TABJ - July 20 - In Queensland, Australia, the farming and agricultural industry is making its fears about coal seam gas (CSG) mining impacts heard, following LNP head Campbell Newman’s “no pillar is more important to the Queensland economy than agriculture,” remark and lobbyists who have warned the Senate about their concerns.

Amongst the agricultural industry’s worries, is the contamination of aquifers.  The Senate is carrying out an inquiry to look at various environmental/industrial impacts, which today included a portion of questions for the mining industry.

“How do you make good a contamination?" Senate chairman Bill Heffernan asked a panel from the mining industry in Brisbane, Wednesday, asking how this can be done if aquifer geology is not fully-understood in the first place.

“How do you make good on something that is not understood?
When the national water commission says they don't know, who does know?”

The process of fracking was also addressed directly, and Rick Wilkinson, COO of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association's (APPEA) pointed out that the chemicals involved in the extraction technique are easily researched and available online through the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics website. He also mentioned that state-of-the-art modelling done by some mining groups, with nine government and independent groups, “represents our understanding of the Great Artesian Basin.”