February 2, 2016
The anti-mining Lock The Gate Alliance has called for a permanent ban on Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) in Queensland.
This follows the failure of the Cougar Energy trial at Coolabunia and the current prosecution of Linc Energy over alleged contamination from its Hopeland site, near Chinchilla.
Another UCG operator, Carbon Energy, has told the ASX it is seeking approval from the State Government to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for another UCG project in the Chinchilla area, dubbed the “Blue Gum Project”.
Lock the Gate Alliance president Drew Hutton said the group was calling for an urgent ban on UCG in Queensland and across Australia.
“Successive governments have allowed the toxic experiment which is UCG to continue in Queensland to the detriment of farmland, the environment and people’s health,” Mr Hutton said.
“UCG must be banned and the Liberal Party should not only refuse all future funds offered by any UCG operators, it should return the tainted donations that it received from Linc Energy in 2014-15.”
Mr Dutton said Australian Electoral Commissions disclosures for 2014-15 released recently showed Linc donated $25,000 to the Liberal Party of Australia last financial year.
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