GREENS Senator Larissa Waters has proposed a broad-ranging Federal Senate inquiry to investigate the impacts of Coal Seam Gas mining on land and water resources on a comprehensive national scale.
Senator Waters lodged a notice for the inquiry in the Senate yesterday, and will be voted on today.
A Senate Rural Affairs and Transport committee inquiry - chaired by NSW Liberal Senator and active Junee wheat and sheep farmer Bill Heffernan - was held last year and focussed on the impacts of CSG mining in the Murray Darling Basin.
The inquiry made 24 key recommendations and backed a moratorium on CSG mining on prime agricultural land, until scientific experts can establish definitive knowledge of its long-term impacts and in particular, potentially irreparable damage to underground water supplies.
The Committee looked into the impacts of CSG extraction on the Murray Darling Basin and underground water resources, agricultural land and regional communities, taking 375 written submissions ands tabling an interim report in December.
Senator Heffernan said an interim report was delivered because the committee believed further investigation was warranted into the impacts of CSG mining - beyond the scope of the Basin.
The committee pledged to continue monitoring industry developments in 2012.
Senator Heffernan said the CSIRO testified it was unsure about the potential dangers of long-term damage to aquifers which may take 100 or 300 years to re-charge.
In urging the CSG industry to slow down and exercise greater caution, he said the committee was very interested in other long-term impacts to the Great Artesian Basin and the various agricultural aquifers.
Senator Waters said last year’s Senate inquiry raised “some pretty scary evidence” about the uncertainty of the long term impacts of CSG on water supplies in the Basin but believes CSG is a nation wide issue which warrants a more extensive inquiry now.
“This new inquiry that I’m proposing would take a holistic view (and) look at CSG across the country and actually look in detail at some of the impacts that we didn’t get a chance to consider in the last inquiry, most importantly all of the marine impacts,” she said.
Senator Waters said it would be “very telling” wether the government and the opposition supported the new inquiry.
She said they would be hard pressed to say no, given the huge amount of community concern about CSG mining and its impacts on the nation’s water, land and food security.
Senator Waters said last year’s inquiry saw many land holders testify, expressing concern about not having any rights to say no to mining companies.
They were also unhappy about some of the antics of some of the CSG companies where had engaged in “absolute shameful conduct ... riding roughshod over communities”, she said.
“We heard a lot from the people on the ground about how nervous, how worried, how scared they are about their future and the future of their land,” she said of last year’s inquiry.
“I imagine that there will be many more communities who want to share that view or perhaps other views; we welcome all views (in the new inquiry).”
Senator Waters said the new inquiry would also aim to hear more from the CSG industry and the State governments.
“We need to look at those issues across the country; CSG is not just a problem in the Murray Darling Basin.
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