The billion dollar energy industry has a dirty little secret...
“Coal seam gas extraction is set to become a huge industry in Queensland, where massive contracts are being written to supply gas to China and Japan after 2014. Liquid natural gas companies have already boosted the state’s economy with about $50billion of investment in coal seam gas extraction and its processing into LNG for export. [...]
November 3, 2011
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SMH: “A REPORT commissioned by the coal seam gas industry into its own greenhouse gas emissions, and held as commercial-in-confidence for months, shows that Australian gas exported to China is likely to be little better for the environment than coal. The industry has been running an advertising campaign claiming that coal seam gas is ”up [...]
October 18, 2011
Gloucester Valley residents in northern NSW are fighting an approval for 330 wells and 100 kilometres of pipeline to extract and pump coal seam gas. ABC 7pm News | Mon 17 October, 2011 | View footage here
October 14, 2011
SMH: “GOVERNMENTS state and federal are in the process of losing the debate over coal seam gas mining. In their haste to approve new projects they have angered the farming lobby. As they bungle the question of coal seam gas, they risk losing the debate about all mining on agricultural land. The public meeting in [...]
October 9, 2011
SMH: “We are adults here. We know that there will be some very tough trade-offs that will need to be made to tackle climate change. But the oil and gas industry is asking too much if it wants Australians to incur the costs of a coal seam gas (CSG) boom, without clearly identifying the benefits. [...]
August 18, 2011
Timothy Duddy: SMH “Australia is the driest continent on earth and as we push towards an ever increasing population we must be mindful of the fact the less than 9 per cent of our continent’s surface is arable land: a far smaller portion of that is prime agricultural land, and an even smaller portion of [...]
August 15, 2011
David Leser, Fairfax Good Weekend: “While the exploitation of underground coal seam gas promises riches for energy companies, in many parts of rural Australia it is causing deep consternation – and driving an unlikely opposition alliance of green activists and conservative farmers. David and megan baker would like to know if you’d be interested in [...]
August 9, 2011
THE COURIER MAIL: “COAL seam gas companies have told a Senate hearing they will use their legal rights to force their way on to land where farmers refuse access. The admission is likely to anger thousands of farmers in the Surat and Bowen basins of Queensland who promised to lock their gates against gas and [...]
August 8, 2011
Coverage of the Senate Enquiry at Narrabri NSW, and the recent Leichhardt Town Hall meeting in Sydney’s inner west. Channel 7 | Tues 2 Aug, 2011
July 18, 2011
Paddy Manning/SMH: “The multi-party climate change committee’s Clean Energy Future package has good bits and bad bits and improves somewhat on the old carbon pollution reduction scheme. We should get on with it. There’s one big problem: will the carbon tax drive a big switch to coal seam gas for domestic electricity generation? That’s a [...]
June 28, 2011
The Australian: “AUSTRALIA’S peak gas-mining body is considering a multi-million-dollar ad campaign to fight back against what it sees as an increasingly strident attack against coal-seam gas mining. Representatives of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association met in Brisbane yesterday to discuss whether to proceed with a campaign similar to that being undertaken by [...]
June 8, 2011
USA TODAY: Opinion by Josh Fox: “In April 2009, I was standing in Amee Ellsworth’s kitchen in Weld County, Colo., an area that was being drilled for natural gas. She was making sandwiches for me and my film crew and explaining how she had been showering in the dark for months, afraid that a spark [...]
May 31, 2011
The Brisbane Times: “The case against coal seam gas by Drew Hutton. Drew Hutton is a spokesman for Friends of the Earth and acting president of the Lock the Gate Alliance. CSG: a threat to us all The coal seam gas industry is holding its ninth annual conference today in Brisbane. For the first time [...]
May 31, 2011
The Brisbane Times: “The case for Coal Seam Gas by Belinda Robinson. Belinda Robinson is the chief executive of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association. CSG: a Queensland success story Senator Christine Milne last week described coal seam gas as “a disaster for Australia”, which may well tell you everything you need to know [...]
May 30, 2011
THE AUSTRALIAN: “KYOGLE farmer Jim O’Neill has seen the US documentary GasLand and heard the rumours of meat contamination on the Darling Downs. His livelihood and lifestyle has been built on the pristine creek flats in the shadow of the World Heritage-listed Border Ranges National Park, which straddles the Queensland-NSW border, and he is not [...]
May 26, 2011
ABC RN: “Calls have been made for the booming business of coal seam gas to be brought under greater control by Federal Parliament. Until now developments in the industry have been controlled by the states. But NSW Liberal senator Bill Heffernan said approvals and regulation has been ‘inadequate’, little more than ‘camouflage’, and that it’s [...]
May 26, 2011
Elizabeth Farrelly, SMH: “Talk of a carbon tax always brings to mind that Mark Twain tale of mummies as loco fuel. Burned on to my mental retina is the image of these sacred, 3000-year-old remains “purchased by the ton, or by the graveyard”, being shoved end-on into the steam train’s glowing maw as (camera pull [...]
May 15, 2011
SUN HERALD: “Unlikely allies in the bush are taking on a powerful enemy, writes Cosima Marriner. Bob Irwin made it to 72 before getting arrested for the first time. ”It’s not a comfortable feeling, I must admit,” the genial Irwin says. ”But it was time for me to get off my backside.” The lifelong conservationist [...]
May 12, 2011
AAP: “The Greens’ attempts to establish a Senate inquiry into the coal seam gas industry has been stymied by Labor and Liberal senators, Greens Leader Bob Brown says. National senators split with their coalition partners, abstaining from the vote, he said. “Australia’s tired old political parties (on Wednesday) blocked a move by the Greens for [...]
May 9, 2011
Sebastian Doggart reports from New York on the dangers of hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking’. TELEGRAPH (UK): “Go to your nearest tap. Light a match, and place it next to the running water. If it catches fire, as it has in many American homes, your water supply has probably been polluted by a natural-gas extraction process [...]
May 4, 2011
SBS Film caught up with Josh Fox during his tour of Australia in Nov 2010. View below:
May 4, 2011
“XSTRATA’S proposed $6 billion coalmine at Wandoan in southern Queensland is at risk from potential Queensland legislation that could classify the land where the proposed mine is situated as prime agricultural land that is unable to be mined. While the debate about mining versus agriculture is taking place all around Australia, it is particularly acute [...]
April 28, 2011
SMH: “A supporter of the coal seam gas industry says landholders have legitimate concerns about the industry’s effect on groundwater. Ross Dunn of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association also said some wells leaking gas were not up to industry standards. Mr Dunn said while some people opposed CSG because it was using fossil [...]
April 27, 2011
When: Saturday 30 April to Tuesday 3 May 2011 Where: Tara Showgrounds (300km west of Brisbane) What: 4 days of Workshops, forums, displays and direct action How: to register your interest or for more details, email tara2011@lockthegate.org.au or phone 07 4669 4864 The national movement against coal and coal seam gas mining, farmers and environmental [...]
April 27, 2011
“A major liquified natural gas (LNG) deal between Australia and China has environmentalists fearing for the future of the Great Artesian Basin. Australia will supply China with a further 4.3 million tonnes of LNG each year for 20 years. China’s Sinopec Corporation signed a contract for the deal with Australia Pacific LNG, a joint venture [...]
April 27, 2011
“RESOURCES Minister Martin Ferguson has told mining companies they need to better explain to farmers and local communities the methods they are using to explore for and mine coal-seam gas. Mr Ferguson said mining companies had not only an economic contract but also a “social contract”, and they needed to ensure their activities were supported [...]
April 18, 2011
The New York Times: “WASHINGTON — Oil and gas companies injected hundreds of millions of gallons of hazardous or carcinogenic chemicals into wells in more than 13 states from 2005 to 2009, according to an investigation by Congressional Democrats. The chemicals were used by companies during a drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, [...]
April 14, 2011
BBC News: “The new kid on the energy block, shale gas, may be worse in climate change terms than coal, a study concludes. Drawn from rock through a controversial “fracking” process, some hail the gas as a “stepping stone” to a low-carbon future and a route to energy security. But US researchers found that shale [...]
April 13, 2011
Part vérité travelogue, part exposé, part mystery, part showdown, GasLand is a compelling and emotional first-person story of discovery and, ultimately, empowerment. Rough-hewn yet poetic, the film is a desperate plea for scrutiny of a powerful industry that has now turned its eyes on a new, massive and (for now) largely unexplored territory: Australia. GasLand [...]
March 17, 2011
View report: “Alternative Energy”
March 16, 2011
Inspired by the film Gasland, ‘Lock The Gate’ is a brief look at part of the Queensland situation – centered around Kingaroy, Dalby and Tara. Ian & Arkin Mackay hit the road for a three day drive to check it out… what unfolded was the realisation that coal gas mining is alive and thriving in [...]
March 16, 2011
ABC: “Shoalhaven Greens Councillor Amanda Findley says a licence has been granted for coal seam gas exploration in the Shoalhaven without the council’s knowledge. Ms Findley says councillors and senior staff at the council meeting were stunned when she told them Planet Gas has an exploration licence that was granted by the Department of Primary [...]
March 16, 2011
AAP: “A coal seam gas company says it’s happy to buy a padlock for a Queensland property owner who claims he’s been locked out of part of his property. But the Queensland Gas Company (QGC) won’t discuss the resident’s offer to sell them his land at a fraction of its value. Tara resident Paul Keating [...]
March 16, 2011
ABC The World Today: “ELEANOR HALL: Now to that blockade outside a property in southern Queensland, where protesters are demonstrating against coal seam gas mining. Farmers have joined forces with environmentalists to try to prevent the Queensland Gas Company from gaining access to a site at Tara on the Western Downs. The company wants to [...]
March 11, 2011
Muswellbrook Chronicle: “A groundswell of community concern about mining and coal seam gas exploration was felt in the Upper Hunter on Wednesday. More than 450 people filled the Singleton Civic Centre to hear from the NSW planning department about the government’s coal and gas strategy scoping paper and to have their say on the issue. [...]
March 11, 2011
Attention Sydney residents – Screening & rally: SATURDAY 19 MARCH – 11.30am GasLand screening + Q&A discussion – Palace Norton Street Cinema Find out why Coal Seam Gas drilling is a massive issue for regional NSW & Australia at this by popular demand screening of the 2011 Oscar-nominated documentary GASLAND (PG) – a must-see prior [...]
March 9, 2011
ABCTV News: “Residents are concerned the NSW Government’s approval of gas exploration sites in Sydney’s south may put the city’s water supply at risk of contamination.” ABC1 7.00pm News | Wed 9 March, 2011 | View report
March 9, 2011
With over 45 minutes of previously unseen footage, GASLAND will soon be available to purchase for private/home use. To pre-order, click here Acclaim for GASLAND: “4 stars. A powerful alarm – and an evocative one.” Sandra Hall, THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD “4 stars. Shocking, to say the least. And in this country it’s most probably [...]
March 8, 2011
AAP: “COAL seam gas (CSG) mining constitutes one of the biggest land grabs in Australian history, a Brisbane rally has been told. The rally of environmentalists, The Greens, farmers, property rights groups, the splinter Queensland Party and members of Socialist Alliance voiced fears a planned gas pipeline into a residential area will open it to [...]
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December 9, 2011
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