Coal seam gas
In the past couple of decades, Queensland’s natural gas – primarily methane CH4 – has been extracted from coal seams by drilling and hence releasing pressure, allowing water and gas to rise to the surface. This process is distinct from the extraction of natural gas from oil or gas wells as in Bass Strait or north-western Australia.
This page is dedicated to providing public access to authoritative reports on the coal seam gas industry west of Brisbane.
Scientific article
The irreversible damage that mining for coal seam gas can wreak on cropping land through subsidence was a highlight of a scientific paper published by four members of The Royal Society of Queensland in 2022. Coal Seam Gas Mining: An Assault on Farming Land, Water Resources and Property Rights. This paper was published in Proceedings of The Royal Society of Queensland, Volume 131, 2022. See also Supplemental Material supporting the scientific paper. https://doi.org/10.53060/prsq.2022-06. DOI reference.
Community Leaders’ Panel 2021
One of the citations in the Dart et al paper was a panel discussion held on 28 April 2021. A transcript of the section of the discussion cited is available and a video of that session has been posted on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSbfuWNQ_KY&t=51s
The commencement of the discussion is also on YouTube: https://youtu.be/3rr3n2dk7E8. The accompanying text explains the context:
“This is the first in a series of keynote speaker presentations taken from the GasFields Commission’s ‘2021 Community Leaders Council’… GasFields Commission Queensland welcomed a cross section of its stakeholders to participate in their annual Community Leaders Council. The Commission hosted senior leaders of industry, executives from state and local government, regional mayors, representatives from academia and the heads of relevant industry peak bodies. The Commission’s Community Leaders Council is a high-level forum that is used as a catalyst to help drive increased collaboration, strategic problem solving and honest dialogue relating to the most pressing coexistence issues being faced within Queensland’s onshore gas industry. The theme of the 2021 Community Leaders Council was “Cultivating Coexistence – learning from experiences, facing challenges and harnessing future opportunities.””
Press coverage
Lead author Dr Dart issued a press release in late September. The ABC gave an account of this threat in a news piece published on 8 October 2022 and Queensland Country Life on 11 October.