Crunching CSG numbers

While councils and governments wait for parliamentary inquiries and independent scientific reports on the effects of CSG mining, local Kyogle landowner Richard Deem has been making his own investigations into the effects of Metgasco's Richmond Valley Power Station.

Mr Deem has been trawling through Metgasco's reports on the power station and gave a presentation of his findings to the Casino Group Against Gas last Thursday evening, December 15.

"Each drill hole will need 50,000 litres of water, so for the 45 wells, that would amount to 2.25 million litres of water sourced from either from previous drilling or from the town water supply," Mr Deems said.

He said according to the figures in Metgasco's 2008 environmental assessment, the amount of produced water (water that comes back up from the wells and contains salt and chemicals) would be 214,000 litres per day "for the initial wells" which would be put into 30 acres of evaporation ponds. The assessment suggests that the salt would be concentrated at a level of 2000 mg/L that will "accumulate over time" in the ponds over the life of the project and then "when the proponent's gas extraction operations are finished, the pond will be allowed to evaporate, the liner with the salt inside will be folded up and properly disposed of via an appropriately licensed landfill."

Mr Deem said this could be hundreds of tonnes of salt and he wondered exactly how and where it will be disposed. He also questioned Metgasco's use of evaporation ponds, which were banned by the NSW Government in July this year for new CSG projects.

"It seems clear that Metgasco will persist with its plans to manage contaminated water using evaporation ponds which have now been outlawed by the NSW Government because they leak and overflow, they concentrate toxic chemicals, they poison wildlife and they tend to languish in the environment for a long time," Mr Deem said.

He also said the ponds and power station are located in a 'high isolation' flood prone area and that the gas field's location half a kilometre from Casino's southern suburbs and the Casino Village RV Resort would cause conflict with the neighbours.

"There will be an industrialised gas field operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the next 15 years with heavy truck traffic, air pollution, lights, noise from pumps, compressors and 10 gas engines to drive the generators... Nearby residents will have to put up with shimmering light and chemical pollution," Mr Deem said.

Metgasco spokesperson Richard Shields said the company was currently "considering a number of options" in relation to produced water.

"One of the options available will allow the produced water to be treated for sale to local industries. We believe that sodium bicarbonate, which is widely used for industrial applications throughout Australia, will also have a commercial market," he said.

Mr Shields added that the power station was 2.5 kilometres from the RV village and wouldn't create noise and light problems for residents.

"The Richmond Valley Power Station will generate electricity from gas rather than from coal and will result in the production of up to 70% less greenhouse gas emissions than traditional means. The Richmond Valley Power Station will provide clean, reliable and locally produced electricity," he said.