of real-time readings of several gases in the air, and accurately pinpoint them with a global positioning system.

The study has potential national consequences because last week's energy white paper forecast a massive expansion of Australian coal seam gas drilling, and called for environmental objections to be removed to make large-scale gas extraction easier

Methane, carbon dioxide and other gases appear to be leaking up through the soil and bubbling up through rivers at an astonishing rate, the researchers said.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/cl...#ixzz2CVPJbhCS

[Michaelangelica]

AUSTRALIA'S coal seam gas industry could face future carbon tax liabilities of up to $4 billion a year if ''fugitive'' emissions of methane from unconventional gas production turn out to be substantially higher than expected.
Three huge coal seam gas-to-LNG projects worth $60 billion are under construction in Queensland by BG Group, Origin Energy and Santos. Both BG and Santos have had multibillion-dollar cost blowouts this year. Investors are nervous about costs, execution and rates of return on these LNG projects.
On Sunday, federal Energy Minister Martin Ferguson told the ABC that news last week of a potential $20 billion cost blowout at Chevron's Gorgon project in Western Australia was ''not good in terms of attracting further investment''.
The federal government calculates carbon tax liability for conventional and unconventional gas alike, using estimates that just 0.12 per cent of the produced gas escapes to the atmosphere.
Advertisement
But recent studies of unconventional gasfields in the US and Australia suggest emissions could be 4 per cent or higher.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/coal-...#ixzz2CeBkgU9i

[Michaelangelica]

GAS will be mined from directly underneath Campbelltown Hospital under plans being considered for approval by the state government.
The mayor of Campbelltown, Sue Dobson, said people would ''stand and fight'' a proposal by gas company AGL to extract coal seam gas from underneath key infrastructure and thousands of homes. Opponents to coal seam gas say drilling leads to the environmental hazard of gases escaping to the surface and polluting water courses. The gas industry says the process is proven and safe.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/hospitals-...#ixzz2GUV7Q82t