PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Underground coal gasification (UCG) has officially been banned in Queensland after the state Parliament last week passed legislation to that effect.
Natural Resources and Mines Minister Dr Anthony Lynham said the risks that UCG posed outweighed any potential positives.
“In 2009, the Queensland government established a process for three companies to trial UCG operations on a small scale,” Lynham said.
“An independent scientific panel report on the pilot trials found that sufficient scientific and technical information was not yet available to reach a final conclusion about the operation of this industry on a commercial scale.
“Issues associated with two of the three trial projects and the uncertainty about commercial scale operations, have highlighted significant risks with this industry which are just not acceptable,” the Minister said.
Legislation to ban UCG was introduced to Parliament in November last year, with the ban also applying to the in-situ underground gasification of oil shale.
While UCG activities are now prohibited in Queensland, the remaining existing UCG pilot project still needs to complete environmental rehabilitation, and the decommissioning and removal of plant and equipment related to carrying out UCG activities.
The Department of Environment and Heritage Protection is undertaking regulation and monitoring of these activities.