Queensland's Coal Seam Gas Development and the Engagement with Knowledge, Uncertainty and Environmental Risks

Getting the Science Right: Queensland's Coal Seam Gas Development and the Engagement with Knowledge, Uncertainty and Environmental Risks Martin Espig Master of Arts (Hons) (Sociology & Anthropology) A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Queensland in 2017 School of Social Science Abstract Along with the current global ‘gas revolution’, Australia’s natural gas industry grew rapidly over the last decade. As part of this growth, unconventional gas reserves in the coal basins underlying the State of Queensland have been developed at a large scale. These coal seam gas (CSG) projects are expected to involve the drilling of up to 20,000 gas wells in southern Queensland alone. On a small — but likely increasing — number of the existing 9,000 wells, CSG companies apply the controversial extraction technique of hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’). One hotspot of development is the rural Western Downs region where the CSG industry’s rapid expansion and accompanying socio-cultural changes have intensified land use competition between agricultural and extractive industries, while also affecting non-agricultural landholders and regional residents. In this region and elsewhere, CSG extraction has sparked debates over associated risks, uncertainties and possible unknown environmental impacts. Based on ethnographic research in the Western Downs, this thesis addresses the resulting environmental risk controversy by examining the ‘problems of knowing’ associated with CSG developments. My analysis focuses on how a variety of actors come to know CSG and its environmental risks as well as the ways in which uncertainties and unknowns are negotiated. I particularly attend to scientific knowledge claims regarding potential environmental and health impacts. The conceptual framework for this approach draws on anthropological and wider social scientific literature concerning knowledge and ignorance, late modern risks, and science. My understanding of these concepts generally follows a postconstructivist perspective that attends to the discursive and material practices of socially positioned actors. I start the analysis with an outline of the Western Downs’ resource history following European settlement. This outline situates the region as an intensively managed landscape that has already been shaped by significant techno-scientific developments. I subsequently examine the role of science in actors’ sense-making of CSG and argue that knowing its risks requires scientific knowledge but also involves personal experience and phenomenological ways of knowing. For some actors, CSG-specific scientific research has remained uncertain and unable to answer significant questions regarding groundwater or health-related impacts. I therefore address how a variety of actors have responded to continuing problems of knowing, including critiques of scientific research. The deconstruction of these critiques demonstrates how scientific research can be understood as situated practices that themselves can become contested. These findings point towards the wider politics of knowledge and ignorance around CSG developments, which I examine in the final parts. ii The analysis of the politics of science and knowledge offered here concludes that scientific knowledge is crucial for addressing CSG’s potential environmental impacts. However, science is ultimately only one element of sense-making processes within actors’ lifeworlds. For a variety of actors, scientific research findings often also remained uncertain and constrained by a diverse range of factors, some of which are examined in this thesis. Turning political and moral negotiations about CSG developments into scientific questions alone can thus adversely affect conflict resolution processes. Instead, this thesis demonstrates that it is important to appreciate the limits of scientific research and to find ways to bring scientific and other ways of knowing into dialogue. CSG risk debates and associated problems of knowing therefore manifest as socio-cultural phenomena that require social resolutions as well as techno-scientific solutions. iii Declaration by author This thesis is composed of my original work, and contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference has been made in the text. I have clearly stated the contribution by others to jointly-authored works that I have included in my thesis. I have clearly stated the contribution of others to my thesis as a whole, including statistical assistance, survey design, data analysis, significant technical procedures, professional editorial advice, and any other original research work used or reported in my thesis. The content of my thesis is the result of work I have carried out since the commencement of my research higher degree candidature and does not include a substantial part of work that has been submitted to qualify for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution. I have clearly stated which parts of my thesis, if any, have been submitted to qualify for another award. I acknowledge that an electronic copy of my thesis must be lodged with the University Library and, subject to the policy and procedures of The University of Queensland, the thesis be made available for research and study in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968 unless a period of embargo has been approved by the Dean of the Graduate School. I acknowledge that copyright of all material contained in my thesis resides with the copyright holder(s) of that material. Where appropriate I have obtained copyright permission from the copyright holder to reproduce material in this thesis. iv Publications during candidature Espig, M. & de Rijke, K. (2016a) “Unconventional Gas Developments and the Politics of Risk and Knowledge in Australia.” Energy Research & Social Science, 20: 82–90. Espig, M. & de Rijke, K. (2016b) “Navigating Coal Seam Gas Fields: Ethnographic Challenges in Queensland, Australia.” Practicing Anthropology, 38 (3): 44–45. Espig, M. (2015) “Politics of the (Un)Known: An Anthropological Perspective of Australia’s Unconventional Gas Developments.” Proceedings ESRS Congress 2015: 39–40. Publications included in this thesis No publications included. Contributions by others to the thesis No contributions by others. Statement of parts of the thesis submitted to qualify for the award of another degree None. v Acknowledgements I have been extremely fortunate to receive guidance from three exceptional academic supervisors at the University of Queensland (UQ). They certainly attempted their best to direct my thinking towards an accessible and worthy thesis. This thesis would have been impossible without their support. At times, however, I was probably more stubborn than they preferred. Any factual errors, conceptual slippages or intellectual ambiguities are therefore entirely my own. In the School of Social Science, Professor David Trigger readily agreed to principally supervise me on this ambitious project. It is in no small part due to David’s intellectual challenges that my research progressed into a coherent thesis. My thinking and writing benefitted substantially from his constructive commentary and repeated calls for conceptual streamlining and scholarly clarity. I also learned a great deal more about anthropology as a life-long intellectual endeavour and applied practice beyond theoretical curiosities. For this, and David’s senior oversight, steady guidance and approachability, I am deeply grateful. As Dr. Kim de Rijke’s first Ph.D. candidate, I hope the experience has been as rewarding for him as it was for me. Kim’s insights from his own anthropological research into environmental conflicts and coal seam gas (CSG) were welcome points of orientation and I benefitted greatly from his practical advice and critical intellectual feedback. Many of the thoughts following our conversations, often held over extended coffee breaks, found their way into this thesis. As co- author, Kim helped me to navigate the challenges of my first academic publications. He also provided me with opportunities to tutor in his under- and postgraduate courses. All of this enriched the Ph.D. experience and, beyond completing a substantial thesis, contributed towards my professional development. I am thankful for Kim’s encouragement as a co-supervisor and colleague. Professor Will Rifkin, previously of the UQ’s Centre for Coal Seam Gas (CCSG) and currently based at the University of Newcastle, took on the task to co-supervisor an anthropologist whose technical knowledge of CSG and natural resource developments was still somewhat limited. Through his invitations to attend CSG researcher networks, technical seminars and professional workshops, I gained crucial insights into the operation and challenges of the extractive industries. These insights and technical understandings allowed me to develop a more well-rounded perspective of CSG risk controversies and improved my skills as a social scientist. Will’s repeated critical and highly constructive feedback on multiple drafts was invaluable in improving the thesis’s structure and quality. I am grateful for Will’s support and guidance. vi Between the School of Social Science and CCSG, David Trigger and Will Rifkin arranged a generous co-funding agreement for my UQ International scholarships. In a climate of shrinking research funding, I hope my critical observations of CSG developments and scholarly contribution to anthropology justify the faith they

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