FORMER federal resources minister Ian Macfarlane has weighed into the coal seam gas debate and backed landholder calls for an independent reassessment of the science surrounding mining impacts on groundwater reserves.
Mr Macfarlane, the shadow minister for resources and energy, said after visiting farms on the Darling Downs last week that there was a strong belief that the large Condamine Alluvium freshwater aquifer was directly connected to the Walloon Coal Measures, which are currently being dewatered and depressurised for Coal Seam gas production.
The Condamine Alluvium is the primary source of water for several Darling Downs townships and supports irrigation and grazing industries worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the Queensland economy every year.
Coal Seam Gas production involves removing water from coal seams to access trapped gases. Coal seam water, which can range from fresh to saline, is separated from the gas at the surface.
It was impossible to dewater the Walloon Coal Measures without causing detrimental impacts to the Condamine Alluvium, said Cecil Plains irrigator Stuart Armitage, one of the landholders who met with Mr Macfarlane last weekend.
“The pressurised Walloon Coal Measures is what keeps the Condamine Alluvium where it is,” Mr Armitage said. “If that pressure wasn’t there, the Condamine Alluvium would disappear into the Walloon.”
Landholders have been calling for a moratorium on further CSG developments until the full range of impacts of CSG production on such large and important aquifers have been independently studied and verified.
While the State Government insists landholders are protected by “make good” provisions in legislation in the event of damage to aquifers, farmers say it would be physically and financially impossible to make good the loss of such an important and long-term aquifer, and want it protected before any damage is done.
Mr Macfarlane said the State Government had to take greater steps to protect such strategically important groundwater reserves.
“Whether it is a moratorium or whether it is a re-examination of the parameters of the Environmental Impact Statement process, the end result is the same: there has to be a reassessment of the impact of these projects on the alluviums, and that assessment has to be done in conjunction with the Government,” Mr Macfarlane said.
“And it has to be done by an independent body to ensure both sides are treated fairly.”
Mr Macfarlane said advice from the office of federal Water Minister Penny Wong and the Australian Government Solicitor indicated that the State Government had full responsibility for the oversight and regulation of mining activities in Queensland and the management of shallow aquifers and the Great Artesian Basin in the State.
“Therefore, it has a moral and economic obligation to farmers, local communities and mining investors to ensure it provides appropriate safeguards and to ensure the CSG industry develops in a sustainable way,” he said.
Mr Armitage said the Queensland Government had classified the Great Artesian Basin as over-allocated, but was still allowing CSG companies to remove more water from it.
“This is not unallocated water, it is not new water,” he said. “When you pump water out of a section of the GAB, you will end up with water running back to that dewatered section. It is all part of the allocated equation.
“And that effect, because of the slowness of the water table within these coal measures, that effect could be 50 to 100 years away.”
Mr Armitage said the pressurisation of the GAB meant that removing water from one area could have big impacts for water supplies in other areas.
“It is all part of the pressurising of the Great Artesian basin, so that people to the west of us have access to the water.
“When you start removing from here on the Darling Downs in large quantities and depressurising it, it is going to alter the flow pattern, and the pressure pattern.”
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