2016-06-16
The Greens congratulate the Western Downs Alliance for their legal challenge to ensure the water trigger is enforced against CSG in western Queensland.
"It appears Minister Hunt has ignored the impacts of CSG on water in approving Santos' project to drill 6,100 CSG wells in Queensland," Qld Senator Larissa Waters, Australian Greens mining spokesperson, said.
"It has been left to the community to make sure our water trigger is enforced by taking the Minister to court.
"The Greens are proud to have helped established the water trigger when in the balance of power with rural independents in the last Parliament.
"The water trigger provides federal legal protection to water resources that would be significantly impacted by coal seam gas or coal mines, and the Greens have been pushing to expand its application to shale gas and tight gas.
"Santos' 6,100-well expansion threatens to release CSG waste water in the Dawson River and to extract billions of litres of water, impacting dozens of bores.
"The old parties need to stop putting their big mining donors ahead of rural communities who want their land, water and environment protected for future generations.
"We Greens don't take corporate donations, including from the big mining companies, and always stand up for landholders against big coal and gas," Senator Waters said.