The Coal Seam Gas Extraction Environmental Sciences Essay Free Essay Example

Introduction to Santos

Santos was an acronym for South Australia Northern Territory Oil Search. It was founded in 1954 and has been active in the energy concern for more than 50 old ages. Nowadays, Santos is one of the largest manufacturers of natural gas for the Australian domestic market. Santos is a listed company and it has approximately 2800 employees working across its operations in Australia and Asia. Furthermore, Santos had achieves one of Australia ‘s Top 30 companies in March 2011 because it had made a entire market capitalisation of about $ 13 billion.

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Besides, Santos is more focus the oil and liquids concerns in all mainland Australian provinces and the Northern Territory. Besides that, Santos is prosecuting a transformational liquified natural gas ( LNG ) scheme.

Coal Seam Gas Extraction

This entry addresses the concerns of is it the procedure of Coal Seam Gas ( CSG ) extraction is unsafe to wellness, land and community and accuse authorities of puting the involvement of mining companies above those of citizens. In fact, they is big sums of H2O are used in the procedure of the CSG extraction and it contains a big sums of salt in the waste H2O and solid waste from the procedure.

Besides that, the chemicals used in the fracking procedure to pull out the CSG can do dirt taint if the CSG well are broke and it may increase C pollution which may impact our healthy. Further, the excavation company does n’t hold the legal entree to private belongings and boring on that belongings even though authorities provides licenses to them, it still necessitate to follow the ordinance under the Petroleum ( Onshore ) Act with the landowners.

Key Development

National Water Commission ( NWC ) ( NWC, 2010 ) was identified five countries of possible hazard to sustainable H2O direction for the impact of CSG developments:

There had an impact on affiliated surface and groundwater systems when pull outing big volumes of low-quality H2O.

By holding alterations in force per unit areas of next aquifers with eventful alterations in H2O handiness, decreases in surface H2O flows in affiliated systems, land remission over big countries, ecosystems, etc, the impacts on other H2O users and the environment may happen.

It has the possible to alter the good usage features of those aquifers if the reinjection of treated waste H2O into other aquifers.

It has a impacts on groundwater quality and the possible to bring on connexion and cross-contamination between aquifers if attempt to increase gas end product by pattern of hydraulic fracturing.

It will impact the natural flow forms and have important impacts on H2O quality if the production of big volumes of treated waste H2O released to come up H2O systems. The ‘clean H2O ‘ pollution of of course cloudy systems besides may happen if the H2O is excessively treated.

Finally, the Australian Government was administers two pieces of statute law relevant to the CSG industry which are the Environment protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 ( EPBC ACT ) and Water Act 2007. ( Australian Government Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities: Coal seam gas blessings – Frequently asked inquiries n.d. ) to seek to avoid those possible hazard.

Water extraction and depletion of H2O resources

Based on the NWC estimated, Australia CSG could pull out about 300 gigalitres per twelvemonth. In contrast, the current entire extraction from the Great Artesian Basin is about 540A GL per twelvemonth. ( National Water Commission, 2011 ) Therefore, CSG industries are cut downing the H2O resources and it may had an impact on affiliated surface and groundwater systems.

However, CSG companies argued that instead than consuming the sum of available H2O, the CSG industry could increase the H2O available for all users. For illustration, Santos ( 2011, pp. 6 ) argued that the extracted coal seam gas H2O will be treated in rearward osmosis workss that will bring forth H2O that can be utilized for irrigation, town H2O and other utilizations in the country. In other words, Santos will bring forth H2O available for agribusiness in the countries in which we operate. Besides that, Santos was found out the intervention of CSG H2O could ensue in 5GL per twelvemonth, which increase the H2O available in northwesterly New South Wales, and has possible to increase agricultural production in the country by 1 % .

Disposal of green goods H2O and solid waste

For disposal of green goods H2O, CSG H2O usually will handling it to a high criterion to let utilizing for re-injecting treated H2O into aquifers, top-up local H2O supplies, agribusiness, irrigation for farming land or let to flux into natural drainage. For illustrations, Mr. Baulderstone, Santos ‘ Vice President for Eastern Australia province that ‘I think one of the really strong advantages that Santos has is that we have been making this for 15 old ages. I can take you to our countries in Queensland, where right now we are running those rearward osmosis workss, where right now we are shooting H2O into town aquifers, and where right now we are supplying produced H2O to husbandmans to water harvests and some thousand caput of cowss are feeding off those harvests right now. So the ground we are so confident about these procedures is that we really do it now ‘ . ( Mr. Baulderstone, grounds, p6 ) . This show that the CSG H2O still can be reuse after treated.

Furthermore, solid waste is the waste that removes from the CSG H2O after the procedure of contrary osmosis. Normally, the CSG Company will utilize the landfill method to dispose the important sums of solid waste. However, Santos was set abouting a survey of the ‘commercial and proficient feasibleness of seawater disposal ‘ to polish it whether the full reinjection into a geological formation is possible or non. Furthermore, to avoid the CSG Company merely cover with the solid waste, the Government should non O.K. any CSG activity without a solid waste direction program included in the relevant blessing.

The Cleaner Energy and the Process of Coal Seam Gas Extraction

CSG is one of the cleanest of fossil fuels. It can assist to cut down the nursery emanation in Australia. Besides that, it is up to 70 % fewer nursery gas emanations than other bing coal coevals engineering when utilizing to generated electricity. Harmonizing to APPEA web site, up to 4.3 metric tons of emanation are avoided in the CSG-LNG production procedure for every metric tons of CO2 emanation when gas is used alternatively of coal for power coevals. For illustration, it can avoid more than 32 million metric tons of planetary CO2 emanations each twelvemonth if the CSG-LNG undertaking exports at least 10 million metric tons of LNG to China per annum. These mean that CSG has a important function to play in cut downing nursery gas emanations.

For the procedure of the CSG extraction, the industry province that hydraulic fracturing is good established, tightly regulated and has been used internationally for more than 60 old ages and for 15 old ages in Australia. Furthermore, to counter claim that fluid is a unsafe cocktail of volatile organic including benzine, methylbenzene, ethyl benzine and xylene, known as BTEX, CSG manufacturers claims that the Queensland and NSW have already banned the usage of BTEX and the chemicals in usage are common in Australia which besides have released a list of the compound used in Australia.

In add-on, the CSG industry besides province that the CSG Wellss are cased with cement and steel to forestall gas or other substances leaking into H2O aquifers. By probes in the UK and US, this procedure show to be safe. Therefore, the procedure of CSG extraction of the chemicals used and will do dirt taint merely are n’t true, as this research shows.

Legal rights of landowners

The excavation company does n’t hold legal entree to private belongings and boring on that belongings even though the authorities provides licence. This is because under the Petroleum ( Onsbore ) Act 1991, it contains the commissariats to protect landholder right during the geographic expedition and production phases. For illustration, it must function with a written notice detailing the licence holder ‘s purpose to obtain an entree understanding if a licence holder seeks to come in a belongings.

Besides that, most of the CSG companies are non implementing their entree rights, therefore contradicting the demand for landowners to hold an absolute right to veto. One of the illustration is Mr. Kelemen ( 2008 ) said that “ From our many old ages of operating in Queensland, Santos is respectful of landowners and their demands and we seek to understate any break or incommodiousness associated with geographic expedition, ” . Furthermore, Mr. Richard Shields, External Relations Manager of Metgasco ( 2011, p39 ) besides province that ‘history to day of the month is that if a husbandman did non wish to continue so we have respected those positions and we have looked for other landowners to take part in the industry ‘ .

This is because it is a benefit to hold strong relationships with landowners to derive repute where we are seen as really much working together with the landowners. ( Mr. de Weijer, 2011: p67 )

Decision

This entry has presented research and grounds that supports the procedure of coal seam gas extraction to go on. The impression of carry oning a reappraisal of the jurisprudence related to the CSG was non unequal. The recommendation is to present the solution of the job in the procedure of CSG extraction to the populace for cut downing argue and accuse of the procedure. Besides, authorities should purely for the blessing of CSG extraction to all CSG companies to forestall the job occurs. It should include all the solution of the job will confront in CSG activity in the relevant blessing for acquiring the authorities blessing.