Coal Seam Gas: Health Hazards for the Western Downs

An uncontrolled experiment is being conducted across the Surat Basin right now. Tens of thousands of coal seam gas wells, along with compressor stations, pipelines, venting and flaring pipes, product water pits and gas lines, will invade the landscape in the area between Dalby, Tara, Miles and Chincilla. It will turn this once productive region into an industrial wasteland. Worst of all, the pollution from these projects can have a massive impact on the health of these affected communities.

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Pollution from the CSG industry includes many toxic substances such as fine particulates, volatile organic compounds like benzene and toluene, heavy metals and hydrogen sulphide.

These pollutants are linked with asthma, cancer, severe and permanent neurological damage, pulmonary reduction, coronary problems, endocrine disruption and debilitating headaches.

Low frequency noise pollution is also a feature of equipment like gas compressors.

Gas wells can be set up as close as 100 metres from houses.

There are already 60 on the Tara residential estate and people there are reporting health problems consistent with living close to gas wells.

If this sort of behaviour is going on now, when there are 2,000 gas wells across the Surat Basin, what will it be like when there are the planned 40,000?

•  You can also download the report "Fractured Communities" produced by the Riverkeeper Organisation in the US, that documents hundreds of case studies of impacts from gas drilling.