Coal seam gas in NSW Australia, your voice but not your say.

COAL SEAM GAS & THE NEW DEMOCRACY

Firstly, let me be clear, I do appreciate living in a democratic country with human rights, a public health care and support system, and freedom of speech. We are all very lucky to be living here and not somewhere else like Yemen, The Sudan, or other impoverished and unstable areas of the world. But that doesn’t mean we have to tolerate having the wool pulled over our eyes by greedy purely profit focused foreign corporations, or the shady self interested politicians that allow them to do what they want.

Okay, so the N.S.W. state government has recently imposed a 60 day moratorium on new coal, petroleum and coal seam gas exploration licenses. What does this mean to us, the little people? If you think it means your going to have the opportunity to vote on whether or not CSG is going to get the go ahead in N.SW., it does not. It means that any new applications for CSG mining licences will be posted in local/state papers for comment by the general public, i.e. if you have concerns, you can raise them. Whether anyone will take any notice however is a different thing altogether. I suspect that this outcome has come about in large part to make the public feel they are being listened to, and by so doing taking away the momentum from those who are opposed to CSG.  This is the new democracy, give the little people their voice, let them have a little victory, then sneak in the back door and go do what you want anyway. This is what I call 'the new democracy'.

In the above paragraph you will note the underlined ‘new’ and 'exploration’. That's right folks, that means that licenses have already been approved, exploration for new natural gas fields in N.S.W. is still going ahead and so is the mining itself and the fracking that goes with it. So why would we take such enormous risks with the environment and water supply that sustains us for this substance? Do you recall the enormous trade agreement that  Australia made with China around 18 months ago to supply them with Liquid Natural Gas for the next 60 years? That's right, Coal seam Gas which is actually Methane is converted into LNG in a process known as liquefaction. This requires the use of condensers like the sort that were seen on 'Gasland' that spewed noxious gasses into the atmosphere (that can only be seen in infrared) including methane. If you listen to the gas and mining companies they will tell us that LNG produces far less green house gasses when it is used. This is true. What they are not telling us is the huge quantities of CO2  that are required to get CSG out of the ground, and then to a processing plant to be converted into LNG. Most of this is used to bring in and then dispose of the water used in the process of extraction from the well (millions of litres per well). This requires big heavy trucks which will be using our already eroded pot holed roads to get in and out of sites, carrying full tanker loads of toxic water, terrific, just what we need. Will the mining companies be making large contributions to our councils for the upgrading and upkeep of our roads for their purposes, I doubt it, besides, this would mean the burning of even more fossil fuels! In the meantime, in times of drought, us little people will still be penalised if we wash our car or water our garden with a hosepipe! What a sham!! All of this at a time when World Economic Forum has told us that there will be a global water crisis within the next 20 years! Even our own water authority 'Rouse water' have expressed major concerns about the threat CSG poses to our water supply and is totally opposed to CSG mining in this area. But don't worry folks, we can rest easy in the knowledge that we are at least destroying our own environment so that China can continue to grow in size and economy unchecked. And all the while the mining industries corporate fat cats will lie directly to our faces and tell us that ‘there is no evidence’ to suggest that CSG mining is harmful to our air, water, and land. Would you believe them, or our own water authority?

Most of you will be aware that the same laws regarding property ownership that apply over there in the U.S. also applies here. That is, the only part of a property that you own is that on its immediate surface, your house, crops, garden, shed or barn etc. Anything above or below that is owned by the state, and you are breaking the law if you do not give access to the state or its 'licensed agents' to extract whatever it wants from beneath or above your property. As for regulation that is designed to protect parts of our environment or drinking water, our always highly dependable and accountable state and federal politicians can grant exemptions or create loopholes. Then there is the money. A mining company that wants to extract something it knows is below your property will offer you cash incentives or compensation for the inconvenience of putting a drilling well and the access roads to it on your property. This money offered by the mining company can be quite significant to an individual, but to the mining company does not even amount to a drop of their financial resources. Is it a coincidence that these licenses have been up for grabs during the fall out of the GFC? Maybe, maybe not. In 50 days when the moratorium has been held and the freeze on the licenses is over, will regional Australian land holders be in a better financial position and be more able to resist the cash carrot dangled by the mining companies? I think not. Where greed can not be incited, need can be. This may all be starting to sound a little cynical to the optimists amongst you, but history has proved time and time again that there is no bottom to the dark depth the human soul can reach in pursuit of money and power. Would a foreign corporation risk poisoning the water supply of the locals and destroying there environment (in fact even their own environment) for extra points on the share index, another billion added to their annual profit, another sports car in their garage, an honorary title and a place on the senate, you bet they would!! The rules of the modern corporate world are this; reduce cost and increase output. Caring for the environment and those who live on it and rely on it for their living does not fit well with this ethos.

And if it does all go wrong who would be held accountable? These types of issues would probably take tens of years to occur and to be proven as the fault of the mining. Think James Hardie and asbestos. All they did when the proverbial hit the fan was relocate to the Netherlands,  They had produced Asbestos 'fibro' for over 40 years. They are still listed  on the Australian Stock Exchange and still in business. Think Tony Hayward with the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill, what happened to him, got to retire on a multi million dollar salary that's what. Any politicians that had smoothed the way for the mining and gas companies would be long since retired or dead.

Sorry to tell you folks, but with such a large commitment to China from all of Australia to supply it with LNG for such a long period of time, this thing is going to go ahead, and is going ahead, whether you like it or not. Unlike those affected in the US on the ‘Gas land’ documentary however, we in Australia, thanks to the movie, have the benefit of hind sight. The trouble for our American brothers is that they never thought these mining corporations could be so careless, so they could only get an ‘after’ picture. My advice to anyone who is like me, troubled by the threat caused to our water and environment, needs to get out there and take as many water samples, photos, video recordings of any environment you feel may be threatened by this industry as you can. Make sure all samples are labelled with the date and location you took them from and stored in clean sealed glass jars, all photos and videos date recorded and digitally filed. Most important is the recording of your own health status before the mining procedures take place. I would highly recommend that anyone who is going to have a CSG well on their property get a full medical, so if the worse does occur, you can at least prove it was not pre-existing. This would only take a small portion of the 'compensation' money offered to you by the mining companies to have access to your land. This will give a very accurate ‘before’ picture which can prove damage done, so if these foreign and local mining companies get it wrong, we can prove it and hit them where it hurts them the most - the bank account and the share index. And never sign a disclosure statement with these Jackals!