COAL seam gas mining will destroy Australia’s aquifers, in particular the Great Artesian Basin, by reducing water levels in the bores and feeder streams, destroy Australia’s waterways by allowing toxic water to mix with fresh water (“The coal seam gas industry has conceded that extraction will inevitably contaminate aquifers”, The Sydney Morning Herald last Wednesday), and poison the atmosphere from methane gas leakage.

The general population does not realise that the gas from this form of mining is methane, not carbon dioxide.

Once the bore holes are drilled, the mining company can’t control the release of feral methane. Methane is 25 times more detrimental to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.

As indicated by Cornell University, 8 per cent of the methane from a well will be lost during the life of the well, with this gas being a much worse pollutant than carbon dioxide.

Gas-powered power stations, together with these wells, will produce more pollutants than coal-fired power stations.

Gas seam mining uses about 290 different chemicals during the drilling process.

This mixes with the water used and 70 per cent of this is returned to the Earth’s surface.

High-pressure grout is used to seal the test bores, but it is impossible to control this grout at a depth of 1.4km below the surface.

In America, gas well drillers are now using up to four steel casings per well.

Once coal seam gas exploration is established in an area, property values halve (if you can sell your place at all) and equity with the banks is destroyed.

Too many accidents are happening with coal seam gas mining and too much land is being polluted and destroyed.

Many valleys in Queensland and America have been destroyed.

Did you realise that the movie Erin Brockovich was made about the consequences of gas seam extraction in America?

Wake up, Australia, and ban this insidious form of mining completely, before it’s too late.