Coal news and updates

Coal seam gas mining will not bring down the gas price in Australia according to a report which also found there has not been enough research into the impact of fracking on people’s health.

 

The progressive thinktank the Australia Institute (TAI) has released a report, Fracking the Future, on what it calls the “myths” surrounding the coal seam gas (CSG) industry.

 

It found the gas price was likely to increase with the expansion of fracking in Australia and the economic benefits, including the number of people employed by the gas industry, were overstated.

 

About half of the people surveyed by TAI want more government regulation of the industry and 71% think it should be regulated by the federal government, according to a survey done in conjunction with the report.

 

The No 1 concern of the average person was fracking chemicals and contamination of aquifers, but TAI found the the biggest risk to human health was from wastewater.

 

Wastewater is water extracted from the coal seam that has returned to the surface and contains fracking and drilling chemicals among other materials.

 

It can be stored in ponds but leaks and spills can occur and there are concerns this can contaminate drinking water.

 

“The industry has failed to engage with the public’s concerns about the environmental and health impacts of CSG,” the report found.

 

“The impacts CSG could have on farming land, water and human health are serious and require further research. Before CSG can be considered safe, further research needs to be done into the impact of fracking fluids, aquifer contamination and wastewater.”

 

Until these areas have been addressed, CSG production should be approached with great caution, the report concluded.

 

The report, which is to be launched by former independent Tony Windsor at parliament on Tuesday, also argued CSG mining would not bring down the gas price in Australia despite it increasing supply in the domestic market.

 

Australian gas prices are presently quarantined within the domestic market but CSG mining will mean Australia will begin exporting and have the price determined by foreign markets, which are more expensive.

 

“The increase in supply will only reduce the price Australians pay if it lowers the world price, which is unlikely,” the report said.

 

The report also examined claims CSG mining was economically beneficial and better for the environment than other types of mining, both of which were rejected.

 

“While the gas industry is relentless in its claims about job creation, the simple fact is that it is a relatively small employer,” the report said.

 

“It commissions modelling, has dedicated websites and runs national multimillion-dollar advertising campaigns that are designed to exaggerate its employment numbers, but the objective data does not reflect the industry’s claims.”

 

The report said the industry claimed in 2012 that it had created 100,000 jobs but according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics about 170,000 jobs were created in total for that year and of those 9,372 were in the oil and gas industry.

 

TAI said the gas industry had been “prolific” in putting out exaggerated claims about CSG’s economic benefits while at the same time staying almost completely silent on the health and environmental risks.

 

“While the CSG industry will provide some economic benefit, that economic benefit will be far smaller than the industry has led the general public to believe,” TAI said.

 

“The industry is a relatively small employer, a significant portion of the economic benefit goes to the majority overseas owners and there are uncomfortable questions over whether CSG can act as a transition fuel. The industry has also been unwilling to discuss the negative economic consequences that will be created by an expansion of CSG.”

 

 

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/