OAKESHOTT WANTS PRIORITY COAL-SEAM GAS ASSESSMENT FOR THE MANNING

THE federal government has been asked to identify the Manning Valley as a priority region for scientific study into the impact of coal-seam gas mining on the environment.
Lyne MP Rob Oakeshott, who with fellow Independent Tony Windsor secured tighter control of coal-seam gas mining last November, has welcomed the appointment of an Interim Expert Scientific Committee on Coal Seam Gas and Coal Mining.
The committee’s first task will be to identify priority areas for scientific study so that decisions on coal-seam gas projects are based on independent, objective, scientific evidence.
Mr Oakeshott has written to federal Environment Minister Tony Burke asking for priority status to be given to the Manning Valley and the Gloucester Basin.
“There is significant community concern about the potential for coal-seam gas wells to contaminate underground water, creeks and rivers throughout the MidCoast Water and Hunter-Central Rivers Catchment,” Mr Oakeshott said.
“AGL’s 330 coal-seam gas wells in the Gloucester Valley were approved by the state government without any consultation with the local water supply authority, MidCoast Water, or with 50,000 downstream water users in the Manning who rely on the catchment for clean drinking water.
“The Interim Committee’s role is to commission ‘no regrets’, independent, unbiased research that addresses key scientific questions about the impact of coal-seam gas mining on water and to make those findings public.
“Only then can the community be confident that all of the questions about possible contamination and pollution have been thoroughly addressed, without any influence from stakeholders or interest groups,” Mr Oakeshott said.
“The appointment of an interim committee is an early opportunity to have Gloucester and the Manning considered as a priority area for this long overdue scientific assessment.”
The interim committee members are:
•
Chairman Craig Simmons, Professor of Hydrogeology at Flinders University and Director of National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training;
•
Professor John Langford, a Fellow, Australian Academy of Technical Sciences and Engineering, and a Fellow, Institution of Engineers, Australia;
•
Ms Jane Coram, a groundwater expert at Geoscience Australia and member of the Expert Panel on Coal Seam Gas
•
Associate Professor David Laurence who has a PhD in Mining Engineering and is the inaugural Director of the Australian Centre for Sustainable Mining Practices;
•
Professor Chris Moran, the Director of Sustainable Minerals Institute at the University of Queensland; and
•
Emeritus Professor Peter G Flood, a geologist with 44 years’ experience in basin studies and a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.
ENDS
Media Contact: Sharon Fuller - 0429 787320