Carcinogens found in CSG project

Carcinogens found in CSG project


Benzene, toluene and xylene were discovered during routine tests of 14 bores used to monitor the company's coal seam gas (CSG) dams at the Tipton West and Daandine gas fields near Dalby, Arrow Energy said in a statement on Sunday.

Benzene, toluene, ethylene and xylene (commonly known as BTEX) were outlawed last October in Queensland for use in fracking, a process used in the CSG industry to split rock seams and extract methane.

BTEX can be naturally occurring but are also found in a range of oil-based products.

The level of the chemicals found at Arrow's operations ranged between two parts per billion (ppb) and 16ppb.


The Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management will now study the bores to determine if the level of chemicals is naturally occurring or introduced by the company.


The find is the latest of a string of contaminations in Queensland's CSG industry.

In November last year, the chemicals were found in three of Arrow Energy's CSG wells at Moranbah in central Queensland.

Also last year, Cougar Energy's pilot underground coal gasification plant near Kingaroy was shut down by the state government after benzene and toluene were found at just two parts per billion in nearby bores.

Drew Hutton from Friends of the Earth said the level of chemicals at Arrow's operations was considerably higher than the level at which Cougar was shut down.

Mr Hutton said the probable source of the chemicals was the coal seam itself and it was likely the chemicals were mobilised by the CSG extraction process.

"(It) is another example of alarm bells going off about the coal seam gas industry," he said.

A Senate inquiry is examining the impact of CSG on the economy, society and environment.

On Saturday, billionaire miner Clive Palmer, who intends to oversee a multi-billion-dollar expansion in the state's Galilee thermal coal basin, lashed out at the industry.

Mr Palmer said overseas companies were concerned that Australian CSG miners were not as skilled or trained, nor had the same technological background, as their overseas counterparts.

"The risk if they don't get that right is the contamination of the water table with things like arsenic and other carcinogens," he said.

"We don't want that to happen because that affects stock and it could affect human life when we're eating the stock and drinking the water."

Meanwhile, Katter's Australian Party announced in Friday it would put a 12-month moratorium on the industry, give landholders the right to refuse entry to mining companies and make the Great Artesian Basin a no-go zone.

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