The Australian: CSG is Key to Cheap NSW Gas
The effective moratorium on large-scale coal-seam gas extraction in parts of Australia is contributing to inevitable gas price rises with disastrous consequences for consumers and businesses that rely on competitively priced gas as a major energy source and feedstock.
We need a nationally co-ordinated approach to remove politically motivated barriers and secure Australia’s future as an energy powerhouse and onshore gas producer.
With our abundant coal resources and engineering know-how, Australia is perfectly placed to replicate the boom in the US of onshore gas production that has dramatically lowered energy prices and revitalised its manufacturing sector.
It beggars belief that good energy policy in places such as NSW and Victoria has become beholden to noisy opposition groups such as the Lock the Gate Alliance and other strident CSG opponents. What this shows is that barriers to onshore production are political, not based on science or risk-based assessments. To solve this, good policy must trump bad politics.
Myth-making and fearmongering about CSG rests on exaggerated environmental and safety concerns relating to hydraulic fracturing — fracking.
First, not all CSG extraction requires fracking. In many parts of Australia such as Gippsland in Victoria, the geology often doesn’t require fracking of the type safely under way in Queensland. Where CSG extraction takes place, it degasses coal, assisting in safe mining when coal is extracted. MORE