False economics
August 27th 2011 06:46
False Economics
Coal Seam gas mining is as false as it can be when it says the miners will care for the environment and the agricultural land in which they are drilling holes. They, the miners, will NOT be able to compensate the country for any loss of agricultural land due to their accidental pollution of either or both the land itself, or the underground water supplies.
Miners think of compensation in terms of the purchase price of the land, but that is not the most worrying problem. It’s the productivity of the land over many years which is the greatest problem. Supposing a 1000 acre farm has an income of $100 thousand a year and that land is polluted for 100 years by the poisons used by the mining company in its operations. What is the real value of compensation which should be paid? A million or so for the current land value as estimated by friends of the mining company, or the loss of productivity for 100 years? I would go for the latter option and I would add to that, all the other income generated by the produce from that farm, Transport, processing, manufacturing, retail sales, and so on. A very difficult task for some number cruncher to work out, but probably in excess of about five times what the farmer’s income would be.
Have you seen the photo of the gas well set up in Queensland? Imagine this in one of NSW’s better agricultural areas, say the Liverpool Plains?
What happens when it all goes wrong? Thousands of acres of food producing land turned into wasteland. Who is responsible? You can’t make thousands of acres of fertile land to replace what may be lost, can you? No one but God makes land. As I understand it, the mining companies are going to pour various chemicals in all these holes and harvest the gas that comes out. They then link all these holes to a central point so they can liquefy this gas and pump it to various power station sites yet to be built,[if ever] or they sell it overseas. The end result from successful mining would be large amounts of money, 10% for Australia, 90% for some foreign company. I ask you, is this a FAIR GO?
Why are we risking such degradation just for some pie in the sky tales of ‘economic benefit’?
90% of the income from these coal seam gas projects goes off to some overseas company and to its ‘investors’. Our country won’t get much long term benefit at all, we just suffer the consequences when it all goes wrong. This stuff they are mining is Methane Gas, volatile, explosive and relatively unstable, as well as being poisonous to humanity. Why are we mining it at all is beyond me. There are other sources of renewable energy available with a bit of research; why not do the research and use those now? All this talk about Australia being the highest polluter, per person, in the world is absolute nonsense and should be ignored. Australia’s contribution to the world’s pollution is less than 2 % of the total. WE do have time to research and develop stable and economical means of generating our electric power, more densely populated countries do not.
Write to your elected members and kick up a stink about this robbery of our country. We, the people, will get no benefit at all from coal seam gas mining, but we stand to lost thousands upon thousands of acres of agricultural land. Perhaps too, we shall lose our very important underground water supplies. The so-called science associated with coal seam gas is theoretical and not proven at all.
Really Long Link Check out this link, I am not the only one concerned that our Governments are being taken to the cleaners over this type of mining.
Coal Seam gas mining is as false as it can be when it says the miners will care for the environment and the agricultural land in which they are drilling holes. They, the miners, will NOT be able to compensate the country for any loss of agricultural land due to their accidental pollution of either or both the land itself, or the underground water supplies.
Miners think of compensation in terms of the purchase price of the land, but that is not the most worrying problem. It’s the productivity of the land over many years which is the greatest problem. Supposing a 1000 acre farm has an income of $100 thousand a year and that land is polluted for 100 years by the poisons used by the mining company in its operations. What is the real value of compensation which should be paid? A million or so for the current land value as estimated by friends of the mining company, or the loss of productivity for 100 years? I would go for the latter option and I would add to that, all the other income generated by the produce from that farm, Transport, processing, manufacturing, retail sales, and so on. A very difficult task for some number cruncher to work out, but probably in excess of about five times what the farmer’s income would be.
What happens when it all goes wrong? Thousands of acres of food producing land turned into wasteland. Who is responsible? You can’t make thousands of acres of fertile land to replace what may be lost, can you? No one but God makes land. As I understand it, the mining companies are going to pour various chemicals in all these holes and harvest the gas that comes out. They then link all these holes to a central point so they can liquefy this gas and pump it to various power station sites yet to be built,[if ever] or they sell it overseas. The end result from successful mining would be large amounts of money, 10% for Australia, 90% for some foreign company. I ask you, is this a FAIR GO?
90% of the income from these coal seam gas projects goes off to some overseas company and to its ‘investors’. Our country won’t get much long term benefit at all, we just suffer the consequences when it all goes wrong. This stuff they are mining is Methane Gas, volatile, explosive and relatively unstable, as well as being poisonous to humanity. Why are we mining it at all is beyond me. There are other sources of renewable energy available with a bit of research; why not do the research and use those now? All this talk about Australia being the highest polluter, per person, in the world is absolute nonsense and should be ignored. Australia’s contribution to the world’s pollution is less than 2 % of the total. WE do have time to research and develop stable and economical means of generating our electric power, more densely populated countries do not.
Write to your elected members and kick up a stink about this robbery of our country. We, the people, will get no benefit at all from coal seam gas mining, but we stand to lost thousands upon thousands of acres of agricultural land. Perhaps too, we shall lose our very important underground water supplies. The so-called science associated with coal seam gas is theoretical and not proven at all.
Really Long Link Check out this link, I am not the only one concerned that our Governments are being taken to the cleaners over this type of mining.
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