Fracking & Coal Seam Gas in Australia: Gas Drillers Bring In The Heavy Hitters

Excellent article. A clear way of estimating the success of the Gas Lobby is to quantitate their success with the taxpayer-funded ABC as set out below.

In addition to despoiling the landscape, violating amenity, salinizing land and depleting and polluting aquifers there are 2 fundamental reasons why Coal Seam Gas development should be stopped in Australia, the US and like high per capita greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution countries.

1. In 2009, the WBGU which advises the German Government on climate change has estimated that for a 75% chance of avoiding a 2C temperature risr (EU policy) the World can emit no more than 600 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) between 2010 and zero emissions in 2050. Australia's share of this terminal GHG pollution budget is 600,000 million tonnes CO2 x 22 million/7000 million = 1885 million tonnes CO2. At Australia;s current rate of Domestic plus Exported GHG pollution of 1,415 million tonnes of CO2-e , Australia had 1,885/1,415 = 1.3 years to achieve zero emissions i.e. Australia had used up its fair share of the terminal pollution budget by about mid-2011 and is now stealing the entitlement of impoverished countries such as Bangladesh and Somalia .

Ergo, Australia should be closing down fossil fuel extraction, not generating more.

2. Methane (CH4) is a major part of natural gas, is a gas, leaks significantly and is 105 times worse than CO2 as a GHG on a 20 year time frame with aerosol impacts taken into account (see Drew T. Shindell , Greg Faluvegi, Dorothy M. Koch , Gavin A. Schmidt , Nadine Unger and Susanne E. Bauer , “Improved Attribution of Climate Forcing to Emissions”, Science, 30 October 2009:

Vol. 326 no. 5953 pp. 716-718: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/326/5953/716 and Shindell et al (2009), Fig.2: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/326/5953/716.figures-only ). CH4 leakage from fracking can be 7.9% as comapre dotthe US average if 3.3% and depending upon th leakage gas burnig for power can be worse GHG-wise than coal burning (see Robert W. Howarth, Renee Santoro and Anthony Ingraffea, “Methane and the greenhouse-gas footprint of natural gas from shale formations”, Climatic Change, 2011: http://www.sustainablefuture.cornell.edu/news/attachments/Howarth-EtAl-2011.pdf ). Indeed, with existing infrastructure in Victoria at 3.3% lekage , gas burning as bad GHG-wise as coal burnig at Hazelwood (Australia's dirtiest coal-fired power plant) and if 7.9% would be twice as bad a Hazelwood GHG-wise.

Ergo, burning Coal Seam Gas for power may be as bad as and may be twice as dirty GHG-wiseas burning coal i.e. don't do it.

Now the taxpayer-funded ABC has a search engine that enables you to search "the entire ABC site" but an ABC search for the following yields ZERO (0) results in relation to key points #1 and #2 above that are crucial to sensible public debate: "drew shindell" (see: http://search.abc.net.au/search/search.cgi?query=%22drew+shindell%22&sort=&collection=abcall_meta&form=simple ) , "robert howarth", "105 times", "WBGU", "domestic plus exported", "600 billion tonnes".

The taxpayer-funded ABC has a shocking record of sustained lying by omission, false reportage and censorship (Google "ABC Censorship"). Given that the Lib-Labs are to the right of the ABC there is little hope for serious action on man-made climate change when the ABC stifles the debate. Australia is a Murdochcracy (Big Money buys public perception of the truth and hence votes) and a Lobbyocracy (Big Money buys politicians, parties, policies and votes) .