Channel Country
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CHANNEL COUNTRY AT THE CROSSROADS The Risks of Unconventional Gas Mining for Land, Water and Life ISBN: 978-1-68419-085-0 Western Rivers Alliance acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Lake Eyre Basin. This report is copyright to the Western Rivers Alliance, September 2016. Cover photo credit: Helen Kidd CONTENTS FOREWORD .................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Conventional oil and gas mining in the Channel Country ................................................................ 5 Unconventional gas mining in the Channel Country .......................................................................... 7 About this Report ........................................................................................................................................... 9 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 10 About the Western Rivers Alliance ........................................................................................................ ..11 AUSTRALIA’S UNCONVENTIONAL GAS INDUSTRY .......................................................................................... 12 Unconventional gas mining in the Cooper Basin ............................................................................... 14 THE LAKE EYRE BASIN AND THE CHANNEL COUNTRY Lake Eyre Basin ............................................................................................................................................. 16 Natural values ............................................................................................................................... 16 People and land uses ................................................................................................................. 18 The Channel Country .................................................................................................................................. 18 Natural values ............................................................................................................................... 18 People and land uses ................................................................................................................. 19 THE RISKS OF UNCONVENTIONAL GAS MINING Geological risks Well failures .................................................................................................................................. 20 High water demand ................................................................................................................... 20 Water and soil contamination ................................................................................................ 20 Earthquakes ................................................................................................................................ 22 Human health risks ..................................................................................................................................... 22 Livestock health risks ................................................................................................................................. 23 Wildlife risks ................................................................................................................................................. 24 The need for more independent research .......................................................................................... 24 Risks for the Channel Country and the Lake Eyre Basin .................................................................. 26 Laws, policies and politics Federal laws ................................................................................................................................... 30 Queensland law and policy........................................................................................................ 31 Incidents in Australia .................................................................................................................. 32 Queensland politics and the Channel Country's wild rivers .......................................... 33 THE ECONOMICS OF UNCONVENTIONAL GAS .............................................................................................. 35 Employment ................................................................................................................................................. 36 Gas prices ...................................................................................................................................................... 37 WHAT THE WESTERN RIVERS ALLIANCE CALLS FOR ..................................................................................... 38 GLOSSARY ..................................................................................................................................................................... 40 FURTHER READING ..................................................................................................................................................... 41 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................................. 42 FOREWORD Dr Bob Morrish The Channel Country’s rivers and wetlands and their surrounding landscapes have long been recognised for their ecological, scientific, aesthetic and cultural values, and for their superb natural contribution to a clean and green extensive pastoral industry. The Australian They form the northern and eastern catchments of the Image: Lake Eyre Basin, the last great unregulated and unpolluted desert river system – a magnificent and vast region of natural beauty in a world where nature has shrunk alarmingly as a consequence of human industrialisation, urbanisation and over-population. Within the past 50 to 60 years, however, the hitherto largely undisturbed landscapes of the Channel Country have undergone continual encroachment by oil and gas exploration and production. This activity has so far been chiefly focused in the Cooper Creek floodplains and surrounding desert of northeast South Australia and far southwest Queensland. CONVENTIONAL OIL AND GAS MINING IN THE CHANNEL COUNTRY Pastoralists and scattered communities in the Cooper Creek Channel Country and the desert catchments of Lake Eyre are no strangers to the conventional oil and gas industry tapping the Cooper and Eromanga geological basins. There have been disturbing incidents. The Santos Zeus Field oil spill of 2013 made national headlines, and the alarming Moomba explosion and fire of 1982 in the 'Corner Country' has become something of an Outback legend. Oil and gas exploration and production have introduced an extensive spider web of roads, seismic lines, wells, pipelines and associated infrastructure to the Outback. A night flight over the region reveals a vast array of lights from the major production fields such as Moomba, Jackson and Ballera and numerous satellite fields. Seen from altitude in daylight, the regular crisscrossing of seismic lines is a stark contrast to the natural patterns of this landscape shaped by the actions of wind and water. Only the great distances between installations allow the natural landscapes for the most part to reassert themselves when viewed from ground level. For the most part, the industry has generally coexisted with Outback communities, but this varies according to circumstances and the individuals involved. Whether they are prospectors, miners or resource companies, non-pastoral leaseholders rarely seem concerned about their impacts on the surface but their activities can have far reaching consequences for sheep and cattle producers – and Traditional Owners. Important cultural sites have been damaged and even obliterated because no one was around to intervene when a seismic line was inadvertently bulldozed through an area of cultural significance. Coexistence with the oil and gas industry means the pastoralist has to learn to accommodate large volumes of traffic on property roads as well as the persistent presence of resource company personnel who are often strangers. However, it must be acknowledged that resource companies with permanent facilities on pastoral land often compensate for their intrusion with helpful assistance, such as access to water wells and supply of used materials such as drill stem, a valuable material for building stockyards. Nothing, however, can compensate for damage to ecosystems or landscapes. The seismic exploration phase, involving disturbance to soil and vegetation over a large area, is often more disruptive to pastoral operations and sustainable land management than well drilling and eventual production, which are confined to specific locations. It takes a long time for native vegetation to recover. Many seismic lines cut before environmental codes of practice were established are now irreversibly eroding. Over time, creeks, channels and waterholes can accumulate huge amounts of erosion sediments carried along by the rare storms and the 'boom' season runoff. This reduces waterhole capacity and habitat values critical to life during the long 'bust' seasons. The expansion of the unconventional oil and gas industry into the Channel Country is a relatively new development. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the proliferation of new oil and gas fields in the