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Communities, water, and climate take back seat as Queensland Government sacrifices more land for fossil gas

The Queensland Government’s decision to sacrifice more land to coal seam gas threatens the state’s food and water security and will fuel dangerous climate change.

Media is reporting the government has released six new tenements for gas exploration across the state, five of which would be for export.

According to the State Government’s most recent publicly available figures, at least 16,499 coal seam gas wells have been drilled in Queensland, and granted petroleum leases cover at least 3.5 million hectares of the state. 

Since its rapid expansion began in the mid 2000s, the industry has impacted hundreds of water bores used for farming and caused large areas of productive farmland to sink as the extraction of water and gas from the coal seams creates subsidence.

Lock the Gate Alliance National Coordinator Ellen Roberts said, “Coal seam gas companies are encroaching further into the state’s best farmland, wreaking havoc on our land, water, and fueling dangerous climate change.

“The drilling of more than 16,000 gaswells in Queensland has done nothing to increase the supply of gas to southern states because the vast majority is for export. This latest round of land sacrifice will do nothing to change that.

“Since it was elected, Queensland Labor has released more land for coal seam gas exploration than the size of the state of Tasmania. Water bores are running dry, cropping country is subsiding, and rural landscapes have been industrialised beyond recognition.

“The wishes of Queensland farmers, who are legally unable to say no to coal seam gas companies, are ignored as gas companies seek to drill and extract more gas for export to countries like Japan, which is now onselling that gas.

“Australians will have the gas industry and complicit state governments to blame for the increasing cost of produce as farmland and water is impacted by coal seam gas.

“The climate crisis is intensifying. Queensland communities are already suffering due to increasingly severe and unpredictable extreme weather events. Governments must stop approving new fossil fuel projects. 

“It’s ironic that at a time when UNESCO is calling on Australian governments to set more ambitious targets in order to save the Great Barrier Reef, the Queensland Government has instead released more land for polluting fossil gas extraction.”

ENDS

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