A new study released this week by the University of Queensland outlines a concerning number of negative impacts of coal seam gas mining in regional areas. The results came from three local government areas and local surveys aimed at identifying what the community needs were in the face of CSG developments.
"This study aimed to find out what Queensland communities’ needs were in the face of the coal seam gas developments, and it found an avalanche of concerns and negative impacts," said Naomi Hogan from the Lock the Gate Alliance.
"It revealed reports that CSG impacted the local water supply and fishing, caused noise pollution, poor mental health in workers and forced communities to deal with increases in drug taking, alcohol abuse and local crime.
"The research demonstrates the myriad of deleterious impacts that CSG can cause to social, economic and environmental health, affecting local residents in a compounding way.
"With thousands more coal seam gas wells already approved in QLD, the state government is overdue to wake up to the detrimental impacts these gasfields are having on the health and wellbeing of local residents and start taking action to avoid harm.
"This study is a cry for help from many of the gasfield impacted communities across Queensland. All levels of government need to do more to protect their residents from unsafe coal seam gas mining.
"These negative impacts should inspire our elected leaders into taking action to protect families and workers in QLD.
"No wonder other communities across Australia are fighting to remain gasfield free in the face of these violent and disruptive impacts from the CSG industry,” she said.
Full report by the University of QLD online here: https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-017-4568-1