Controversial fracking laws in WA adequate
Post on: 2011-11-02 By: admin
THE State Government says current legislation covering shale and coal seam gas industries is "adequate", despite the controversy surrounding the emerging industry.
Queensland law professor Dr Tina Hunter prepared a review of the current legislation that applies to the industry in WA, which has become the subject of pitched battles on the east coast.The debate has been fuelled by environmental concerns and by conflict between natural gas companies and farmers over land access.In a statement today Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP) executive director of environment, Phil Gorey, said the report found current processes were “adequate to ensure the management of risk across the environment, workforce safety and resource management, due to rigorous assessment by highly skilled and dedicated staff”.However, Dr Hunter’s report also found that those existing processes needed stronger laws to underpin them.
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“There are concerns regarding the integrity of the legislative framework that underpins the processes.“In short the legislative regime for resource and environment lacks legal enforceability, attributable to the absence of resource management regulations and environment regulations under the Petroleum and Geothermal Energy Resources Act,” said the report.Onshore gas fields are often trapped within rock and coal formations. To release the gas companies pump water, chemicals, and small particles down drill holes to fracture the rock, allowing gas to flow, in a technique more commonly known as fracking.It is a controversial technique, as some of the chemicals used are known cancer causers, and opponents believe the practise can contaminate groundwater and aquifers. The process also uses millions of litres of water for each well, which may also pose problems in WA.Dr Hunter’s report says those issues are manageable in WA, provided current legislation is tightened.She made a number of key recommendations, including the introduction of new environment regulations within the Act for the industry, and for the compulsory publication of the chemicals used in the fracking process.The DMP says it is not currently allowed to publish the lists of chemicals used by gas companies, citing commercial confidentiality rules, but encourages individual companies to do so themselves.The report was immediately slammed by conservation groups as a “public relations exercise”.Conservation Council WA director Piers Verstegen said the report “fails to address many of the serious concerns that exist with the gas fracking industry in WA”.“This report appears to be first and foremost a public relations exercise by the DMP,” he said.“Last month we had a damning report from the WA Auditor General’s into environmental regulation of the mining industry by the DMP, which found the government was comprehensively failing to manage the environmental impacts of mining.“Taken together with the Auditor General’s report, this review will only add to the alarm in the WA community about gas fracking, and the potential for this industry to have serious environmental consequences, including impacts on groundwater that will be irreversible.”Dr Hunter’s report said there is little risk to groundwater supplies in WA if water used in the fracking process is managed adequately, however, as most local shale gas fields sit well beneath aquifers and groundwater.She also recommended the State Government develop a strategy to address land use conflicts, and regulations to address the abandonment of gas fields by companies.Greens MLC Alison Xamon, who has previously called for a moratorium on the industry until the current rules are toughened up, told PerthNow she was generally satisfied with the report, but disagrees with DMP’s interpretation of its findings.“I think the report makes quite clear that there are ample areas for them to improve, and I think the secondary issue is that unless you have someone independently assessing it, you will never really know whether [the rules] are being followed anyway,” she said.Ms Xamon said the devil will be in the detail of the new environmental rules, however.In its response the State Government accepted all of the report’s major recommendations, saying it will seek full disclosure of the chemicals used by the industry, and promising new environmental rules to be released by the end of the year.
David of katanningPosted at 5:36 PM November 01, 2011
well given that the WA liberals run the state for the benefit of their big business mates , this isnt a surprise .
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