Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Gas field shows major leak

Vanguard December 2012 p. 2
by Jim H.
According to the report of a study by researchers at Southern Cross University, testing inside the Tara gas field, near Condamine on Queensland's Western Downs, found some greenhouse gas levels over three times higher than nearby districts.
This concerns Australia's biggest coal seam gas field, where vast amounts of methane carbon dioxide and other gases appear to be leaking through the soil and bubbling up through rivers.
Contrary claims made by the gas industry, led by the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association are undercut with this revelation.
The study has potential national consequences. A recent energy white paper in Canberra, forecast a massive expansion of Australian coal seam gas drilling, and called for environmental objections to be removed to make large-scale gas extraction easier.
In NSW, the Planning Assessment Commission is currently considering a proposal by AGL to drill 66 new coal seam gas wells in western Sydney. "The concentrations here are higher than any measured in gas fields anywhere else that I can think of, including in Russia," said Damien Maher, a biochemist who helped conduct the tests. "The extent of these enriched concentrations is significant."
The coal seam gas industry has previously maintained that gas leakage in Australia is "negligible", and the default assumption has been that about 0.12% of gas leaks out of wells during production. Uncontrolled leaks up through rock fissures and soil, of the type measured by the Southern Cross University team, were assumed to be nil, and are unaccounted for under the federal emissions trading scheme.
The results of the study back up the position of people who have been battling coal seam fracking, who have all along held that the evidence available shows significant cracking of the rock structure, leakages and changing of the soil.  
All projects for new fields must be stopped and fields in operation closed down, so long as they continue to pose a threat to land and people.


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