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Queensland playing the green vote or genuine concern?
Queensland suspends syngas approvals until 2012 on pollution fear
Melbourne (Platts)--27Jul2010/618 am EDT/1018 GMT The Australian state of Queensland on Tuesday said it would not approve any underground coal gasification proposals in the state until three current pilot projects were completed in 2012 and a decision had been made about the long-term environmental feasibility of the industry. "We make no apologies for putting the safety of the community and the environment first and that is why we are taking the steps to ensure this new technology can operate with Queensland's strict environmental guidelines before its future in our state is determined," the state's Natural Resources Minister Stephen Robertson said in a statement. "An exploration permit is no guarantee to a mining permit. They can look for coal but they have no rights to take it out of the ground." Local explorer Red River Resources Limited recently announced that it was farming in to two coal tenements near Cougar Energy's Kingaroy UCG pilot plant, with a view to UCG exploitation. Only three companies had registered as required under the state government's February 2009 UCG rules that govern UCG development, Robertson said. "Red River Resources did not, and has not formally registered any interest in UCG," he said. Cougar Energy's UCG pilot plant was shut indefinitely by the state government on July 16, after the company advised that water quality tests had detected benzene and toluene in groundwater monitoring bores close to the plant. Further testing has not detected unsafe levels of any chemicals, but a community meeting will be held in the township of Kingaroy later Tuesday to address residents' fears. Cougar commenced production of syngas at the pilot plant in March, which targets using syngas to run a 400 MW power station providing electricity to 400,000 homes by 2015. But production had been halted since well blockages were detected in April and re-ignition had been scheduled for end-July. The company said the project would remain under review until the environmental evaluation process was completed. It has laid off staff and suspended trading in its shares while it holds talks with financiers and investors. The operators of the two other trial UCG projects in the state, Carbon Energy and Linc Energy, say their pilot projects remain unaffected. Carbon said commissioning of its UCG-fired 5 MW Bloodwood Creek power project remained on schedule for completion in September and a 20 MW power station remained under development. The company has been producing syngas at a 1 Pj/year pilot facility since January 2009. Linc Energy's pilot UCG generator 4 has been operating for 120 days and remains in operation. The next phase of its pilot project, UCG generator 5, targets providing 15 Pj/year of UCG gas to generate up to 250 MW of electricity, the company said. Underground coal gasification converts coal into a combustible gas that can be used to fuel a gas turbine or as a chemical feedstock. It can exploit coal resources that are traditionally uneconomic to extract or inaccessible. The "coal gas" produced, known as synthesis gas or syngas, is a mixture of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, methane, carbon dioxide and higher hydrocarbons and has a much lower cost per unit of energy than natural gas. --Wendy Wells, [email protected] Make no mistake about it... this is a Labor led Green snatch for votes based on a "fear and smear" campaign that will cost Qld billions of dollars.
Disclaimer: The author of this post, may or may not be a shareholder of any of the companies mentioned in this column. No company mentioned has sponsored or paid for this content. Comments on this forum should never be taken as investment advice. |
#2
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"An exploration permit is no guarantee to a mining permit. They can look
for coal but they have no rights to take it out of the ground." ed hardy shoes ed hardy watches ed hardy
Disclaimer: The author of this post, may or may not be a shareholder of any of the companies mentioned in this column. No company mentioned has sponsored or paid for this content. Comments on this forum should never be taken as investment advice. |
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