CAROONA Coal Action Group lobbyist Tim Duddy says the government’s reforms to tighten the science and accountability around coal and coal seam gas (CSG) mining projects represent the biggest breakthrough "by a country mile" he’s seen in six years of debate.
"It’s a very significant announcement," he said of the government’s $200 million reform package to be extracted from the mining resource rent tax (MRRT), including establishment of an independent scientific expert committee (IESC) to oversee CSG assessments.
"When we first entered into this debate we asked that proper science be done before any of these exploration licences were given.
"Now - six years down the track - proper resources are going to be allocated to these studies.
"The mining companies have a habit of getting very favourable outcomes, so having these assessments controlled by a third party umpire is very important for achieving community peace of mind as well.
"There will still be disagreement about how these processes come online, but it’s the most major step that’s happened in a long time."
Mr Duddy said he had no doubt there were "significant risks" attached to CSG and coal mining exploration, having seen how the industry operates in Queensland and the United States.
However, he said the threat wasn’t only in Queensland and NSW, with South Australia also facing similar attacks from determined mining companies, as well as Western Australia’s pristine Margaret River Region.
The new reforms will provide funding for rigorous, independent scientific assessments and, Mr Duddy hoped, change the balance of power - giving mining companies reason to stop and consider the consequences of their actions.
"Really terrible things have occurred in water resources because of this mining," Mr Duddy said.
"I don’t think there is anyone who is a consumptive water user - any town, any irrigator any industry - that could not think it’s a problem.
"There are many unknowns in these mining processes, but what happens currently is the damage is done and the extractors say, ‘well you prove it was us’.
"So farmers have to spend whatever to establish there was harm against a company with unlimited resources.
"This (IESC) will change that balance.
Mr Duddy said CSG was the greatest threat facing regional Australia.
"If we don’t have clean water we can’t live there," he said.
Mr Duddy praised the support given by Independent MP Tony Windsor in helping to achieve the $200m needed to form the IESC, which will have oversight on bio-regional assessments in priority areas for potential CSG projects.
Mr Windsor said his support for the MRRT changed when major CSG company Santos were caught "trivialising" constituents in his New England electorate on the Liverpool Plains.
He said the move by Santos to test-drill for CSG was done in the "full knowledge" the Namoi Catchment Water Study was still underway.
Mr Windsor said the Commonwealth funded the independent study to the tune of about $1.5m, and mining companies BHP, Shenhua and Santos themselves had contributed funds "to gain some independent knowledge about the relationship between the groundwater, the surface water, the flood plain and the Murray-Darling system".
But when Santos decided to proceed without the independent study, people in Mr Windsor’s electorate blockaded the CSG development, supported by Mr Duddy’s group.
Mr Windsor said he had informed Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan that he supported the MRRT, but the Santos move angered him and he changed his position.
He said on the back of Santos’s action, he told the Treasurer he wouldn't support the MRRT until three things happened.
The first was putting the brakes on Santos' "ridiculous action until appropriate scientific rigour can be applied to the process and the area".
Secondly, he asked for independent bio-regional assessments to inject community confidence in the CSG process.
"Currently, the miners have to do that through their exploration licence," he said.
"There is mistrust in the process, because the State is relying on it for money."
Mr Windsor’s third proviso was for the Commonwealth to amend the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, making water a trigger.
"I have had legislation in the parliament on this particular issue since September," he said.
"The Commonwealth can in fact enter the planning process on extractive industries if there is a trigger. Currently, water is not a trigger."
Mr Windsor quoted examples of instances in Queensland where 1200 conditions were placed on a CSG field by the State and 300 from the Commonwealth.
"If you have to place 1500 conditions on anything it says that there is a problem with the process."
"I thank the government and the people I have been negotiating with for the last fortnight, who have been extremely positive in relation to this.
"I think most people - I hope on both sides of the parliament - recognise that there are very real issues here. This is not about playing a political game."
Mr Windsor commented on a number of occasions that it was "an absurdity" that the Federal parliament was trying to design a Murray-Darling plan but was allowing CSG activities to occur.
Mr Duddy didn’t want to speculate on the upcoming draft Murray Darling Basin Plan, but said there was certainly a threat to the Basin’s water supplies from coal and CSG mining that needed greater consideration.
"A bore that used to pump 100,000 gallons of water an hour now only pumps 80,000 an hour and the next year it pumps 60,000 - then it gets salt into it.
"That’s because extractive industries are operating in close proximity without any legislative frame work that identifies those risks," he said.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said although Australia would continue to be a nation that mined coal, "there has clearly been concern from communities about the scientific backdrop - a lot of fear and alarm".
"I think it is important that everyone, including community members themselves, has the benefits of the best possible science," she said on Tuesday in the House of Representatives.
"It has traditionally been within the domain of the Commonwealth government to show scientific leadership for the nation with our great institutions like the CSIRO.
"We will be showing that scientific leadership through this new independent scientific body."
Ms Gillard has asked the Environment and Water Minister to establish an interim IESC before the full arrangements can be put in place, following consultation with the States on committee membership to ensure approvals for extractive licences can be informed by the interim committee as soon as it is operational.
Email a friend