Today's decision by TRUenergy to invest in the building of two gas-fired power stations in Queensland will do very little to reduce Queensland's soaring greenhouse gas emissions.
Lock the Gate Alliance president Drew Hutton said the evidence was mounting that coal seam gas has a carbon footprint that perhaps equals coal.
"Research done in both the US and Australia indicates that, when you go beyond just burning the gas in a power station and factor in as well, the energy requirements for producing the gas, the tree clearing involved and the fugitive emissions at all stages of the production process, coal seam gas produces an awful lot of carbon dioxide," Mr Hutton said.
"Even Citigroup which based its calculations on the companies' own figures concluded that coal seam gas, especially when converted to LNG at Gladstone and burnt in power stations, created between 70 and 100 percent of the greenhouse emissions of coal-fired power stations.
"The Queensland government is using spin to try to sell an export coal seam gas industry which could well destroy groundwater systems, disrupt agriculture, return Queensland to scandalously high rates of land clearing, cause ecosystem collapse in Gladstone Harbour and do very little, if anything, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"This whole exercise by the Bligh government is a con trick on the people of Queensland."