After a couple of days walking and meeting like-minded people in the beautiful Carnarvon Gorge, I drove south into a swarm of fluro gas mining utes in south east Queensland’s huge energy hub of gas, wind, solar and coal.
Day 1 Roma to Miles
Roma’s airport was the first indication that this is not an ordinary country town. The airport parking area was FULL of white utes! Obviously Roma is a fly in fly out (FIFO) town.
Driving between Roma and Miles I took a detour to Blythdale North Road to see my first gas field and Santos’ accompanying infrastructure, including a mega water treatment plant.
This is where salts and naturally occurring toxic chemicals are removed from the water brought up to the surface from the coal seam. The processed water is used for irrigation on the green circles, while the salt and chemicals are stored in the dark green evaporation ponds. Although I asked repeatedly, I was unable to find out what happens to the toxic sludge left behind, and it is not mentioned in any of the literature.
The infrastructure was massive, and so was the impact on the area. I didn’t realise how noisy it was until I stopped the car to take photos.
Closer to Miles there was a big wind farm. Yes, they too are big, but with windfarms I see good renewable energy and with gas I see high methane emissions. To me the wind farms win the looks contest every day.
There is nothing hidden about wind and solar farms, whereas there is a high level of security and secrecy around the gas fields. The huge gas infrastructure is usually a long way from public view behind fences. You also can’t see the damage to farms – the sinkholes that have appeared, the impacts on bores, or the damage to aquifers and the water table.
As a farmer’s daughter, the shift away from agriculture in the gasfields was noticeable to me. Many farms appear to have no stock, only gas wells. Farms look neglected and run down but have beautiful new gates, ramps and fences. Farm houses are used by miners but are not looked after.
On my travels I have seen and heard that solar and wind farms are compatible with grazing stock. Wind turbines located in cattle country provide all-weather service roads for farmers to check their stock. Solar panels in sheep country provide shade for sheep and shelter from predatory birds for new-born lambs. The shade helps to retain moisture in the soil and during a dry time a drip line of grass from dew provides feed.
Day 2 Miles Museum, Chinchilla and Condomine
I spent another day in the gas fields, checking out local attractions and talking to a few random people. Money is so persuasive. Gas companies sponsor local sporting groups, and provide money for recreational and community facilities.
The Great Artesian Basin (GAB) Centre, part of the Miles Historical Village Museum, displays interesting information on the formation, use and the crucial role the GAB plays in sustaining life in over a third of Australia. A film and information on the impacts of coal seam gas (CSG) on the GAB was mainly supplied by scientists working for the Centre for Natural Gas at Queensland Uni now called the Gas & Energy Transition Research Centre, which is funded by Santos, Arrow Energy and Australia Pacific LNG. Other funding for the Centre came from Western Downs Regional Council, Origin, Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mining, and Queensland Government Gambling Community Fund.
While at the Museum I spoke to a woman on reception, who lives on a farm with 19 gas wells. Farmers receive compensation for having the wells on their properties. The amount they receive “is dependent on the quality of your lawyer – how much they can negotiate in your contract,” she said. “Some locals made heaps of money, some not so much.”
I asked her about the “boom and bust” cycle in the community. “During the construction phase there was a lot of community concern. House prices skyrocketed, locals couldn’t afford to rent a house. People were unhappy. Tourists avoided the area as there was no accommodation. Now we are in the production phase things have calmed down. House prices have reduced but rents are still relatively high for a small country town. Tourists are starting to return.” She estimates that about fifty percent of the workforce is FIFO.
Later that day a Real Estate Agent told me that during the boom time an average three bedroom house was rented for $2,000/week. Rents then crashed to $250/week, and now they are up to $500/week. “Some greedy southerners who bought at the top of the market took huge losses during this time.” Then she said, “I don’t like the wind and solar – I much prefer the gas”.
This agent also told me that a contract condition of one of the new pipeline companies was that they had to employ 60 local women.
A woman in the bookshop said, “We are only three kilometres out of town so we said no to gas wells, which was pretty stupid because they could just drill under us anyway. The company was pretty good though, they didn’t hassle us. If we didn’t have gas, the town would’ve died long ago.”
Horizontal drilling allows gas companies to have many gas wells on one well pad extracting gas from different directions. Around Chinchilla, where gas drilling started, vertical wells are being replaced with horizontal wells. They can therefore drill under neighbouring properties.
The drive to and around Chinchilla is another level. Everywhere you look there are gas wells – the light coloured patches with connecting maintenance roads. Ironically just out of Chinchilla there is the Blue Grass Solar Farm (red circle). Rather than export the energy it provides power to an estimated 80,000 Australian homes, unlike the gas from the wells to the west which is mostly exported through Gladstone.
Day 3 Dalby and Darling Downs
In Dalby I visited the office of Arrow Energy, a Shell owned company, and just one of many gas companies (including Origin and Santos) extracting CSG in this area.
Arrow Energy’s office has some very slick presentations – models, photos and information. I was chaperoned around the room by a woman who had worked there for ten years. I asked “What happens to the salts and the other toxic things extracted from the water?”
“They are left in the evaporation reservoirs.”
“But what if the reservoirs fill up?”
“They are big reservoirs.”
Obviously they have no idea what to do or how to dispose of these toxins. This is a major worry.
I then drove through the Darling Downs. Here the protest signs started. These beautiful productive black soil plains are, like our NSW Liverpool Plains, under threat of gas.
Conclusion
I’m so glad I did this drive – I always thought that stopping coal seam gas projects was only about emissions and climate change, but it is far more than that. It is about the loss of community, the high security, the upheaval of the boom and bust. The juggernaut once started just keeps rolling and is impossible to stop.
Exports account for 80-90 percent of the gas from these wells. During the construction phase is when most of the CO2 emissions occur, but due to infrastructure leaks methane continues to be released into the atmosphere.
“Australia exports around 35 times more gas than would be needed to cover any potential “shortage” in South-East Australia. Australia does not need more gas.” The Australia Institute
We need to stop the Pilliga State Forest becoming another Condamine State Forest.
