Health Impacts of CSG

People living on lifestyle blocks of 30 to 800 acres just out of Tara in Queensland have been impacted the most by the CSG industry. As some of these blocks are off the grid, houses are powered by solar energy. The blocks are mostly too small to produce an income but owners run a few horses or cattle and grow their own vegetables.

‘Adults, who are sensitive receptors, and most children living in this area, have experienced nose bleeds, headaches, sore eyes, skin rashes and in some cases neuropathy,’ said Karen Auty. ‘A three year old boy runs around normally, then suddenly his limbs go limp, like a rag doll, sometimes lasting for 30 seconds or 20 minutes. The same child has lots of nose bleeds. Some people have breathing difficulties, which may bring on asthma, heart attacks or epilepsy which has not been experienced before.’

Noise & Air Pollution

'Beneficial water' is pumped into the dam
 in the distance for irrigation

Karen Auty from Chinchilla describes the noise generated by the infrastructure. ‘A gas well sits in a paddock on an acre or half an acre block of land that has been cleared, fenced and the ground pounded to give vehicles access. A metal box, like a garden shed, sits beside it housing a couple of diesel generators to keep the gas well going. Some of these are quite close to people’s homes. At night it’s very quiet in the bush so the noise is amplified and it doesn’t stop. You can’t turn the television up high enough and when you want to sleep you have to close your windows. Imagine having three or four noisy diesel engines running every night, 24 hours a day at your neighbour’s place. A gas well is a small piece of infrastructure.’

CSG and the governments revolving door

Yesterday the Sydney Morning Herald published and article by investigations editor, Anne Davies, into state and federal governments' staff and politicians moving into the gas industry and senior staff from gas companies moving into advising roles for ministers. Click here 

When I travelled in Queensland this was an issue that was brought up often. It is commonly believed that the gas companies in Queensland wrote the legislation, handed it to the government and they adopted it. Politicians and government staff know the loopholes and how to get legislation through. The rewards offered are staggering, according to one person I met who had been approached by a mining company. If you have no ethics it’s hard to refuse, but they did.

Save North-West NSW video

Lock the Gate's Video on why people do not want Santos drilling for CSG in North-West NSW is worth a look. Read in my blog about what has happened in Chinchilla in Queensland. More coming soon - it gets worse with air and noise pollution, and the human health impacts. Do we want this in NSW? Most people say NO! I recently visited the Santos site in The Pilliga, the recharge area of the Great Artesian Basin. I saw three areas devastated by spills and the project is not fully operational yet! Let's stop it before it is. Keep asking where are all the salts going.

Roads & Litter

CSG mining around Chinchilla has brought an enormous increase in traffic. Thousands of mine safe utes travel on the back roads and the Warrego Highway. Despite improvements to the highway, it now takes longer to travel to Dalby or Brisbane due in part to the speed limit being reduced from 110 kilometres an hour to 100.

‘The road toll went up by 25 percent in one year,’ said Chinchilla resident, Karen Auty. ‘Many others were injured. People are affected forever and that’s a huge unseen cost to the health system. People, unfamiliar with the area, drive after working very long hours, and go off the road. They are not used to kangaroos, emus and pigs jumping out in front of them. We have lots of 457s here. These overseas workers’ driving skills leave a lot to be desired.’

Chinchilla - Boom to Bust

'Beneficial water' from CSG runs into Chinchilla's water supply

The Chinchilla gas boom only lasted about four years, during the construction phase, which is the greatest employer of people. Major infrastructure, such as pipelines, dams, reverse osmosis plants and water and gas separation facilities were built.

House rental prices soared. Prior to the boom rents were stable. A three bedroom house with two bathrooms rented for $250 a week but this went up to $650-$700 a week. The most expensive, a five bedroom, five bathroom purpose built house cost $1,500 a week.

Chinchilla Before CSG

New well pad near Chinchilla

Karen Auty moved to the town of Chinchilla in Queensland’s Darling Downs in 2007. She was familiar with area as relatives lived there. It was a wealthy town surrounded by multimillion dollar cropping farms, watermelon farms and feed lots for beef cattle. The CSG industry was just starting but was not evident.

‘I moved to Chinchilla because house prices were affordable, the schools had a good name and it was a clean, tidy town with good people and clean country air. It had twelve churches and three pubs and a population of around 4,000. It’s the Bible belt, which is good and bad, but the good side is that you have neighbours you can trust.