(Contributed)
On 30th April a public meeting organised by
the Conservation Council of SA was held in Adelaide to disseminate information
about current and proposed coal seam gas fracking in the state. The meeting was
an initial call to action.
A panel of speakers included rural community
representatives from the eastern states, the Limestone Coast of SA, an
Indigenous Australian representative and a representative from Friends of the
Earth Australia.
As the easy to get at sources of gas become
depleted, rather than switching to renewable sources of energy, profit-hungry
corporations prefer instead to attempt to extract every last molecule of gas
from the harder to get to sources. The so-called unconventional gas exists deep
beneath the surface, trapped in layers of coal. The gas does not flow freely
and so intervention is required to release it. This involves drilling to depths
of the order of a kilometre, then drilling horizontally for quite a distance
into the coal seam. Sand and volatile BTEX (benzene,toluene
The trouble with this process is that many
thousands of these drill holes are required for the venture to be profitable.
Each hole disrupts the geological structure
beneath the surface and it is difficult to predict the effect of this over
time. Not even the companies know with certainty what the consequences will be.
One speaker had a slide of a map of the state
of Oklahoma showing the distribution of earthquakes prior to the commencement
of fracking, and there were a handful of dots on the map. The comparison map
for the period since the commencement of fracking was like a veritable pin
cushion. These are not minor tremors but earthquakes of magnitude 3 or greater.
Another unknown is what substances might be
released from these depths. Australia is one of the most uranium resource-rich
countries in the world and it is conceivable that harmful radioactive
substances could find their way into the aquifers and the surface as a
by-product of fracking. This is in addition to the BTEX and the methane.
The contamination of ground water by this
process has been well documented.
Once these drill holes have been finished
with, they are capped with cement using “world best practices”. However, the
cement deteriorates in an instant in geological terms – well within 25 years.
So we have the situation of continuous release of methane (a potent greenhouse
gas) and other damaging pollutants into the environment.
As Professor Irene Watson, an Indigenous
woman of the Tanganekald and Meintangk peoples said at the meeting, even
without the science, the first Australians have experience dating back for many
thousands of years about what practices are good for country and on this basis
have the moral authority to say no fracking.
The people of South Australia by and large
have no idea of the scale of the fracking being proposed for the state. It has
already started in the south east of the state in the region known as the
Limestone Coast. Landowners and farmers there are being affected even at this
early stage and have had a taste of what is to come.
The community has started to mobilise and an
organisation called The Limestone Coast Protection Alliance has been formed (go
to http://www.prote
Another not so well known fact is that coal
seam gas exploration has been happening in Australia for over a decade in some
parts. This has been most prominent in Queensland and more recently in NSW and
Victoria. As this expansion has taken place, so too has the community
resistance to it.
This resistance has understandably developed
in the rural areas of the country.
As one speaker from NSW said at the meeting,
as a farmer, before any of this started he had no involvement in anything
political nor did he have any desire to. However, once the exploration
companies became interested in his property they started to show their hand. He
was told one lie after another about the process and the so-called benefits. He
did his own investigating and was appalled at the long term damage that would
take place to the land, the water and our food security for the sake of short
term gain for a very few.
One benefit being touted is the royalties
that will be paid by the companies. Ostensibly the operating life of a coal
seam deposit is 20 years. However, there is an exemption from royalties for the
first 5 years. The fracking process is so violent that in fact most of the gas
will have been extracted within those first 5 years. As the above-mentioned
speaker said “more money will be raised from parking fines than royalties”.
Far from Australians benefiting from
unconventional gas, they will find the cost of gas will go up since the gas
will be sold on the world market at parity price.
He went on to say that appealing to the
government and the parliament made no difference.
There were many other similar stories
recounted at the meeting and overwhelmingly these ordinary people realised that
they were not being represented by parliament and that they had to take matters
into their own hands.
The community movement has been growing in
strength, employing new and very inventive and innovative tactics against the
big companies. This is exemplified by the Lock The Gate Alliance (go to
http://www.lockt
These are not left wing activists but in many
cases staunch National Party voters who have seen for themselves the
limitations inherent in the parliamentary system.
In the Gippsland region of Victoria a similar
situation has evolved and united community action has resulted in great
achievements such as the government begrudgingly putting into place a
moratorium on fracking.
A number of communities in Gippland have
declared themselves Coal and Coal Seam Gas Free, with support for this in
surveys ranging between 86% and 98%.
The fight is far from over but there is a
passion and determination to continue and intensify the fight. This is
something that the companies did not bargain for and are finding that divide
and rule tactics have been unsuccessful.
The strength of this movement lies in the
participation of people from all sections of society: primary producers,
traditional owners, conservationists
As the methods of struggle develop, these
will be valuable for those communities where coal seam gas exploration is
commencing, such as in South Australia.
In fact, the threat of fracking is global and
already the movement against it is taking on a global scale with Australian
based organisations linking with similar ones in other countries.
The film “Farmland not Gaslands” was also
screened as part of the meeting. It clearly conveys the risks of fracking and
describes the community movement against it in Gippsland. The film was produced
by a member of the community. Well worth seeing.
The film and the stories from the panel of
speakers were truly inspiring and demonstrate that ultimately the people under
the right conditions will take matters into their own hands and throw up their
own leaders.
The people united will never be defeated.
1 May 2015
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