Fracking-- just when you get your head around one environmental disaster. . .

https://www.theage.com.au/business/fracking-caused-quakes-20120417-1x5kp.html
"Fracking 'caused quakes'

Despite the findings of the British report, Cuadrilla Resources is likely to be given the green light to resume the practice provided it meets a set of stringent recommendations. Photo: Dean Kozanic
A BRITISH government report has bolstered claims that an Australian-linked company caused earthquakes in Britain through its use of controversial fracking technology.

The report, by the British Department of Energy and Climate Change, found hydraulic fracturing caused 50 seismic events reported near Blackpool in April and May last year.

The findings reinforce an initial scientific review last year and come after US authorities last week reported a trend for increased seismic activity in areas where fracking was used.


But despite the findings of the British report, Cuadrilla Resources - which is 41 per cent owned by Australian driller AJ Lucas - is likely to be given the green light to resume the practice provided it meets a set of stringent recommendations.

The report's authors urged a ''cautious continuation'' of fracking at the site, but disputed the findings of initial reports commissioned by Cuadrilla that the probability of further earthquakes was ''low''.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, involves pumping high pressure fluids into underground rocks to release natural gas.

Cuadrilla chief executive Mark Miller said the company had already begun implementing some of the recommendations.

A final decision on the resumption will be made by the British government after a six-week public consultation period, which began yesterday."

 

"Fracking link to US earth shakes
A STEEP rise in earthquakes across the central US is likely to be man-made, according to new research into the controversial gas extraction method known as fracking.
Investigating a sixfold increase in earthquakes, scientists from the US Geological Survey found that increases in seismic activity were particularly common in regions where waste water from fracking was injected into deep wells.
The research follows similar findings in Britain last year, where experts found it ''highly probable'' that fracking was the cause of 50 seismic events near Blackpool.
The findings will further complicate the efforts of Australian companies such as Santos and AGL to put a positive spin on local fracking operations, and are particularly relevant to BHP Billiton, which runs fracking operations in US states investigated by the scientists.
After a 30-year period where the central US averaged 21 seismic events above three on the Richter scale each year, scientists found the number had jumped to 50 in 2009, 87 in 2010 and 134 in 2011.
The full report will be released later this month, but David Hayes from the US Department of the Interior confirmed the scientists had found a correlation.
''USGS' studies do not suggest that hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as 'fracking,' causes the increased rate of earthquakes. USGS' scientists have found, however, that at some locations the increase in seismicity coincides with the injection of waste water in deep disposal wells,'' he said. ''Our scientists cite a series of examples for which an uptick in seismic activity is observed in areas where the disposal of waste water through deep-well injection increased significantly. These areas tend to be in the middle of the country - mostly in Colorado, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Ohio.''
BHP has shale assets in Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana, thanks to last year's $US20 billion raid on Petrohawk Energy and Chesapeake Energy, and the link between fracking and seismic activity is not news to the company.
Speaking in November, BHP petroleum chief Mike Yeager said - while not conclusive - there did appear to be instances where seismic activity had been exacerbated by water disposal linked to fracking.
''These are small minor quakes and they're taking place very, very deep down in the earth but nonetheless we did have this happen near two of the wells that we acquired from Chesapeake in Arkansas, so we've voluntarily closed those wells in and plugged them out and got out of there,'' he said.
''That's the type of company we are. If we have something like this that is thought to be a problem, we're going to take care of it and move on.''
The type of shale fracking undertaken by BHP occurs deeper than the coal seam fracking that has recently emerged in Australia.
BHP has previously painted shale as the less environmentally contentious type of fracking as it typically takes place far below underground water aquifers."

https://www.theage.com.au/business/fracking-link-to-us-earth-shakes-20120413-1wz0c.html


Read more: https://www.theage.com.au/business/...arth-shakes-20120413-1wz0c.html#ixzz1sSwrxzVG

 

Sezmo I know in the case of CSG mining, in respect to the water bores it is fairly complicated. The Water Act covers the amount of water, the EP Act covers the quality of the water. And it depends on a lot of things. In a cummulative impact area, and I know back then the Surat Basin was the only one, (the walloon coal measures have been written off basically) they have to do studies to estimate the cummulative impact. If there is a CSG operation going on the company has to do monitoring and reports about how much they expect to draw down the aquifer. THERE IS NOTHING IN LEGISLATION THAT IMPOSES DRAW DOWN LIMITS ON ANY AQUIFER. If the landholder experiences a drop in water that doesn't allow them to do what they have been doing, then the company is supposed to make good. Make good can mean money, alternative source of water etc. Trouble is, effects of csg mining can surface 50 years later. Trying to sue someone then is laughable.

As to the exploration drilling, a lot of those guys are not qualified water bore drillers licenced in Queensland. Therefore a lot of bores that have been converted to water bores are technically not legal unless the exploration drillers had a water bore drillers licence. They are supposed to cap them actually.

I would also email it to the department. That way there is an electronic trail and it gets looked at quicker. Ask them to acknowledge your email. I've seen letters go missing................

 

USGS reported this a while ago, they know for a fact humans caused the Earthquakes and reported it directly into scientific journals online, bypassing the usual white washing the government does.

 

G'day Sezmo

Generally, in Victoria, proponents of large-scale mining activities are required by law to produce an Environmental Impact Statement (or 'work plan') as part of their overall proposal. In the case of your town, it would appear Mantle Mining is in the process of doing just this:

The Ballarat Independent (2011) Our neighbour the coal mine? Bacchus Marsh

Mantle Mining is a publically-listed company on the ASX. As such, all (?) of its economic (and therefore, proposed mining) activities are reported on and available for viewing at its website:

Mantle Mining (2012) Announcements

By following the above 'paper trails', you should be able to find answers to practically every question you may have.

Cheerio, Markos.

 

What's really sad about all this is that the nutty schemes used to get fuel will only become more economically viable as traditional oil becomes increasingly scarce.
All in the desperate attempt to keep modern civilisation in it's floating bubble.

 

I somewhat disagree. I don't think they will become more economically viable, because they also depend on the increasing expensive conventional oil. They might be seen as "worth" the greater expense and I tend to think they'll be funded more and more by government subsidy, basically taking resources from the rest of the economy to fund these desperate endeavors. Money will be siphoned from the rest of us to produce these fuels which fewer and fewer of us will be able to afford. At least, that's my depressing theory.

 

I disagree with one prime example. Senate banned Fracking 27 to 1 in VT. Anyone who even wants to drill in that state is insane already but I won't get into that.

https://www.vpirg.org/news/fracking-ban-passes-senate-27-1/

Ludi, I see a changing in consciousness in our country, even today. For example, my cousin got picked with about 18 other students from around the US to go to New Orleans for a week to plant trees and shrubs.

I see a change in consciousness occurring as the old people who screwed us over are dying of finally.

 

I hope you're right, Pak!

 

ACTIVISM does not sit easily with some of the women of country NSW.
But the conservative Country Women's Association is steeling itself against the prospect of rubbing shoulders with ''greenies'' and preparing to march on the streets of Sydney to voice its concerns about mining and exploration around farms and rural villages.

''For the CWA to have a march on Parliament House, it's got to be something that we care about,'' said Sue Nicholls, 66, a resident of Gulgong, north of Mudgee.

The local CWA branch, with 19 members the youngest in their 40s, received the message from head office last month: country women would break with 90 years of tradition and join farmers, environmentalists, horse breeders and wine growers at the May 1 rally against the government's rural land use policy.




Read more: https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/poli...-to-protest-20120420-1xcce.html#ixzz1sdQPJfZW

 

./clap

YOU GO GIRLS!

 

At least you can count on a really good cuppa and something to go with it when you go protesting with the CWA crowd.

 

Who owns coal seam gas in New South Wales (and who can stop it being mined)?
https://theconversation.edu.au/who-...th-wales-and-who-can-stop-it-being-mined-6969
The difficulty with coal seam gas is that, arguably, it isn’t a mineral under section 4 of Mining Act 1992 (NSW). This means that coal seam gas is not a mineral which has been reserved by the Crown and therefore, in New South Wales, ownership of coal seam gas remains with the landowner. There are a number of reasons why this position may be argued.

. . . .
This argument has been supported by cases in the United States. In Carbon County v. Union Reserve Coal Co, the Montana Supreme Court overturned an earlier decision and concluded that coalbed methane gas “is separate from coal and is not a constituent part of the coal estate".

 

Meanwhile, down in Victoria, we don't have to worry about trying to define the stuff. For us, its just known as 'brown coal', and we have millions of tonnes (worth billions of dollars) of it, all just waiting to be ripped out of the ground...

ABC TV (15/05/12) Brown promises allure of gold in new coal economy

And if the Australian Federal Government has its way, looks like we'll not be the only state to have some new, big holes in the ground (and under the sea) opened up. Never before have I seen so much 'resource industry activity', in so little time...

Geoscience Australia (14/05/12) Australian Gas Resource Assessment 2012

Geoscience Australia (14/05/12) 2012 offshore acreage release and updated gas resource figures

Geoscience Australia (15/05/12) Exploring Australia's onshore petroleum potential

Australia: Beautiful one day, a f$%&ing great hole in the Earth the next...

 

Now they're just outright lying
Reply-To: [email protected]

-- Have you seen the coal seam gas (CSG) industry's latest advertising campaign? The CSIRO's slammed it for misusing their research to claim CSG is safe for Australia's precious water and aquifers. Send the CSG spin doctors a message now demanding they publicly commit to ending their campaign of lies: https://www.getup.org.au/stop-csg-lies --

CSIRO clearly stated: "At no time has CSIRO made such a statement, and nor do the results of CSIRO research support such a statement. CSIRO has stated on the public record that coal seam gas extraction is likely to pose a ‘low risk’ to groundwater quality through contamination."

 

To get the Advertising pulled we just could also complain to the Australian Advertising Standards Bureau. It only takes one complaint, that they uphold, to get a tv commercial pulled, however the more complaints the more quickly they'll consider it https://www.adstandards.com.au/process/theprocesssteps

ps. The sky is pink! This update from the creator of Gaslands includes specific stats on problems with concrete casing breaks in current and so-called decommissioned CSG wells.

[video]https://vimeo.com/44367635[/video]

 

https://www.facebook.com/events/427762677261595/permalink/434240606613802/
A major protest and concert at Murwillumbah to kick off the Lock the Gate Alliance "National Week of Action" against coal and coal seam gas in the Northern Rivers. Come and join with other Northern Rivers residents to send a strong, clear message to local, state and federal governments that the Northern Rivers Community says "Lock the Gate" to coal and coal seam gas.

Gates open at 9.30am for a 10am start. March through the Murwillumbah CBD from 12 noon.

Concert starts at 1pm back at the Showgrounds.

 

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Di8cCrlyW6k[/video]
Vast amounts of methane appear to be leaking undetected from Australia's biggest coal seam gas field, according to world-first research that undercuts claims by the gas industry.
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, according to the study by researchers at Southern Cross University.

The researchers drove back and forth on public roads through the gas fields at Tara, taking measurements every second via a cavity ring down spectrometer - the only instrument of its type in Australia. It enabled them to take thousands of real-time readings of several gases in the air, and accurately pinpoint them with a global positioning system.

The study has potential national consequences because last week's energy white paper 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

Methane, carbon dioxide and other gases appear to be leaking up through the soil and bubbling up through rivers at an astonishing rate, the researchers said.


Read more: https://www.smh.com.au/environment/...sting-shows-20121114-29c9m.html#ixzz2CVPJbhCS

 

AUSTRALIA'S coal seam gas industry could face future carbon tax liabilities of up to $4 billion a year if ''fugitive'' emissions of methane from unconventional gas production turn out to be substantially higher than expected.
Three huge coal seam gas-to-LNG projects worth $60 billion are under construction in Queensland by BG Group, Origin Energy and Santos. Both BG and Santos have had multibillion-dollar cost blowouts this year. Investors are nervous about costs, execution and rates of return on these LNG projects.
On Sunday, federal Energy Minister Martin Ferguson told the ABC that news last week of a potential $20 billion cost blowout at Chevron's Gorgon project in Western Australia was ''not good in terms of attracting further investment''.
The federal government calculates carbon tax liability for conventional and unconventional gas alike, using estimates that just 0.12 per cent of the produced gas escapes to the atmosphere.
Advertisement
But recent studies of unconventional gasfields in the US and Australia suggest emissions could be 4 per cent or higher.


Read more: https://www.smh.com.au/business/coa...of-billions-20121118-29k6t.html#ixzz2CeBkgU9i

 

GAS will be mined from directly underneath Campbelltown Hospital under plans being considered for approval by the state government.
The mayor of Campbelltown, Sue Dobson, said people would ''stand and fight'' a proposal by gas company AGL to extract coal seam gas from underneath key infrastructure and thousands of homes. Opponents to coal seam gas say drilling leads to the environmental hazard of gases escaping to the surface and polluting water courses. The gas industry says the process is proven and safe.


Read more: https://www.smh.com.au/nsw/hospital...lling-sites-20121229-2c0aw.html#ixzz2GUV7Q82t