A Crikey, FAQ Research joint investigation into the issue of coal seam gas
There are more questions than answers around coal seam gas mining. Crikey partners with a new collaboration of academics and writers, FAQ Research, to get to the bottom of a vexed issue in the Queensland election campaign and nationally.
There are conflicting interests around land use, there is uncertainty about the factual basis of the debate, there are apprehensions that governments will roll over in the face of a $40 billion industry. Tdebate can often become clouded by claim, counter-claim, framing and spin. This extended coverage offers a new model of analytical and interactive journalism which will hold the debate accountable to fact.
The mission is to facilitate a better informed and more interactive public debate, holding the PR, political and media spin to account and disseminating fact and research on which citizens can make informed value judgments. Articles by experts, key stakeholders, citizen journalists and we hope you, Crikey readers, will feature throughout the election campaign. Read more about the project here.
Casting doubt on the cleanness of natural gas
Recent research casts doubt on the assumption that coal seam gas is a clean fossil fuel that will serve as a transition to renewable energy sources, writes Robert Merkel.>Read more …
Food security v energy security: land use conflict and the law
The issue? Mining coal seam gas in agricultural areas. The conflict? Balancing food security and energy security, writes FAQ Research’s Dr Tina Hunter.>Read more …
Pink surfboard conundrum: calculating risk v social licence to operate
Three areas of risk are particularly relevant to negotiating wicked risks: calculated risk, perceived risk and political risk, writes FAQ Research’s Professor Roger Jones.>Read more …
Behind the Seams: going underground to examine CSG risk to aquifers
FAQ Research writer Brian Bahnisch looks at the issues thrown up in relation to underground aquifers and cola seam gas.>Read more …
Behind the Seams: the science behind CSG’s clean credentials
Much more adequate data and detailed modelling must be carried out before a science-based public policy position can be reached on the issue of CSG and its clean energy status, writes FAQ Research’s Rebecca McNicholl.>Read more …
CSG and the land: straight from the farmers’ mouths
Many farmers believe the market is telling them they are not getting a fair deal, writes FAQ Research’s Brian Bahnisch.>Read more …
Behind the Seams: info gap on CSG’s environmental impacts
Why are farmers disturbed by a few wells on their properties, about one every 700 to 1000 m, according to the industry? For starters, the imprint of the well on the area of farmed land is much greater than these stats would suggest?>Read more …
Quiggin: the bigger picture on coal seam gas
A striking feature of the debate over coal seam gas (CSG) is that most of the key issues involved are not unique to CSG, but arise to a greater or lesser extent with all kinds of mining, writes John Quiggin.>Read more …
Behind the Seams: confessions of a blockade virgin
Something is very wrong when a quiet, conservative Queensland farming community turns to civil disobedience, forcing a dramatic 10-day showdown with police, writes Heidi Ross, organiser of the Kerry Blockade.>Read more …
- Community groups opposed to CSG
- CSG mining companies
- Environmental groups
- Farming groups and individuals
- Political parties
Behind the Seams: going underground to examine CSG risk to aquifers
FAQ Research writer Brian Bahnisch looks at the issues thrown up in relation to underground aquifers and cola seam gas.>Read more …
Behind the seams: getting the regulatory framework right
Mining regulation in Queensland is a complex web. Industry, farmers and the local community are crying out for a clearer regulatory framework, writes Troy Collings is the CEO of Best Practice Regulatory Services (BPRS).>Read more …
The precautionary principle v the fierce urgency of now
What is the precautionary principle? And how does it apply to the issues surrounding the development of coal seam gas? asks FAQ Research’s Dr Robert Merkel.>Read more …
Behind the seams: Lock the Gate unites cockies, blockies, croppers and greenies
The Lock the Gate movement is an alliance between progressives and conservatives, left and right, city and country, farmers and environmentalists. Activist Drew Hutton explains why. >Read more …
Quiggin: the bigger picture on coal seam gas
A striking feature of the debate over coal seam gas (CSG) is that most of the key issues involved are not unique to CSG, but arise to a greater or lesser extent with all kinds of mining, writes John Quiggin.>Read more …
Behind the Seams: confessions of a blockade virgin
Something is very wrong when a quiet, conservative Queensland farming community turns to civil disobedience, forcing a dramatic 10-day showdown with police, writes Heidi Ross, organiser of the Kerry Blockade.>Read more …
Behind the seams: Bob Katter & Larissa Waters sing from same song sheet
FAQ Research’s Dr Mark Bahnisch interviewed Bob Katter MP, federal Member for Kennedy and leader of Katter’s Australian Party and Queensland Greens Senator Larissa Waters at the February 20 Jondaryan Big Day Out protest against coal seam gas and coal mining on prime agricultural land.>Read more …
Behind the Seams: why coal seam gas is central to Qld election
If the major political parties are both framing the state election as about managing the fruits of prosperity, then the boom in coal seam gas and liquefied natural gas production is at its heart.>Read more …
About Coal Seam Gas: Behind the seams
Working in conjunction with the prominent Australian independent media website, Crikey, we will be mining for facts and going behind the seams to tell the whole story of how CSG has become so controversial, how the debate has been shaped, and its policy and political implications.>Read more …
CSG: what is it, where does it come from, and why is it so controversial?
FAQ’s Research’s Dr Robert Merkel on the what, why and how of coal seam gas.>Read more …
