‘Minimal harm' from gas line

A BURIED coal-seam gas pipeline that will run through Kyogle will cause minimal impact on the environment and create hundreds of jobs, Metgasco CEO Peter Henderson told a Murwillumbah Chamber of Commerce business breakfast yesterday.

Mr Henderson’s company is planning to develop the Lion’s Way Pipeline to link the company’s gas fields in Casino with customers based in south-east Queensland.

The 145km pipeline will run through Kyogle, south-west of Murwillumbah.

Many farmers in northern and western NSW are angry about proposals to extract coal-seam gas from their land, and have joined a mass campaign to lock their gates in the face of resources companies.

The Lock the Gate Alliance claims state and federal governments actively encourage the industry, with little regard for community welfare.

Mr Henderson claims coal-seam gas mining poses no risk of contamination to water or soil and that the proposed pipeline would cause minimal impact on the environment, with disturbed land being restored to its former state once the laying of the pipe had been achieved.

“The pipeline will be buried for its entire length, typically to depths of 900mm-1500mm, ” Mr Henderson said.

“The project will establish a major new industry in the North Coast of NSW and create approximately 180 jobs.”

A recent report in the Sydney press claimed the coal-seam gas industry had conceded that “extraction will inevitably contaminate aquifers”.

The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association told a public meeting in Sydney that “good management could minimise the risks of water contamination, but never eliminate them”.

The admissions came before the start of the first public hearing in NSW, held in Narrabri on August 2, of a Senate inquiry into the effects of coal-seam gas mining.

The Senate Rural Affairs and Transport References Committee’s inquiry is examining whether CSG extraction will impact water resources, agricultural land values and the future of regional towns.

A national day of action against the controversial form of gas mining has been called by the Lock the Gate Alliance following its national annual general meeting in Murwillumbah in June.