IT has taken more than three years of meetings, a sea of placards and a continuous stream of letters to the State government, but South Burnett residents are finally feeling confident there will be no underground coal gasification (UCG) in their community.
In the latest in a series of decisions that have reaffirmed the government order to close the controversial project, the Planning and Environment Court has rejected an appeal by Cougar Energy against the shutdown of the company's Kingaroy-based UCG project.
Delivering his ruling, Judge Richard Jones rejected Cougar Energy's repeated assertions that no environmental harm had taken place due to the UCG trial, adding that the contaminated water at Kingaroy could be a potential future source of potable human drinking water and that the precautionary principle must apply.
He ruled that the company must recommence decommissioning and rehabilitation on the site, even though it is still appealing the Department of Environment and Resource Management's decision to permanently close the operation.
Landholder Damien O'Sullivan is no stranger to the ongoing stress of living next to the UCG trial site, with his family's home less than two kilometres from the project.
His property was among those tested by Biosecurity Queensland during the contamination scare, when benzene and toluene traces were discovered in water and cattle samples at the property in 2010.
"People are certainly feeling more confident now there is another judgement that vindicates the concerns of the community," he said.
"It is quite annoying that there is a judge who agrees with us and before that there was a scientific panel appointed by the State government that has looked over the evidence and advised that the project should be shut down.
"So why Cougar is burning shareholder money on more appeals is beyond me. But we are determined as a community and we won't be resting until it is gone for good."
Cougar Energy first caught the negative national spotlight after it was revealed the company took more than two months to notify the State government following a water contamination scare at its Kingaroy operation in mid-2010.
A few weeks after being notified, following intense campaigning from the Kingaroy community, the State government announced a temporary shutdown of the Cougar operation as an investigation was carried out.
The government then announced in January 2011 that the Cougar trial site would not be allowed to continue following water contamination incidents at surrounding properties in 2010.
Kingaroy Concerned Citizens Group secretary and independent candidate for Nanango, John Dalton, said the latest court ruling further proved that the project was poorly executed and posed a serious threat to local underground water supplies.
"Benzene and toluene are serious carcinogens, and are an unwelcome addition to any water supply," he said.
"We also believe that the cattle nearby that tested positive for those two chemicals acquired them from this dirty operation."
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