There seems some conjecture around at the moment about the extraction of gas from farmlands whilst running the potential of polluting the underground aquifers once damaged the ramifications are immense on the production of crops. It also seems that the political consensus is divided once again , is the opposition really opposing it based on ethical grounds or is it another way of Just being the opposition ? either way I just do not trust the processes in place when the consequences can be so dire. On lighter note I hear there is a process called a horizontal "fracking" I would assume it can also be done in other positions as well.
Many problems are arising related to fracking in the US. They've started doing it in the eastern states here aswell. It is not a very environmentally friendly way to extract gas from the ground.
Seems like a pretty industry specific Question to the petro chem exploration /drilling industry
Is this the same procedure as for coal seam gas extraction ?
plenty of that fraccup about to occure in sth gippsland, to run power hungry Desal.
"The Horse Has Already Bolted" on this one. There are a few major players already spending multiple millions of dollars, with full commitment to ramp up to a few billion, each. I'm referring to the Surat Basin in Queensland, in a region all around Roma, QLD, plus the pipelines up to Gladstone, and the Gladstone Liquified Natural Gas Plant (GLNG).
Fracking isn't always required.
Yes, the world isn't perfect, and the Coal Seam Gas Industry has some issues...
But most people in the entire world, including developing nations, want most of the following - iPhone, computer, wireless internet, a nice car, a nice home, a vacuum cleaner, and bicycle, and other toys / worldly possessions.... Associated with all of these items is energy consumption! LNG & Coal Seam Gas is part of this equation....
LNG (Liquified Natural Gas - which is the end product from Coal Seam Gas) - is easy to transport and store. It compresses to I think 1/600th of Natural Gas.
However, there are probably some future Coal Seam Gas Projects with "question marks" over whether they will get up and going....http://www.glng.com.au/ (a market player - Gladstone LNG Plant)
www.santos.com/coal-seam-gas.aspx (a market player)
www.qgc.com.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=305 (a market player)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquefied_natural_gas
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalbed_methane (Coal Seam Gas)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fracturing (fracking)
whilst there is a need to explore new possibilities of power sourcing, there is also a need to harness that activity until the safety of such is guaranteed and to mitigate future environmental impacts, when the use of chemicals such as Benzene, Toulene, Xylene together with many others are utilized into the process of Fracking then my own personal alarm bells ring. There are many other concoctions of chemicals used in the process that are not divulged with drilling companies citing 'trade secrets'
Given Australia's climate and the potential for long lasting droughts, the last thing that communities need is contaminated water and the chemicals used have an alarming potential to do such. I just think there is as always a short sighted vision propelled by the stealth of large companies in the guise of job creation.... albeit in the health industries
If we were serious we would ban some things. Things we don't need like:
Bottled water. We have a water supply but if you want more "pure", we have rain and filters so go buy yourself a rainwater tank. But noooo, in addition to the infrastructure and energy used to supply everyone with water to drink, we also use energy to make plastic bottles and truck it all over the country. Waste.
Little things that have changed like the foam trays we get meat in. The absorber thing used to be separate. You could throw that away after eating the meat, then wash the tray and re-use it. Now the absorber is incorporated into the foam tray but still using the same amount of materials, so the tray is useless after being used one time. Further, I doubt they can be recyled now as the foam tray contains blood.
Or like how you used to go and buy butter or meat or whatever (long before my time) and they cut you a chunk and you took it home. Now it is in boxes or wrappers etc. More wasted energy and fossil fuels to make it.
Look at Maccas. Used to be burgers wrapped in one piece of peper. Now it is boxes which have better presentation but do we need them? 3x more material used for no tangible result. More wasted energy.
Ban black roofs on houses. Legislate a requirement for eaves. All new houses have to have raiwater tanks.
No Govt has the balls though. They'd rather tax carbon.
from what i ve heard, most of the fuss is over gas and coal exploration and not acctually mining. The biggest impact of the the exploration process is a very deep hole in the ground somewhere around 200mm in diameter. also the vast majority of ground water in aus is completely useless for watering crops or drinking
"Engineering is the art of modelling materials we do not wholly understand into shapes we cannot precisely analyse to resist loads we cannot properly assess in such a way that the community has no reason to suspect the extent of our ignorance."
- President, Scottish Branch - Institute of Engineering UK, 1946
c'mon.....what could go wrong??
Bluedog that sounds more like a marketing campaign than an explanation! , the marketing of spin, most companies indulge, When I feel unwell I might go to the spin doctor