We used to have a member here on the Zone (maybe just maybe on the old wx channel forum) who's family property was involved in one of the very early developments in qld.
I can recall the convo over the boring crews, slurring dams and many local truckers getting work.
but wondered how it's all panned out 10 years on?

Would be good if they could/would drop in to give a first hand view of the outcomes.

However the fracking way we fuel our lives unsustainably, this is our legacy.


The big picture is as simple as this

That is an amazing pic - makes super pit at kalgoorlie look like a kids play pen - wonder if there will ever be any rehabilitation of that mining site ?????

How do you rehabilitate a site like this without spending millions of dollars on it. And they hardly have credible record. But my point of posting this pic, is a warning of desecration of the landscape and water supplies that will happen over vast areas of the country if we continue on the current course. This is the stark reality that we face, and much of the world face. We truly are like a bus careering headlong towards a cliff, and if one looks at the sign on the bus, and w'out the cultural blinkers on, it reads "this service will soon terminate at the bottom of a cliff"

Insight on SBS tonight had an excellent show on CSG. As they usually do, they had good guests from every part of this debate, and it was a civil debate, with a crapload of information.

It'll be on the SBS site at some point (if it's not already) and if you are interested in this issue, I guarantee you'll be rivetted. It gave everyone a fair go, didn't set out to "get" anyone but to discuss what we know and what we don't know.

So what was the conclusions there Ant its worth pursuing or to dangerous and problematic?.

Insight doesn't really come to conclusions. It's a well-moderated and directed discussion between experts, stakeholders, anyone with a worthy opinion. I love it due to the amazing range of people they get, the skillful way the discussion is run, and the lack of yelling and abuse.

Everyone got a say. They had some farmers there who've had gas wells on their land for years who had no problems, others who had... scientists, government people, people from the gas companies... worried parents and farmers facing the prospect of gas farming...

What did come out was that even the very pro people (like the gas companies and one university person) saw the need for very tight controls and safeguards against poisoning the acquifers and admitted that danger to the great artesian basin was real, and un-fixable once it happened.

It's worth watching online, and SBS often hoist a written transcript at some point. Online screening is here:
http://www.sbs.com.au/insight/ And there's comments from people watching the show, too.

Tune in to 4 corners tonight

Dredging killing off reef, govt told
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-nat...1107-1n3iv.html

The Great Barrier Reef could be in danger of losing its world heritage status, federal parliament has been told.

During Senate question time on Monday, Australian Greens senator Larissa Waters raised concerns about dredging in Gladstone Harbour in Queensland and a subsequent spike in turtle deaths and fish disease.

Queensland authorities imposed a three-week temporary fishing ban at Gladstone Harbour on September 16 after fish were found with sores andclouded eyes.
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The Gladstone Ports Corporation (GPC) has approvals to dredge 46 million cubic metres - the equivalent volume of 27 Melbourne Cricket Grounds - from within the harbour boundaries, inside the World Heritage area, over the next 20 years.

So far, 1.5 million cubic metres have been dredged.

According to a preview on the ABC website, the broadcaster's Four Corners program will report on Monday that the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority chairman Russell Reichelt is worried about the impact of dredging operations at the Gladstone coal port to accommodate Queensland's expanding coal seam gas industry.

Mr Reichelt told the program dredging presents an "unacceptable risk to marine life on the reef".

In parliament, Senator Waters asked when the government would suspend its approval for dredging in Gladstone Harbour.

Senator Stephen Conroy, representing Environment Minister Tony Burke, replied that Fisheries Queensland had imposed the fishing ban while they investigated infection outbreaks in barramundi and other fish.

"No links were found between the fish disease and water quality," Senator Conroy told the Senate.

"Water quality testing has shown little change other than seasonal variation for water quality since dredging began."

Senator Conroy said the dredging was carried out in accordance with "stringent conditions of approval and environmental management plans" and the latest testing had found a "parasitic flatworm" was the cause of the fish disease in Barramundi.

Senator Conroy said authorities were monitoring the situation.

In July, the United Nation's environmental arm criticised the Queensland and Australian governments for allowing gas processing on reef's doorstep.

UNESCO said it was concerned three processing plants under construction on Curtis Island, near Gladstone, could affect the "overall universal value" of the reef.

It also said the government had failed to tell it about approvals for the three plants, in breach of World Heritage guidelines.

The three plants are under construction on Curtis Island, inside the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage area.

They will convert coal seam gas, piped from the Bowen and Surat basins in Queensland's southeast, into liquefied natural gas (LNG) for export.

Senator Waters told the Senate "the reef may now be in danger of losing World Heritage status" because of the dredging and future development.

"Australians have to ask right now - are we prepared to lose one of our greatest national assets so we can turn the Great Barrier Reef into a coal and gas highway?" she said later in a statement.

UNESCO has called on the federal government to provide a strategic assessment of coastal development.

"This won't happen for another two years and will take three years to complete ... I ask what will be left to assess in five years' time when there's at least six port developments on the way?" Senator Waters said.

Senator Conroy promised to seek more information.

AAP lp

I saw a story from the uk where they had 2 events 2.5 tremors after fracking by lucas company. Dosen't sound good . What sort of real damage is going on . cheers Doug.

Santos has claimed that water contamination in the Pillaga forest is caused by recent rains and morethan usual eucalyptus leaves causing a blackening of water. I've observed numerous creeks in the forest after rain. and none of them had black water. Lots of small lies add up to lots of dosh.

I saw a wastewater 'detention basin' in the Pilliga during the exploration phase in the 1990s - erk. I have also seem anaerobically decomposed leaves in sediments - similar colour, similar stench.

Here is a link to US Geological Survey Organisation site with information about earthquakes induced by fracking.

An incidental question is what damage does a tremor do to cased bores which penetrate vulnerable aquifers / watertables? I suspect a deep aquifer could give a very large hydraulic loading on a bore in the event of an earthquake. This could lead to leakages into strata or above ground.

If a strata was thrixotrophic (eg relatively 'solid' sand/sediments which shear under stress) the results could be unpredictable. These sediments would be easy to identify during exploration. Think of the Indonesian "mud volcano" caused by penetration of sediments by a well, or the liquifaction zones from the Canterbury earthquake....

What happened to the 'precautionary principle'?

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/faq/?categoryID=46

This might be of interest to those who live in the zones where it is proposed to use Fracking technology to recover shale and coal seam gas.
The usual thing is happening as it does with any technology allied with the capitalist system where competition and economics and social pressure are the driving forces behind the advances in all technological systems.
New, more acceptable and cheaper and cleaner methods to achieve the same ends just keep on appearing.

And the newer, cleaner, cheaper methods of extracting the truly enormous amounts of gas residing in the deep shale and the extremely deep and inaccessible coal seams across the planet will fill the world's energy needs for centuries ahead or until we develop newer power generation technologies like the thorium reactors and eventually the Fusion reactors.
Mankind's energy supplies will then become almost limitless.

Waterless Natural Gas Fracking Method Unveiled

Mate that's awful news. We shouldn't be so complacent about the destruction of Australia's natural resources. But then again we're Aussie, not like in France, the French would hit the streets and protest. We just sit back on the couch drinking red and bemoaning the situation. Act now people.

Of course the insignificant matter that Gladstone harbour isn't actually within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is a small but important fact that most can't get their heads aroiund. That plus the absolute piddling anount of so called dregding damage which pales into absolute insignigficance compared to the natural damage done to any section of the reef from a cyclone and resulting flooding from say the Burdekin River alone and some how without anyone of us lifting teh smallest of fingers it still endures today.

Most people have no idea how big, wide, long and deep the reef is to start with.

Now I know some people will say I have no idea what I'm talking about but I beg to differ. Unlike some of you I have fished parts of the reef for over 20 years from Townsville to Cairns and up to 125 klms off shore and reckon I have seen maybe 0.01% of the total reef in that time. It is vast, it is made out of a natural material that will tear the bum out of the largest ships in the world without blinking and has survived for around 800,000 years without being coddled to death by humans so leave it alone.

The systems already in place are more than adequate to ensure its future survival without it being turned into a prohibited area.

the key point here is natural as opposed to man made damage. I would rather 'coddle to death' one of the worlds most beautiful marine environments than witness the accelerated destruction of the reef/ and or Gladstone harbour. I also believe that [censored] has changed dramatically in the last 800,000 years. The negative environmental impact humans create is much more than we care to admit....myself included.

if you were fishing SBT. You got a bite

A question. My brother inlaw was sitting on his deck 2 weeks ago looking out over bushland when hesaw a colum of water rise he estimates one hundred plus feet into the air it continued for aprox thirty to forty minutes.

Following from above,he wondered if there was drilling test wells for gas underway, any idea'as to what he was seeing. And if we went for a bit of a look around what should we look for, we are talking about the Sydney basin.

Well i can say we have an impact out here in Roma ,I live 6kms from one site and the last 3 months i have felt the fracking vibrating through my house and bed on and off. Kind of disturbing at 3am and when i can't sleep. Also have concerns about water as we will probably have a drought with them using water. I have to buy a bigger rain tank for security and piece of mind. People are leaving town who can pay $500/$600 rent on a standard wage .Our insurance is now over $4000 a year being a flood zone . ok had my winge . cheers doug

Hello Ozone Doug. I think that, if you haven't already done so, you should report what is happening to you with regard to the vibrations. Don't just tell the Govt but tell the local group who is campaigning against CSG. I'm sure that there will be one in your area. As much information as possible should be collected about the negatives conseqences of the CSG industry. In fact, I think that you should tell the press about what is happening to you. The ABC have been excellent in reporting things of this nature. Please don't keep this to youreself.