{"id":142177,"date":"2016-04-18T17:41:38","date_gmt":"2016-04-18T07:41:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=142177"},"modified":"2020-10-18T17:48:12","modified_gmt":"2020-10-18T07:48:12","slug":"lnp-calls-for-ucg-transparency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2016\/04\/18\/lnp-calls-for-ucg-transparency\/","title":{"rendered":"LNP Calls For UCG ‘Transparency’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Shadow Mines Minister Andrew Cripps<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

April 18, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Opposition has called on the State Government to “honour its commitment to full transparency” and release the evidence it used to determine Underground Coal Gasification should be immediately banned.<\/p>\n

Shadow Minister for Environment Steve Bennett said the LNP took Queensland\u2019s investment reputation seriously “so we call on the Palaszczuk Labor Government to release the evidence it has relied on to make this decision\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Bennett noted that all three companies involved in the UCG trials had come to the attention of government for environmental issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarbon Energy was fined in December 2012, Cougar Energy was fined in September 2013 and Linc Energy was charged in April 2014, so the UCG industry has an unfortunate record of non-compliance with Queensland\u2019s environmental regulations,\u201d Mr Bennett said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe LNP took these issues seriously, but we also take Queensland\u2019s investment reputation seriously.”<\/p>\n

Shadow Mines Minister Andrew Cripps said the former LNP Government had pursued an extremely robust process to test the technology being used<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe LNP put an independent scientific panel (ISP) in place to help the Queensland Government make an informed, science-based decision on the potential for a commercial UCG industry to be established,\u201d Mr Cripps said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe recommendations of the ISP were then reviewed by a team of scientists led by Queensland\u2019s chief scientist, Dr Geoff Garrett, which endorsed its recommendations and the former LNP Government accepted that decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ISP recommended that the State Government allow Carbon Energy and Linc Energy\u00a0 to continue their pilot trials;\u00a0a\u00a0planning and action process be established to demonstrate successful decommissioning of the underground cavities used as part of the UCG process; and until decommissioning could be demonstrated, no commercial UCG facility should be commenced.<\/p>\n