News and Events:

The Queensland Government has repeatedly referred to its coal seam gas feasibility study as its insurance be sure that the consequences of coal seam gas extraction do not lead to irreversible environmental damage, particularly on groundwater supplies and the potential contamination of the Great Artesian Basin, one of the only reliable sources of fresh water in inland Australia.

The problem is that its study, entitled "The Coal Seam Gas Water Feasibility Study" is not due for completion until June 2012 - long after much of the extractive activity has been approved and any damage is likely to have already occurred.

A fact sheet compiled by three expert agronomists from Dalby in Queensland's Darling Downs warns of how coal seam gas extraction will deplete underground irrigation water supplies, contaminate agricultural land, destroy long term food production and town water supplies. Their review sets out clearly the incompatibility of Coal Seam Gas and intensive farming.

On Saturday 26th June, Six Degrees and the Basin Sustainability Alliance co-ordinated a fact-finding mission to the Darling Downs, where 48 environmentalists, social justice advocates and community organisers from the city visited the communities of the Darling Downs threatened by coal and coal seam gas.

In many parts of Queensland currently under threat from coal mining and gas extraction, the community is not waiting for government action on climate change. Instead, they are working to develop alternative pathways for future energy and food security that are not dependent upon coal. One inspiring example is evident in the Felton Valley, where the community has developed a renewable energy plan for an area which is under threat from a proposed open cut coal mine.