One lousy sentence



Treasurer Tim Nicholls in Gladstone Harbour
source: Courier Mail

One lousy sentence given grudgingly by the Qld treasurer, Tim Nicholls, gives no justice and portrays no understanding what farming families and other landowner...s have been subjected to in the unleashing of the CSG colossus.

Tim Nicholls is quoted in the Courier Mail article, Liquefied coal seam gas shipment set to leave Gladstone, as saying, “landholders had to be acknowledged for the sacrifice and trouble they had been put to as CSG companies moved onto their land.”




It has been a lot more than just mere trouble, Tim. Try non-disclosure of information; isolate, divide & conquer; lying; pressured negotiation; bullying; ambushing with contrived bluffs; tactics to apply pressure; limited, miserly compensation; landowners time uncompensated; stress; complete disregard & disinterest in how agricultural management systems can work in with a gas field; the co-existence myth; gates open; weeds; loss of underground water; no solution for a mountain of salt brought to the surface; loss of amenity of living; roads destroyed; dust; noise; sense of community lost; liability from contamination; diminution of property value.

The list continues.

The government has failed to govern for all. The Newman LNP government & preceding Bligh Labor government have not allowed the agricultural department to protect even the small percentage of good quality soils; the Department of Environment & Heritage has not been allowed to do its job; there was very limited legal aid made available & that did not continue; landowners suffering impacts ask government for help only to be fobbed off by organisations devised by government, Gasfield Commission & CSG Compliance Unit, with the purpose of to be seen to be doing something and to dampen down the voice of the rural landowner to be heard in the urban communities.

On top of all that with landowners already suffering significant imbalances of power the Newman government systematically made significant legislative changes that removed what few rights landowners had.

What for? This Courier Mail reveals the answer; this first ship alone has loaded $50 million worth of LNG. When the industry gets into full stride in 2017 there will be 360 ships leaving the harbour loaded with LNG every year. The Qld government is expected to rake in $500 million annually. 

LNG tanker, Methane Rita Andrea, docked at QGC LNG plant at Curtis Island
photo sourced Gladstone Observer

UNESCO's latest warning on threats to Great Barrier Reef

I think it's good to have articles posted recently suggesting threats to our world icon  the Great Barrier Reef are grossly exaggerated, but here is the other side of the coin. Parts of the Reef no doubt are still healthy, other parts are obviously under threat, including the southern section off Gladstone and the World Heritage Area which includes all of Gladstone Harbour.
My article below as published on the Queensland Telegraph at  . http://www.queenslandtelegraph.com/lack-of-report-cards-on-barrier-reef-health-a-concern/

and  the Great Barrier Reef Blog at
 http://www.greatbarrierreef.org.au/great-barrier-reef-fed-and-state-govt-crap-response-to-unesco/

The three massive LNG plants under construction on Curtis Island in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (construction much more advanced now).  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the effects on water quality in a once pristine waterway, and what was once hundreds of hectares of mangroves.

Heron Island, a popular international tourist destination off Gladstone.

Lack of report cards on Barrier Reef health a concern

ENVIRONMENTALISTS remain pessimistic that the Great Barrier Reef will be placed on the World Heritage Committee’s in danger list,  despite a new ultimatum to the State and Federal Governments to take prompt action to protect it.

In an interim report recently released, UNESCO gave both governments until next February to convince it that effective measures were being taken to halt new port developments and improve water quality.

Following major concerns raised in a delegates’ mission report last March, the international body said some progress had been made, but not enough to demonstrate that the Reef’s outstanding universal value  (OUV) was protected.

Coastal development and water quality issues in Gladstone were again highlighted, together with proposed development at Port Alma and Balaclava Island.

When the World Heritage Committee meets in Cambodia next month, it is expected to adopt the new recommendation. This states that the Great Barrier Reef be included in the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2014,  ‘‘in the absence of a firm and demonstrable commitment’’ from the state and federal governments to take action.

UNESCO referred to a draft Great Barrier Reef Ports Strategy released by the Queensland Government last October which proposed to prevent “significant” development outside existing port areas until 2022, but said this did not restrict development to existing footprints of individual ports.

“According to the strategy, development can occur in all areas identified in the land use plans for each port,” UNESCO said.

“The World Heritage Centre and IUCN received reports indicating that in recent years a number of port boundaries were extended significantly to include areas of significant habitat that contribute to OUV.

“They note that the Queensland Deputy Premier’s media release announcing the draft Port Strategy stated that future development would be possible ‘at several locations such as Balaclava Island and Port Alma in the Port of Gladstone’.

“They also note that both these locations are outside existing major port areas (40 to 50 km away from the port of Gladstone), in the relatively undeveloped Fitzroy River delta, and that there is currently no development on Balaclava Island that could justify its classification as an existing port area.”

It was also critical of the lack of promised annual “report cards” on the Reef, pointing out that so far only one had been published for 2009 as the baseline.

“…another key concern is the lack of clarity about whether the negative trend in water quality continues to be reduced and the positive signs of restoration are maintained, as annual water quality report cards have not been published as predicted. They recommend that the  (World Heritage) Committee urge the State Party to confirm a clear financial commitment by the Australian Government to maintain the Reef Rescue program as a matter of urgency…”

In response, Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke claimed the government had already taken steps and would work with the WHC to protect the value of the reef.

‘‘It’s one of the most precious places on earth,’’ he said.

‘‘Some of the recent announcements have not yet been incorporated into today’s  (UNESCO) report, such as a $200 million commitment to the next stage of Reef Rescue.’’

But according to Save the Reef spokesman Dr Andrew Jerimijenko, that was not nearly enough.  He told the Telegraph:

“It is like getting a butterfly net to stop a plague of locusts.  It is not going to bring back the 50 percent of coral already lost, it is not going to even stop us losing the next 50 percent in 10 years.

“ We need something like the $12 billion given to save the Murray River.

“The Crown of Thorns is being driven by sediment (dredge spoil feeds them).  He has to stop industry using the Great Barrier Reef as a dump.  He has to stop approving the industrialisation of the Reef, and he has to do this in less than four months, because I can’t see (Opposition Environment spokesman) Greg Hunt being any better.

“If I were a betting man I would put money on a 2014 In Danger listing”.

Australians for Animals coordinator Sue Arnold  said the UNESCO warning indicated “the same old story”.

“Both the state and federal governments will allow the GBR World Heritage Area to be destroyed in the name of economic development.

“Gillard’s government is the most anti-environmental government in the history of this country, only equalled by the crap coming out of the Newman ministers,” she claimed.

However, Queensland Environment Minister Andrew Powell is confident the reports required of the State Government would be presented to UNESCO in time to avoid the threatened in danger listing.

He said the LNP government was already reviewing Gladstone Harbour and compiling a ports strategy. It was already assessing the health of the Reef through the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority in cooperation with the Federal  Government.

By John Mikkelsen

It could never happen here, right? Mexican gas plant explosion kills about 30 workers

I wouldn't be too sure, no wonder there are concerns here in Gladstone, the site of several huge LNG plants, and in the gas fields and along the pipeline routes, but I only heard about this today. Maybe I wasn't following the news but I didn't see it reported here, where huge gas tankers will soon be negotiating a narrow channel close to the main city CBD:

By Bill Van Auken 
20 September 2012

An explosion that ripped through a Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) gas pipeline distribution facility in northeastern Mexico near the US border Tuesday has left some 30 workers dead and dozens more injured.

The official death toll rose to 29 on Wednesday afternoon. PEMEX, Mexico’s state-owned oil company, said on its twitter account that seven more workers are missing. A company official put the number at five, while warning that it could rise. At least 46 workers were injured.

The bulk of those who lost their lives in the explosion and fire were employees of a private contractor brought in to do maintenance work at the facility. Twenty-five of the contract workers are known to have died along with four employees of PEMEX itself. Part of the confusion over how many remain missing is the result of PEMEX trying to coordinate information with the contractor.

The explosion, which occurred at 10:45 am on Tuesday, ignited a huge fire sending towering flames and a column of smoke high over the facility, a gas distribution center located approximately 12 miles down the highway linking Reynosa to the city of Monterrey to the southwest. Reynosa is just across the US border from McAllen, Texas.

President Felipe Calderon said on Wednesday that the quick response of Mexican firefighters and army personnel helped avoid a “real catastrophe” that would have ensued had the blaze spread to a nearby gas processing plant.

Security personnel evacuated people from homes and ranches surrounding the facility for fear that the fire could ignite new and bigger explosions.

Initially, PEMEX officials tried to minimize the scope of the industrial disaster, failing to report the number of dead and injured early on and stressing that the fire had been quickly controlled. As the toll of fatalities became clear, however, the company was compelled to recognize the seriousness of the accident.

PEMEX Director Juan Jose Suarez told the media that there was “no evidence that it was a deliberate incident, or some kind of attack,” adding, “There is no reason to think that this terrible accident was caused by criminal gangs.” What has been learned so far, he said, points to an “unusual accident.”

(Continuing reading at http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2012/09/peme-s20.html

Video at http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152362045915377