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ABOUT SODD
Save Our Darling Downs (SODD) has been formed in response to the rapid expansion of Coal Seam Gas mining activities in established agricultural areas.
SODD are particularly concerned by encroachment of methane mining on the prime agricultural lands within and surrounding the Condamine Alluvium Floodplain. To date, the State Government and CSG mining companies have been reluctant to inform Queenslanders of the staggering negative environmental impacts of
Coal Seam Methane mining.
Coal Seam Methane mining is not low impact. Hundreds of thousands of acres of agricultural land will be lost to CSG mining infrastructure. State Government reports estimate that as much as 560,000 million litres of Great Artesian Basin water will be brought to the land's surface as a by-product of the mining process EVERY YEAR. That's as much water as there is in the Sydney Harbor!
Most of this water will be evaporated and wasted, leaving millions of tonnes of salt residue, which the mining companies admit they have no idea what to do with, except bury it. Clay soils are permanently and irreversible damaged when contaminated by salt. The rich, fertile clay soils of the Darling Downs are being placed at extreme risk by these mining practices. The State Government has identified the Condamine Alluvial Aquifer to be at high hydrological risk from Coal Seam Methane mining. Communities within the floodplain rely on the pure waters of the Condamine Alluvium for town water, rural, domestic, stock and irrigation supplies.
The future of the Condamine Alluvium and the communities that depend on it are in jeopardy as the State Government and the mining companies pursue a CSG industry in the region. SODD is committed to the future of our environment, agricultural industry and rural communities.
We are calling on our State Government to impose an immediate moratorium on any further CSG mining development until the full environmental impacts on groundwater systems and agricultural lands are understood and until suitable and satisfactory solutions can be found to address the issues of salt water by-product.
Save Our Darling Downs!
