Lock the Gate Alliance has today condemned the Queensland Resource Council’s support for Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) in Queensland despite a history of disastrous environmental breaches in the state.
Lock the Gate Spokesperson Drew Hutton said two out of three UCG trials in Queensland had failed badly and there was track record of a large number of problems with the resource technology globally.
“The Queensland Resource Council’s extraordinary push for UCG is highly reckless and places local communities and the environment at risk,” said Mr Hutton.
“No one could reasonably claim that a fail rate of two out of three is an acceptable threat.
“Is there any mining project, no matter how utterly damaging or flawed, that QRC won't go into bat for?”
“Two of the three UCG trials in Queensland have been taken to court for serious environmental breaches - this is a clear sign that these trials have failed.
“The Palaszczuk Government must take a precautionary approach and urgently introduce a blanket ban on UCG across the state. It’s time for the Government to place the safety of Queensland communities and the environment before the profits of the gas industry.
“Queensland is already living with the dangerous experiment of invasive coal seam gasfields, which were rolled out across large areas of the countryside before proper research was done.
“The people of Queensland must never be used as human guinea pigs ever again, especially for a technology like UCG which has already failed catastrophically” said Mr Hutton