Fracking Threat builds Community Strength

(Contributed)

On 30th April a public meeting organised by the Conservation Council of SA was held in Adelaide to disseminate information about current and proposed coal seam gas fracking in the state. The meeting was an initial call to action. A panel of speakers included rural community representatives from the eastern states, the Limestone Coast of SA, an Indigenous Australian representative and a representative from Friends of the Earth Australia.

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Fracking Threat builds Community Strength

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(Contributed)

As the easy to get at sources of gas become depleted, rather than switching to renewable sources of energy, profit-hungry corporations prefer instead to attempt to extract every last molecule of gas from the harder to get to sources. The so-called unconventional gas exists deep beneath the surface, trapped in layers of coal. The gas does not flow freely and so intervention is required to release it. This involves drilling to depths of the order of a kilometre, then drilling horizontally for quite a distance into the coal seam. Sand and volatile BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene) are pumped into the seam under pressure which fractures the geological structure and releases the methane gas.

The trouble with this process is that many thousands of these drill holes are required for the venture to be profitable.
Each hole disrupts the geological structure beneath the surface and it is difficult to predict the effect of this over time. Not even the companies know with certainty what the consequences will be.

One speaker had a slide of a map of the state of Oklahoma showing the distribution of earthquakes prior to the commencement of fracking, and there were a handful of dots on the map. The comparison map for the period since the commencement of fracking was like a veritable pin cushion. These are not minor tremors but earthquakes of magnitude 3 or greater.

Another unknown is what substances might be released from these depths. Australia is one of the most uranium resource-rich countries in the world and it is conceivable that harmful radioactive substances could find their way into the aquifers and the surface as a by-product of fracking. This is in addition to the BTEX and the methane.

The contamination of ground water by this process has been well documented.

Once these drill holes have been finished with, they are capped with cement using “world best practices”. However, the cement deteriorates in an instant in geological terms – well within 25 years. So we have the situation of continuous release of methane (a potent greenhouse gas) and other damaging pollutants into the environment.

As Professor Irene Watson, an Indigenous woman of the Tanganekald and Meintangk peoples said at the meeting, even without the science, the first Australians have experience dating back for many thousands of years about what practices are good for country and on this basis have the moral authority to say no fracking.

The people of South Australia by and large have no idea of the scale of the fracking being proposed for the state. It has already started in the south east of the state in the region known as the Limestone Coast. Landowners and farmers there are being affected even at this early stage and have had a taste of what is to come.

The community has started to mobilise and an organisation called The Limestone Coast Protection Alliance has been formed (go to http://www.protectlimestonecoast.org.au/). The group has been very active in building community awareness and confronting the big companies and state government head-on. It goes without saying that the pro-development at any cost Weatherill government is working hand in glove with these companies to make ensure fracking goes ahead. But it is not going to be such a pushover!

Another not so well known fact is that coal seam gas exploration has been happening in Australia for over a decade in some parts. This has been most prominent in Queensland and more recently in NSW and Victoria. As this expansion has taken place, so too has the community resistance to it.

This resistance has understandably developed in the rural areas of the country.

As one speaker from NSW said at the meeting, as a farmer, before any of this started he had no involvement in anything political nor did he have any desire to. However, once the exploration companies became interested in his property they started to show their hand. He was told one lie after another about the process and the so-called benefits. He did his own investigating and was appalled at the long term damage that would take place to the land, the water and our food security for the sake of short term gain for a very few.

One benefit being touted is the royalties that will be paid by the companies. Ostensibly the operating life of a coal seam deposit is 20 years. However, there is an exemption from royalties for the first 5 years. The fracking process is so violent that in fact most of the gas will have been extracted within those first 5 years. As the above-mentioned speaker said “more money will be raised from parking fines than royalties”.

Far from Australians benefiting from unconventional gas, they will find the cost of gas will go up since the gas will be sold on the world market at parity price.

He went on to say that appealing to the government and the parliament made no difference.

There were many other similar stories recounted at the meeting and overwhelmingly these ordinary people realised that they were not being represented by parliament and that they had to take matters into their own hands.

The community movement has been growing in strength, employing new and very inventive and innovative tactics against the big companies. This is exemplified by the Lock The Gate Alliance (go to http://www.lockthegate.org.au/).

These are not left wing activists but in many cases staunch National Party voters who have seen for themselves the limitations inherent in the parliamentary system.

In the Gippsland region of Victoria a similar situation has evolved and united community action has resulted in great achievements such as the government begrudgingly putting into place a moratorium on fracking.

A number of communities in Gippland have declared themselves Coal and Coal Seam Gas Free, with support for this in surveys ranging between 86% and 98%.

The fight is far from over but there is a passion and determination to continue and intensify the fight. This is something that the companies did not bargain for and are finding that divide and rule tactics have been unsuccessful.

The strength of this movement lies in the participation of people from all sections of society: primary producers, traditional owners, conservationists, support from city people, lawyers, students and retirees to name a few.

As the methods of struggle develop, these will be valuable for those communities where coal seam gas exploration is commencing, such as in South Australia.

In fact, the threat of fracking is global and already the movement against it is taking on a global scale with Australian based organisations linking with similar ones in other countries.

The film “Farmland not Gaslands” was also screened as part of the meeting. It clearly conveys the risks of fracking and describes the community movement against it in Gippsland. The film was produced by a member of the community. Well worth seeing.

The film and the stories from the panel of speakers were truly inspiring and demonstrate that ultimately the people under the right conditions will take matters into their own hands and throw up their own leaders.

The people united will never be defeated.

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