Conservation council screams for fracking regulation

New state government regulations on coal seam gas mining are not strict enough, according to the Nature Conservation Council of NSW.

The announcement made last week, has extended the moratorium on fracking until the end of this year, and banned the use of BTEX chemicals.

Pepe Clarke, executive officer of the Nature Conservation Council says temporary bans do not go far enough.

“Fracking is a highly toxic process that poses serious risks to our drinking water supplies, local wildlife and their habitat and human health… Given all these uncertainties, we need to have a moratorium on all coal seam drilling, full stop.’’

Mr Clarke said the banning of BTEX chemicals, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene, is a step in the right direction, however many other dangerous chemicals involved in fracking are still free to be used.

“In reality, you’re still talking about millions of litres highly saline and hydro carbonated water pumped to the surface. The water is toxic, it is in a dry environment. I have seen pictures of a dead kangaroo floating in one of these ponds. A few years ago, one of these ponds overflowed and spread throughout the surrounding bushland. To this day, it hasn’t grown back’’

Minister for Resources and Energy, Chris Hartcher said ‘tough new rules’ introduced this month showed communities that they have a ‘receptive ear in the NSW government.’

“We understand there needs to be a balance between agricultural land and mining and we’re determined to get that balance right.”

This balance has been ignored by the gas mining industry, according to a report released earlier this month by the Northern Inland Council for the Environment, The Wilderness Society and the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, entitled Under the Radar.

The report found coal seam gas operations in the Pilliga scrub has seen more than 150 hectares of bushland cleared, and fragmented more than 1700 hectares.

This occurs on land that is home for 15 nationally threatened species. The report said Eastern Star Gas Company, which conducts the mining in the Pilliga, had not made a satisfactory effort to lessen their environmental impact on the area.