Australians 'Lock The Gate' To Fracking
A growing number of Australian farmers are barring mining companies from accessing their lands, but Australian law states that minerals under the soil are owned by the Crown.
John Zubrzycki, Correspondent / October 16, 2013
It has been blamed for everything from contaminating drinking water to disrupting eco-systems. Because of its potential to pollute aquifers, some of Australia’s most productive agricultural land is said to be at risk. Among farmers and many urban dwellers coal seam gas has earned a bad reputation.
Which may explain why the New South Wales government last month recommended removing the term “coal seam gas” and its acronym CSG from official documents in the state.
The federal Standing Council on Energy and Resources wants the terminology changed to “natural gas from coal seams” as part of what it calls a “national harmonization initiative."
The proposed switch prompted one Greens member of parliament to accuse the government of adopting “Orwellian tactics” to diminish legitimate community concerns about the risks posed to land and water by CSG.
Australia is not the only country where extracting gas from coal and shale seams has generated controversy. On Oct. 8, France’s highest court upheld a government ban on hydraulic fracturing because of environmental concerns. A few days later, the advocacy group Environment America called for the practice to be banned in the United States until the cumulative impacts of fracking at a state or national scale were quantified.
MORE...
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2013/1016/Australians-Lock-the-Gate-to-fracking
