Gippsland or Gasland?
A presentation on Coal Seam Gas for
‘Lock the Gate Gippsland’
compiled by Dr Chris James. 2012.
COAL SEAM GAS
THE BIGGEST LAND GRAB
SINCE COLONISATION!
With 40% of Victoria and 80% of
Gippsland under mining licence,
How will it affect you?
WHAT IS COAL SEAM GAS?
How is it extracted?
• CSG is extracted through wells drilled into coal seams.
• All unconventional gas resources like CSG require
water to be removed from the relevant aquifer
and/or the use of stimulation to unlock the gas and
allow it to flow to the surface. Stimulation can be
done by processes called hydraulic fracturing, or
FRACKING which involves creating cracks in the coal
seams to increase the gas flow [DPI].
WHAT HAPPENS TO THE WATER?
• When CSG comes to the surface, water in the gas is
separated.
• The water is then treated…before it is injected back
into underground water systems. Sometimes it is
used for other purposes such as irrigating crops,
watering livestock or for commercial use[DPI].
• Is it safe? we don’t know because nobody has
actually measured how much poisonous methane
leaks from Australian coal seam gas wells. [Greens Org.
greens.org.au/.../department-unable-explain-how-emissions-coal-sea...
14th Feb 2012].
Coal Seam Gas is the greatest threat
to land, life and well being Australia
has ever experienced.
THIS IS WHAT A GASFIELD LOOKS LIKE.
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WHAT THE GAS COMPANIES DON’T
WANT YOU TO KNOW…
• Gas exploration starts with one or two wells. Once there
is full production there are many more wells and you
will lose control of your property.
• Drilling can range from 300m to 1,200; it can go as low
as 2,500m below the deep water aquifers.
• Gas mining uses 300 gig litres of groundwater a year, the
equivalent of 1 billion litres, that’s 500 Olympic size
swimming pools.
Will this impact on water supplies? Yes it will!
HOW SAFE IS CSG?.YOU BE THE JUDGE.
• QLD. KINGAROY: a toxic scare caused bans on cattle sales
after the Cougar Energy plant shutdown. Courier Mail
July 21, 2010.
• NSW: Arsenic and lead were found in contaminated water
leaking at a coal seam gas drill site. SMH February 10, 2012
• QLD: coal seam gas (CSG) is bubbling to the surface along a
five-kilometre stretch of the Condamine River in Queensland.
The Australian May 30th 2012.
• QLD: There have been more nose bleeds, vomiting and
rashes among people near the Tara gas wells. Weekly Times 5th
July 2012.
This is just a small sample of the problems.
WHAT ELSE SHOULD YOU KNOW
ABOUT CSG?
• Gas mining produces 3 million tons of salt, a pile
10metres high and 11 kilometres long for an
estimated 7,000 wells. There could be as many as
40,000 wells or more across any one state.
• Contaminated water raised is stored in holding
ponds despite potential flooding and overflow
[Northern Rivers Video,2012].
• Will salt and contaminated water spill onto
your land? Very likely!
AND THERE IS MORE…
• Once a well is drilled through the aquifer the
aquifer is connected to the coal seam with only the
well casting and cement to separate them
[www.edo.org.au].
• 50% of wells in Queensland are believed to be
leaking [www.lockthegate.org].
WARNING!!!!
• There are no limits on water for mining companies.
• There are no limits on land to be cleared.
AND MORE…
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If you live in a small community you could have a drilling
operation 100m from your house. Why should this
concern you?
Drilling is a 24 hour flood lit operation.
There is noise
Dust
Traffic
Smell
Combustion.
Health and safety Issues.
Insufficient emergency services.
IS ‘FRACKING’ OR THE PRESSURISED
SPLITTING OF ROCKS FOR GAS
DANGEROUS?
• Hydraulic ‘fracking’ causes micro-seismic events or
earthquakes. It is the open pathways that allow the
gas to escape. When fractures interfere with fault
lines it can also cause gas and fluids to migrate
across other geologic areas causing pollution to
groundwater, land shifts and subsidence.
• How do mining companies calculate the risks?
• We don’t know because mining companies will not
disclose.
ARE CHEMICALS USED IN FRACKING
CARCENOGENIC AND DANGEROUS?
Here are some of the chemicals used in fracking!
Propanol Complexor; Butoxyethanol; Acetic Acid; Acrylic
copolymer Lubricant; Ammonium persulfate; Boric Acid; Boric
Oxide; Carbonic acid; Carboxy-Methyl Hydroxy-Propyl Guar
Gelling agent; Crystalline silica (cristobalite) Proppant;
Crystalline silica (quartz) Proppant; Citric Acid; Diammonium
Peroxidisulphate; Disodium Octaborate Tetrahydrate Gelling
agent; Gas oils (petroleum); Fumaric acid; Gelatine;
Hemicellulase Enzyme; Hydrochloric Acid; Hydroxy-Ethyl
Cellulose Gelling agent; Hydroxy-Propyl Guar Gelling agent;
Magnesium silicate hydrate; Methanol fuel; ethanol. [APPEA]
Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association.
Many of these chemical WILL put your health at risk.
THESE ARE THE CHEMICALS ANTICIPATED FOR USE IN
GIPPSLAND: WOULD YOU PUT THESE CHEMICALS IN
YOUR DRINKING WATER?
Mono Amine Gelling; Ethylene Glycol Monobutyl Ether Mutual
solvent; Muriatic Acid; Non-crystalline silica Proppant; Poly (oxy1,2-ethanediyl) Proppant; Polydimethyldiallylammonium chloride
[Used in waste water treatment]; Potassium Carbonate;
Potassium Chloride [Clay inhibitor]; Quaternary Polyamines;
Sodium Acetate; Sodium Borate; Sodium Bicarbonate; Sodium
Carbonate (Soda Ash); Sodium Chloride; Sodium Hydroxide;
Sodium Hypochlorite with/without Sodium Hydroxide Antiseptic;
Sodium Persulfate ; Terpenes/terpenoids/sweet orange oil;
• Tetrakis (hydroxymethyl) Phosphonium Sulfate Antiseptic.
• Tetramethyl ammonium chloride Clay control .
• Zirconium complex. [APPEA] Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration
Association.
Would you want to risk the health of your
family, especially your children?
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These are the risks:
Increased asthma
Difficulty breathing
Nose bleeds
Skin burns
Skin rashes
Sore eyes
Insomnia
Photo: www.couriermail.com
DO YOU WANT HEAVY TRUCKING ACROSS
YOUR LAND?
• For a single horizontal well fracturing requiring 5
million gallons of fresh water expect 100 truck loads
of fresh water trucked across your land.
• Then another 700 truckloads of toxic waste could
be exported in vehicles across your land [edo.org.au].
• Will this change your daily routine? Very likely.
• Will this impact of stock and cropping? Very likely.
WHO IS LIABLE FOR THE
DAMAGE AND COSTS?
• It is unlikely a mining company will buy
your land because that makes them
liable for any damage. You are liable!
• You also have a duty of care to your neighbours.
• Your neighbours can sue you if you fail in your
duty of care.
• Are mining companies responsible?
Many hundreds of incidents across the world
tell us mining companies put profits before
people. Here are just two examples:
Abandoned Woodside-Lakes Oil well head from
the 1950s, believed to be still leaking.
AGL bore adjacent to the vineyard village of
Broke showing significant subsidence. 2012
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CAN COAL SEAM GAS CAUSE
EARTHQUAKES?
• The extraction of groundwater can alter local underground stress fields, risking
subsidence or other seismic events. Fracking has been directly implicated in
geological effects such as earthquakes:
• In October 2011 the BGS confirmed that earthquakes in Britain were a direct
result of drilling and fracking by Cuadrilla Resources.
• The Arkansas Geological Survey (AGS) and the Centre of Seismographic
Information and Research at the University of Memphis conducted a study of the
thousands of earthquakes that occurred in Faulkner County in Arkansas, United
States, over the course of over a year. On February 27th, 2011, the area was hit
with a 4.7 magnitude earthquake...AGS concluded that … there is ‘strong
temporal and spatial evidence for a relationship between these quakes and the
injection wells’. Seismic activity has almost ceased since the fracking stopped.
stop-csg-illawarra.org/csg-risks/seismic-activityity
HOW MUCH MINING IS TOO MUCH?
Gippsland has a history of mining going back to the
1950s. There has already been an extensive burden
on groundwater as well as coastal subsidence.
98% of the value has already been removed from
some coastal homes.
More than half the rural properties with or near gas
mines go up for sale unsuccessfully.
NO ONE WANTS A FARM WITH OR NEAR A GAS
MINE!
EARTHQUAKE RISKS: GIPPSLAND’S MAJOR
FAULT SYSTEM:[ASP] 2009.
Seismic Data and current well distribution
[ASP] Australian School of Petroleum 2009.
Shallow Seismic Activity.
WHAT DO THESE MAPS TELL US?
Clearly, any more stress on an already sinking coast
line will put homes and lives at risk; but in
assessing the risk the Minerals Council of Australia
[Victorian
Branch]
in its Vision 2020
WHAT
DOES
THIS2009,
MEAN?
document noted that the population is small and
aging and governments should discourage further
development. The ‘further development’ did not
include the mining companies.
WAIT A MINUTE! DON’T WE NEED TO
CUT CO2 EMISSIONS?
• There is nothing ‘natural’ about natural gas, it’s a
fossil fuel and not renewable. The pollution emitted
from methane gas is far more dangerous than CO2.
• The only way to lower energy emissions is to turn to
RENEWABLE ENERGY.
• The Australian Government cut back renewable energy
funding by over $500 million…the renamed Emerging
Renewables Program (supposedly $100 million) gets
only a total of $2 million over four years, and the
Venture Capital Fund allocations will be finalised - wait
for it - by 2024 www.novamagazine.com.au/article.../2011-07renewable-realities.ht...
IN THE MEANTIME…WHAT ARE THE RISKS
OF CSG MINING?
Financial ruin
Pollution
Poisoned water
Loss of soil, land and food
Sickness
Stress
Loss of community
Despair, suicide.
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT.
January 25, 2007 "Mud Volcano" in Indonesia Caused by Gas
Exploration, [Richard A. Lovett National Geographic News].
• Gas drilling on the Indonesian island of Java triggered a "mud
volcano" that killed 13 people and has rendered four square miles
(ten square kilometers) of countryside uninhabitable for years.
• A report released by a team of British researchers said the deadly
upwelling began when an exploratory gas well punched through a
layer of rock 9,300 feet (2,800 meters) below the surface, allowing
hot, high-pressure water to escape.
IF YOU THINK MINING WON’T AFFECT
YOU, THINK AGAIN!
Coal Mining Causing Earthquakes
[Richard A. Lovett National
Geographic News].
• The most damaging earthquake in Australia's history
was caused by humans...
• The magnitude-5.6 quake that struck Newcastle in New
South Wales on December 28th, 1989, killed 13 people,
injured 160, and caused 3.5 billion U.S. dollars worth of
damage.
• That quake was triggered by changes in tectonic forces
caused by years of underground coal mining, according
to a study by Christian D. Klose of Columbia University's
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New
York. Could it happen again? Yes it could!
MINE NOW, PAY LATER!
ALMOST ALL THE WORLD’S OIL AND GAS
IS USED BY THE MILITARY…
The military uses more fuel than any other
institution. Wars require oil and gas and the need
for oil and gas causes wars.
As one of the largest fuel producing nations
Australia WILL become a target for terrorism.
____________________________________________
SAY ‘NO’ TO COAL SEAM GAS AND CONTROL BY
MULTINATIONALS.
SAY ‘YES’ TO RENEWABLES AND LOCAL JOBS.
THE TIME IS UP!
NO MORE FOSSIL FUELS.
We live on one of the driest continents on earth.
Don’t risk our water.
We are a food producing nation.
Don’t risk our food security.
Australia is not renowned for seismic activity.
Don’t induce subsidence and earthquakes.
Autralians are a peace loving population.
Don’t put Australia at risk of terrorism.
LOCK THE GATE
Gippslanders meet to 'lock the gate' on coalseam-gas
www.abc.net.au
Gippslanders meet to 'lock the gate' on coal-seam-gas
www.abc.net.au
Contacts and Credits:
ABC http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2012/07/04/3538450.htm?site=gippsland
The Australian http://www.theaustralian.com.au
Australian Greens.Org http://www.greens.org.au
Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association. [APPEA ] www.appea.com.au
Australian School of Petroleum www.asp.adelaide.edu.au
Brisbane Courier Mail: www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland
Environment Defenders Office http://www.edovic.org.au
Sydney Morning Herald www.smh.com.au
Weekly Times www.weeklytimesnow.com.au
Hunter Valley Protection Alliance: http://www.huntervalleyprotectionalliance.com/
Lock the Gate Queensland and NSW: http://www.lockthegate.org.au
Lock the Gate Gippsland: http://www.lockthegategippsland.com
Minerals Council of Australia Vision 2020, 2009 http://www.minerals.org.au
National Geographic. www.nationalgeographic.com/
Northern Rivers Video; Lock the Gate Queensland.[Available at Lock the Gate].
Nova Magazine www.novamagazine.com.au/article.../2011-07-renewable-realities.ht...
Quit Coal: http://www.quitcoal.org.au/fracking-in-victoria
The Australian Gov. Department of Primary Industries: http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/
Stop CSG Illawarra http://www.stop-csg-illawarra.org/csg-risks/seismic-activityity
Compiled by Dr Chris James www.doctorchrisjames.com Email:
doctorchrisjames@bigpond.com