More about the Coal and Gas vs Agriculture
Over the weekend there was a lot about the coal and gas industry on the A-PAC on Sky News and much of it was very disturbing.
I want to say up front that I am not a greenie protester and I am certainly not anti mining – we need many of the materials we mine for our day to day lives. However it must be done sustainably so that people’s health is not harmed and so that the water tables and farmland are not damaged.
Once the coal has been mined it is gone. The farms need to be retained because they are what feed us and as our population inevitably grows we will need more food. And equally our water needs to be clean and unpolluted. In my view the food that comes from places like the Darling Downs is far more valuable than the coal and gas beneath it.
Listening to the stories of the people of Opie, Kingaroy and Toowoomba was at the very least disturbing; people who cannot sell their houses or their farms to anyone other than the mining companies; who cannot upgrade their houses in the towns to attempt to keep out the coal dust because the banks say they no longer lend in a town where there is no resale value for a house and stories of incidents where the families were inhaling benzene and toluene.
There are huge networks of gas wells, pipes and roads making farming very difficult. At present this is mainly in cattle country which does make mustering more difficult but if the approved mines go ahead in valuable cropping land this will making cropping unviable.
I know that the coal industry recognise they only have around a 30 year window to continue to mine coal and I wonder if they are simply going all out before the deadline. This is an understandable approach IF they are doing it totally sustainably but it is hard to see how huge open cut mines in prime farming land will not damage the future cropping ability.,
Then there is both coal seam gas and fracking which was the subject of other recent meetings in both Queensland and Sydney and also aired on Sky’s A-PAC channel.
I do not know the truth here but with fracking I have deep concerns about something that France and several US States have banned.
Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association spokesman Ross Dunn, who told a public hearing in Sydney that good management could not eliminate the risk of contaminating water aquifers. “Drilling will, to varying degrees, impact on adjoining aquifers,” Mr Dunn was quoted in The Sydney Morning Herald as saying. “The extent of impact and whether the impact can be managed.
It would be good to see those responsible in court for every water pollution misdemeanour however small with large fines and even jail time for causing serious environmental damage. At present it appears that cash strapped governments are turning a blind eye to a lot of problems. Sounds almost like a cash strapped third world country. Is turning a blind eye or going a bit easy on the people paying most bordering on corruption?
Our land and water is everyone’s land and water and it also belong to our children and grandchildren. I am a grandmother and I have seen huge changes in our environment during my lifetime and I am concerned for the future of my grandchildren in this crazy world.
It would be good to know that there are suitable requirements for rehabilitation of all land and removal of all pipelines and other infrastructure that is not needed for farming and a cast iron guarantee the rehabilitation will be to productive farmland not merely growing hardy native plants which is how more mine rehabilitation generally works.
My take on all business is that it needs to be sustainable and I differ enormously from green protesters because I work with companies to help them become more sustainable and I am certainly not anti mining so long as it is run as a sustainable business that does not damage people’s health, water tables and farmland.
Jean is an award winning small business management expert. She gives you the almost paperless ISO Quality, Safety and Environment certification that protects your business and saves you time and money. For more information go tohttp://www.integratedisosystems.com
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