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What's at Stake

Queensland is a rich and diverse State, from the braided channels of the Lake Eyre Basin in the South West, through the brigalow country and up to the rainforests of the Daintree and Cape York. It’s a place of unparalleled agricultural productivity - with the rich loamy soils of the Darling Downs, the coastal cane country and the vast cattle stations of the Centre and the West.

But Queensland is also one of the most intensive sites for the extraction of fossil fuels in the world - with over 60 operating coal mines producing over 250 million tonnes of coal per year. There are over 10 000 operating coal seam gas wells in Queensland, mostly in the Western and Darling Downs in Southern Queensland. *

What's at Stake in Queensland?

  • Queensland’s best farming land in the Darling Downs and Rolleston area - at risk of sinking farmland caused by gas extraction, and groundwater depletion
  • Koala habitat and water resources in the Bowen Basin - where coal companies are taking millions of tonnes of groundwater each year and proposing to clear 20 000 hectares of high value koala habitat.
  • Queensland’s safe climate future - our State will be heavily impacted by severe weather events due to climate change
  • Queensland’s unique and precious cultural heritage

 

Across Queensland coal and gas industries continue to grow...

Arrow Energy is expanding the Surat Gas Project into some of Queensland’s best value agricultural land near Toowoomba, and Comet Ridge is pushing ahead with the dangerous and damaging Mahalo gas project in the Southern Bowen Basin. Blue Energy wants to open up the Bowen Basin for coal seam gas for the export market.

The Australian Pacific LNG project wants to open a new gas field with a staggering 7700 new wells, while gas companies are using Queensland public funds to explore for gas in the Bowen and Galilee basins. **

There’s 18 new coal mines or expansions amounting to 100 million tonnes of additional coal per annum - all due to come online in the next five years.

*Gas Fields Commission Queensland, ‘Shared Landscapes: Industry Trends’ accessed at https://gfcq.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GasFields-Commission-Queensland-Shared-Landscapes-Industry-Trends-Report.pdf
**Business Queensland, ‘Frontier Gas Exploration Grants Program’ accessed at https://www.business.qld.gov.au/industries/mining-energy-water/resources/geoscience-information/exploration-incentives/frontier-gas