From the The ABC comes news of a new report by the New South Wales Chief Scientist warning of potential deleterious impacts from coal seam gas (CSG) extraction near Sydney’s water catchment, arguing that fracking should be banned if “the risk to human health can’t be known with a high degree of certainty”:
The government placed a moratorium on coal seam gas activity in the catchment area pending the release of the Chief Scientist’s report, which was handed to the government on Friday night.
Chief Scientist Professor Mary O’Kane says there should also be strict controls on how companies manage produced water, which contains high level of salinity and other harmful chemicals.”We’ve also suggested that in water quality that extra precautions be taken and that produced water if any CSG activity were to take place should be treated specially and not just put into the general catchment water,” she said.
In my view, the New South Wales Chief Scientist’s caution on CSG is warranted in light of the environmental risks posed by the extraction process.
Extracting shale gas or CGS requires hydraulic fracking, which essentially involves drilling and inserting a pipe deep into the ground and then pumping millions of litres of high pressure water and ‘fracking fluid’ into the shale rock or coal seam, causing it to fracture and releasing stored natural gas where it is then captured for energy production (see below image).
While natural gas is a relatively clean burning fuel, the process of fracking is highly controversial as it risks contaminating nearby water tables with both methane and fracking fluid, which is known to contain a number of carcinogens.
The risks posed by fracking were exposed in the US documentary Gasland, which documents in great detail communities in the US that have been adversely impacted by natural gas drilling and, specifically, hydraulic fracking. The film shows the destruction of many US farming communities via poisoning of drinking water and the natural environment, often leading to severe health problems for its citizens (watch key extracts here and here).
In a similar vein, a report aired last year on 60 Minutes showed several examples of gas leakages from wells and possible poisoning of ground water in Queensland. Queensland’s Mines Minister, Stephen Robertson, was also shown having absolutely no idea about the chemicals being pumped into the ground in the process of mining CSG, instead relying on industry assurances.
Again, given the big question marks over the safety of fracking in the US, as well as the risks posed to ground water stored in Australia’s Artesian Basin and the agricultural industry more generally, the New South Wales Government is right to ignore industry lobbying and proceed with caution on CSG.
