Environmental adviser to energy company Origin, Bartrim was highlighting the problem that the large amount of detail involved in regulating and approving the coal seam gas projects across Queensland and Northern NSW may cause the regulators to fail at their task and the industry itself to lose sight of its primary objective, extracting the gas with minimum damage to the environment.
“This obsession with conformance leads people to focus on ticking the boxes and completing the paperwork and there is a danger we can lose sight of the real problem,” he said.
He also noted that Coal Seam Gas companies will become major land holders in Queensland and the largest individual users of water. “The volumes of water are simply staggering,” he said. It is unkown wether the water extracted from the basic to hydraulically fracture the coal seam can, or should be, returned to the basin. If it is not, there is the danger that the basin will be permanently depleted.
Bartrim’s presentation about the nature of coal seam gas extraction is extremely helpful to anyone trying to grapple with the rechnical aspects of the problem. The Generator will post a link to that presentation online if Bartrim is in a position to share it with the general public.