On 28 May Dayne Pratsky filmed this dramatic footage of gas bubbles which have appeared in four places over a five-kilometre stretch in the Condamine River near Chinchilla. As this Channel Ten item shows (both courtesy of gasileaks) Origin Energy were quick off the mark with calming words.

There were longer reports in the Courier Mail, farmonline and elsewhere.

The company claims that such seepage has occurred naturally for at least 30 years, according to local knowledge. Drew Hutton from Lock the Gate says that local farmers have never heard of it. Dayne Pratsky told Fran Kelly that the landholder had been there 40 years and knew nothing of it. Another local had fished the hole for 60 years and had never seen anything like it. Among other problems Pratsky had seen in his local area was a crack in the ground which had opened up, leaking methane.

The State Minister quoted the Government CSG Enforcement Unit as saying it was all AOK. Pratsky reckons they call it the CSG Endorsement Unit and says they did their investigation from an office in Brisbane by ringing Origin Energy.

Gavin Mudd, an academic hydrogeologist from Monash University, said at The Conversation he would “find it hard to be convinced that CSG has nothing whatsoever to do with the gas bubbling away in the Condamine”. He wants hard data, not bland assurances.

Unfortunately that is where we are going to have to leave it for now, I think, until such data is generated, but we also need transparency and trust, which seem to be lacking at the moment.

Whatever the truth about this incident, I suspect that we are going to see more nasty surprises as the CSG industry proceeds. I’ll tell you why.

The COAG meeting today, notable for its coincidence with an increased scepticism about the clean energy industry among the conservative premiers of New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria, coincides with Campbell Newman’s battering ram impersonation. “Get out of the way”, Campbell Newman proclaims to the Prime Minister. It’s something of a case study in how [...]

Adam Morton of The Age reports that the Victorian Labor Opposition has called for a moratorium on new licenses for CSG exploration in that state, while safety concerns about fracking are investigated by a parliamentary inquiry. At this stage, Friends of the Earth’s Melbourne branch doesn’t list any active CSG exploration in Victoria. However, there [...]

One of the key reasons for concern about fugitive emissions from coal seam gas is a just-published empirical study by a team of research led by Gabrielle Petron. That study directly measured methane levels in Colorado’s gas fields, and came to the conclusion that fugitive emissions were much higher than previously though. Kathleen M. Sgamma [...]

There has been little discussion about a shale gas industry in Australia, but it seems that may soon change. With breakfast this morning came the story that could be soon dwarfed by a shale gas industry that could be six times larger. Shale gas is found in more remote basins: in northwest Western Australia, the [...]

Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke introduced legislation establishing an independent expert committee to examine and publicly report on the science of CSG and water. The committee was part of a deal struck by Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott to secure support for the mining tax. More science, and more public science, is desperately needed here. [...]

As noted in my earlier article, the federal government’s position on the way CSG fugitive emissions are currently assessed is supported by the “indpendent analysis” of the “Wilkenfeld report”. The Wilkenfeld report is an “…independent analysis” commissioned by the government and conducted by George Wilkenfeld and associates, an environmental consulting firm. I’m very interested to [...]

As Kim Jameson reported, The Greens have ramped up the pressure on their key issue of Coal Seam Gas today, as the election enters its closing days. Similarly, Lock The Gate Alliance made an intervention around mining tenements under Brisbane’s Western Suburbs, which we’ve assessed in a post. Polls have consistently shown that Coal Seam [...]

A quick roundup of developments not yet reported: * The CFMEU is concerned about the lack of social infrastructure accompanying fast-paced mining development; * ABC radio reports that Coal Seam Gas is shaping up as a key issue for farmers; * University of Queensland economist scores the parties’ policies for their environmental impact at The [...]

As Dr Mark Bahnisch predicted at the start of the campaign, the Queensland Greens are heavily emphasising the Coal Seam Gas issue as the state election campaign enters its final stretch. The Greens are currently sitting on 9% in the latest Newspoll, which is slightly higher than the 8.39% they polled in the 2009 election. [...]