The controversial coal seam gas (CSG) industry is expanding to townships in western Queensland, with Longreach landholders receiving drilling notices.
Australian-based oil and gas company Exoma Energy has sent notices to Longreach residents of its plans to drill exploratory gas wells on their properties.
Exoma Energy plans to start drilling 21 wells in the Barcaldine, Longreach and Winton area in May.
Farmers and environmentalists have formed an unusual alliance in the Darling Downs west of Brisbane to oppose CSG extraction over fears it could have major environmental and health impacts.
Peak Queensland farmers group AgForce says CSG projects are multiplying across the state despite a lack of research into the affect it will have on groundwater, the environment, livestock and humans.
AgForce spokesman Drew Wagner said in the past several months CSG permits had been popping up in Quilpie, Charleville, Tambo, Blackall, Barcaldine and Longreach.
"We have massive concerns about CSG's impact on groundwater and other issues, but this industry seems to be expanding ... almost unabated," Mr Wagner said.
He said currently there are 3500 wells across Queensland with plans for a total of 40,000.
The Wilderness Society is calling for a moratorium on the CSG industry and an independent study into its impact on groundwater and the environment.
The society's spokesman Glenn Walker says CSG projects near the Cooper Creek Catchment in Longreach could have devastating impacts on the environment.
Mr Walker said chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing of coal seams to release gas could contaminate underground water and the extraction of water could lower the water table.
"CSG's use of fraccing chemicals and the extraction of water from aquifers could affect a number of species dependent on groundwater, in particular plants," he said.
"Some farmers in those areas depend on bores for their cattle so the groundwater impact could be significant, particularly if you have thousands of wells in the area.
"When they pull out the water from the wells it's generally salty and could contain heavy metals, including toxic hydrocarbons, from the rocks it's had to pass through.
"There is still no clarity from the industry how this waste water will be dealt with."
Mr Walker said traditionally the water is pumped into evaporation ponds but he fears heavy rains could result in those ponds overflowing and spilling poisons into river systems.
Exoma Energy chief executive Rob Crook says these were unfounded concerns.
"We won't have an impact on groundwater and that side of the industry is heavily regulated," Mr Crook told AAP.
"People have the right to be concerned but they need to be concerned about the right things.
"We wouldn't be allowed by government to pollute the rivers and groundwater, and not that we would."
Several hundred people rallied in central Sydney on Saturday against CSG, and farmers and environmentalists are staging a blockade on the Darling Downs to stop the Queensland Gas Company's CSG project.
Exoma Energy has five petroleum exploration permits situated over the Galilee Basin in western Queensland and the Eromanga Basin in South Australia.
Front page
RSS Feed