A reminder of the sort of problems Metgasco Ltd is cheerfully wishing on the Northern Rivers region

The Courier Mail  2 August 2013:

A GOVERNMENT report has shown that the spectacular bubbling of the Condamine River could have been caused by coal seam gas after all.

The bubbling occurs along a 5km stretch of the river that runs through much of the Surat Basin where coal seam gas is plentiful, but the source of the bubbles has always been a mystery and an issue of local debate.

Earlier this year the Newman Government investigated and found there was no risk to human health and would only say it was consistent with geological formations.

However, documents obtained by The Courier-Mail through Right to Information say that the gas creating the bubbles was "consistent with published values of coal seam gas'', but a definitive link cannot be made.

Since the bubbles were first discovered, activist Drew Hutton claimed the emissions were coming from the coal seam beneath the river and that the process of collecting the CSG through depressurisation of the coal seam aquifer was the likely cause of gas escaping to the surface.

"This means that, anywhere there is a coal seam gas field with geology that allows methane and other gases to escape from the coal seam to the surface, will present a significant health hazard to nearby residents,'' he said.

The risk was not in the methane but in the gases and chemicals that travelled to the surface with it.

"The coal seam gas companies and the State Government are desperately hanging on to the lack of hard data to avoid facing up to what the Condamine River bubbling means,'' he said.

But the Surat Basin is also leaking huge amounts of methane, far higher than those detected by Southern Cross University in its controversial findings last year which showed that gas emissions were significantly higher near CSG production facilities.

Evidence in the Government documents points to levels of more than 300 parts per million of methane at a location east of St George compared with the SCU study's level of 7ppm. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas.

The State Government is continuing to investigate what it calls a "phenomenon'' on the Condamine and to find the source of the gas seeps.

An independent scientific review will be completed by Queensland's Chief Scientist, Dr Geoff Garrett.... [my red bolding]

Metgasco Limited which has a number of exploration leases across the Northern Rivers region has publicly stated that; it will need about 1000 wells operating in the Casino area to make its economic forecasts come true.

Federal By-election Griffith Electorate, 8 February 2014 - AEC Virtual Tally Room & other links/tally

Australian Electoral Commission Griffith By-election Virtual Tally Room – goes online at 6 pm AEST

ABC News online – live cover with Antony Green from 6pm Queensland time

ABC News 24 – updates

On Twitter at #GriffithVotes and @AntonyGreenABC

________________________________________________________________________

ABC News 2014 Griffith By-election Results

Votes counted as at 10:11:25 PM AEDT

COAL SEAM GAS: Abbott Government intends to pressure Northern Rivers communities?

ABC News 4 February 2014:

The Greens say the prospect of a Federal Government taskforce to sort out community problems with the coal seam gas industry is an outrage.

The office of Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane has confirmed the group is being put together.

A spokeswoman says the idea was floated at last year's New South Wales Energy Conference, when the minister listed CSG as a top priority.

But Greens' senator Larissa Waters says it shows contempt for the wishes of local communities.

"Here we have the Abbott Government acting as a complete mouthpiece for industry, trying to override what has been a very clear expression from the community that they don't want coal seam gas," she said.

Mr Macfarlane's office says the exact makeup of the taskforce is still being worked out.

This media report goes some way to explaining why the Federal Nationals Member for Page, Kevin Hogan, has fallen silent on the subject of coal seam gas exploration and mining in his electorate and, why he is rumoured to be avoiding questions from journalists.

The Case of the Sudden Online Poll Conversion

For months now I have been watching online polls mentioning the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and most of these polls supported the ABC with regard to the poll question being put.

Then there was an intriguing self-select online poll which was published in The Sydney Morning Herald at approximately 3.30 pm on 29 January.

At approximately 3.51 pm this self-select online poll was displaying a “No” percentage, which was similar to the level of support for the ABC found in a 21 January 2013 Essential Research poll on trust in the media and an October 2013 Newspoll.

By 6 pm social media was aware of this poll and participation in the poll began to increase.

In the following hour after that the polling percentages (which had been running at “Yes” 24% and “No” 76%) began to turn and participant numbers had grown from 11,694 to 32,605 by 8pm.

Twelve minutes and 2,011 more respondents later and the poll looked like this.

Five minutes after that and 1,585 participants later, the poll again saw the number of people supporting Tony Abbott grow by another 1,373 people until it looked like this.    

Eight minutes after that again the poll looked like this and a pattern appeared to be emerging. Either a surprising number of genuine Abbott supporters had found their way to this poll or someone was organizing a large number of these people in order to affect the poll outcome.

At 8.34 pm the poll “Yes” and “No” responses were an equal 50%. By 8.38 pm “Yes” stood at 51% and the total number of participants had increased by 10,156 since 8 pm – 9,411 of which were supporting Abbott. 

At 9.27 pm "Yes” and “No” responses were 59% and 41% respectively and participation has increased by 12,214 people – with 10,627 of these supporting Abbott. 

By the time the online poll closed at around 10.06 pm it was displaying this result.

Looking back at 1939

From Nobelprize.org the official website of the Nobel Prize:

The Nomination Database for the Nobel Prize
in Peace, 1901-1956

Year:	1939
Number:	9-1
Nominee:
Name:	Adolf Hitler
Gender:	M
Year, birth:	1889
Year, death:	1945
Profession/Category:	Chancellor and F�hrer of Germany (1933-1945).
City:	Berlin
Country:	DE (GERMANY)
Motivation:	Hitler was the leader of the German Nationalist Socialist Party.
Nominator:
Name:	E.G.C. Brandt
Gender:	M
Profession/Category:	Member of the Swedish parliament
Country:	SE (SWEDEN)
Evaluation:	No
Comment:	The nomination was withdrawn in a letter of February 1, 1939.

Two days before the letter withdrawing the nomination was written, Adolf Hitler had made a speech in which he stated:

For hundreds of years Germany was good enough to receive these elements, although they possessed nothing except infectious political and physical diseases. What they possess today, they have by a very large extent gained at the cost of the less astute German nation by the most reprehensible manipulations.

Today we are merely paying this people what it deserves. When the German nation was, thanks to the inflation instigated and carried through by Jews, deprived of the entire savings which it had accumulated in years of honest work, when the rest of the world took away the German nation’s foreign investments, when we were divested of the whole of our colonial possessions, these philanthropic considerations evidently carried little noticeable weight with democratic statesmen....

One thing I should like to say on this day which may be memorable for others as well as for us Germans: In the course of my life I have very often been a prophet, and have usually been ridiculed for it. During the time of my struggle for power it was in the first instance the Jewish race which only received my prophecies with laughter when I said that I would one day take over the leadership of the State, and with it that of the whole nation, and that I would then among many other things settle the Jewish problem. Their laughter was uproarious, but I think that for some time now they have been laughing on the other side of their face. Today I will once more be a prophet: If the international Jewish financiers in and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, then the result will not be the Bolshevization of the earth, and thus the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe!....

Quote of the Week

The Abbott Government has asked a major review of workplace awards to assess whether minimum terms and conditions, including penalty rates, are still relevant.

[Latika Bourke in ABC News online, 4 February 2014]

Does no-one in the entire Abbott Cabinet have a grasp on reality?

Below are the opening paragraphs of a joint media release by The Hon. Greg Hunt MP, Federal Minister for the Environment and The Hon. Andrew Powell MP, Queensland Minister for Environment and Heritage Protection on 1 February 2014 – just days after Australia learned that approval had been given to dump dredge spoil from the Abbot Point coal terminal expansion into the Great Barrier Reef marine park area. I can only believe that Mr. Hunt has parted company with reality.

The Australian and Queensland Governments have today released the 2014 State Party Report on the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area which highlights the significant progress being made to improve the management, health and protection of this amazing iconic area.

This progress report has been delivered to the World Heritage Committee meeting currently underway and demonstrates unequivocally the Australian and Queensland Governments’ commitment to better managing and protecting this natural wonder.

Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt said getting the management and protection of the reef right is a top priority for the Abbott government.

“The Government is implementing important initiatives such as our Reef 2050 Plan, Reef Trust, and funding vital projects such as Crown of Thorns Starfish eradication and the Gladstone Healthy Harbours Partnership”, he said.

“The federal Government is working closely with Queensland to help protect this Australian icon for future generations.

“The report shows that the Great Barrier Reef’s outstanding universal value and integrity remain largely intact and Australia has made substantial progress and commitment in responding to the requests of the World Heritage Committee.

“In close cooperation with the Queensland Government, we are boosting the conservation of the Reef through a range of approaches both on land and in the marine environment.

“This includes carrying out the comprehensive strategic assessment of the Great Barrier Reef, an ongoing commitment to the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan and continuing strict protection under national environment laws.....

* Photograph of The Great Barrier Reef found at Australian Geographic