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Judi Lynn

(160,218 posts)
Thu Apr 25, 2013, 03:41 AM Apr 2013

Shale mining under Great Barrier Reef 'likely to be banned'

Shale mining under Great Barrier Reef 'likely to be banned'

Australia's coastline mining industry undergoing a boom as rules relaxed, but Unesco site to be protected under heritage rules

Lenore Taylor
The Guardian, Wednesday 24 April 2013

Mining shale oil under the Great Barrier Reef is likely to be banned by Australia's federal Labor government as tensions rise over the environmental impact of the booming oil and gas industry on the coastline beside the reef.

In February, the conservative Queensland state government lifted a moratorium on the shale oil industry in most places along the coast to allow companies to assess whether the US shale oil boom could be replicated in Australia.

Power firm Queensland Energy Resources is now proceeding with an onshore open-cut shale rock mine and a commercial-scale demonstration processing plant near Gladstone, before deciding on the development of huge areas where it has mining rights, and which contain up to 8bn of the 22bn barrels of recoverable shale oil estimated to exist under Queensland.

The Australian Greens attacked the state decision to allow the high-emitting industry as "environmental vandalism". State premier Campbell Newman said a new industry would be "a win" for the state, bringing jobs and income from royalties. "I do accept the criticism about... energy intensiveness, but at the end of the day we are running out of oil," he said at the time.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/apr/25/great-barrier-reef-shale-gas-coal-mining-protests-in-australia

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Shale mining under Great Barrier Reef 'likely to be banned' (Original Post) Judi Lynn Apr 2013 OP
australia is blessed with MASSIVE amounts of free solar energy for daylight and with backups, at msongs Apr 2013 #1
image the empty Outback with solar panels...could run everything Swagman Apr 2013 #3
One would hope! grahamhgreen Apr 2013 #2
Relaxing environmental regulations has worked so well for UnrepentantLiberal Apr 2013 #4
Once again, radical environmentalism pscot Apr 2013 #5

msongs

(67,199 posts)
1. australia is blessed with MASSIVE amounts of free solar energy for daylight and with backups, at
Thu Apr 25, 2013, 04:12 AM
Apr 2013

night. sheesh, run out of oil already

 

UnrepentantLiberal

(11,700 posts)
4. Relaxing environmental regulations has worked so well for
Thu Apr 25, 2013, 06:46 AM
Apr 2013

Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama, why do it in Australia too?

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