About 100 people attended a Coal Seam Gas Question and Answer Forum at Johns River on Saturday December, 10. By the end of the Forum, the Coal Seam Gas industry received an overwhelming vote of no confidence from the audience.
Apparently, the aim of the forum was to close the gap between “the lack of factual information circulating around the communities and the claims being made by the anti-coal seam gas groups”.
But right from the start, the forum felt more like a platform for the Coal Seam Gas Industry and not a fair and balanced presentation of facts. Consequently, the audience became emotional and vocalised their disappointment.
Despite the eight panellists, the forum relied largely on the views of two people: one politician and one scientist. Leslie Williams, the National Party member, said that coal seam gas mining would go ahead regardless of community protests and regardless of any new safety findings. This did not go down well.
The only scientist on the panel, Dr Gary Ellem, said that although the Coal Seam Gas Industry faced some unsolved problems, such as how to dispose of the massive amounts of salt and waste products, he said that it was the cleanest option we had. He claimed that renewable energy was insufficient to meet Australia’s baseload energy needs.
Ellem’s view is not shared by everyone in the science world. The independent organisation, Beyond Zero Emissions, has collected evidence from hundreds of scientists around the world and claims renewable energy technology, as it exists today, makes it possible to meet Australia’s entire energy needs within 10 years. And that includes baseload energy. (www.beyondzeroemissions.org)
The other view being touted is that coal seam gas is clean and green and gives off less carbon emissions than coal. Scientifically, there’s no conclusive evidence to support this. When the entire extraction and processing methods are taken into account, some now claim that coal seam gas mining creates a bigger carbon footprint than coal mining.
Despite the rhetoric about safety concerns, the government seems more interested in plundering our resources and selling them off as quickly as possible. Given that the coal seam gas isn’t going anywhere, they are in an awful rush. One can only conclude the frenzy is about extracting it before the Carbon Tax comes in and cashing in on the Chinese boom.
To counteract the growing opposition to coal seam gas, the proponents are holding forums and hearings, presenting their scientists, and trying to allay community fears with important-sounding legislation like the NSW Aquifer Interference Policy.
These policies make politicians appear responsible and concerned. But policies are useless when they are not adequately policed, when the deterrents are flimsy, and the environment is accidentally wrecked in the process.
The forum ignored the fact that this is supposed to be a democracy and people are saying “no” to coal seam gas mining. Many people don’t want their taxes spent on infrastructure that props up another branch of a polluting petroleum industry.
They want to transform Australia from a 19th century fossil fuel based economy to a 21st century renewable-powered economy. Australia does not need coal seam gas. The technology already exists to run the country with 100 per cent renewable energy. All that’s lacking is political will and long term vision.
Michelle Lopert,
Kendall
