Farmers have vowed to fight back after the Crisafulli Government approved the construction of a huge new polluting coal seam gas processing facility for export on the edge of some of Queensland’s most productive farming country and mere kilometres from the town of Cecil Plains.
The state’s Environment Department approved the “Lynwood field compressor station” last month, however people who made submissions against the project were only informed this week. Approval documents are available here.
Community members say the project threatens the health of nearby residents and the approval represents another free pass for Arrow Energy, a joint venture between Shell and PetroChina that sends gas to the export-focused QCLNG gas project.
Farmers also fear Arrow Energy will use the approval of the compressor station to justify the expansion of coal seam gas wells on the prime agricultural land surrounding Cecil Plains, some of the highest quality cropping land in the State, which has so far been spared the intensive CSG drilling that has occurred throughout much of inland Queensland.
Locals oppose the project because it will:
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Release particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide which threaten human health (Table 4.2).
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Operate 24 hours, seven days a week, increasing traffic, light, and noise levels
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Create 1.2 million tonnes of direct greenhouse gas pollution (See table 4.12).
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Involve the construction of four compressor units, its own gas-fired power station, a multi-point ground flare, and the disturbance of about 33 hectares.
Cecil Plains farmer and spokesperson for community group Save Our Darling Downs Liza Balmain said, “It’s wildly inappropriate for the government to grant approval for this massive new export-oriented gas processing facility, so close to a rural town and its 400 residents, when there have been no local health studies done on the impact its noxious emissions will have on locals. Similar projects in other parts of the world have led to serious local health impacts including circulatory, respiratory and cardiovascular illness.
“Intensive coal seam gas drilling and processing plants are not appropriate in this peaceful farming community. It risks upending our rural lifestyles and turning this region into a toxic industrialised zone. Our current air quality and rural amenities are greatly valued, but they will be completely turned on their head with the increased traffic, noise, and noxious emissions this facility will create.
"The residents of Cecil Plains and surrounds look set to become the latest crash test dummies in the blind health impact experiment that is forced gasfield ‘coexistence’.
"There is no public air quality monitoring whatsoever occurring in the gasfields of inland Queensland. The QLD Government is putting the lives of regional residents at risk of adverse health outcomes by not ensuring the adequate monitoring and measurement of toxic air pollutants. We demand an air quality monitoring station be built near the Lynwood gas plant so that the public can at least monitor that the air they and their children are breathing does not fall outside appropriate safety limits. Cost should be no barrier when it comes to public health and wellbeing.
"The Crisafulli government should take the long-term health of regional residents seriously and carry out an independent, comprehensive, peer-reviewed, health impact investigation of the coal seam gas industry on the regional residents of Queensland, especially as this industry expands into the more densely populated areas of the Darling Downs. This is well overdue and critical to any public interest assessment.”
Lock the Gate Alliance spokesperson and South Burnett farmer Nick Holliday said the approval made a mockery of the Crisafulli Government's pre-election promise to protect the Condamine Alluvium from new coal seam gas drilling.
“It’s now been almost a year since Condamine MP Pat Weir promised to protect farmland and the precious groundwater source that sustains agriculture in this district from polluting coal seam gas drilling, yet all this government has done has been to approve a massive new gas processing plant.
“The LNP has made a significant commitment to protect the Condamine Alluvium. If this government is serious about honouring that commitment, the time to act is now.”
Lock the Gate and Save Our Darling Downs will seek an internal review of the decision.
ENDS