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Coal Seam Gas

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Coal seam gas (CSG) is mostly composed of methane and is typically attached to coal underground. This gas is released when pressure on the coal seam is reduced by removing water from the seams (Queensland Government, 2014 ). In order to obtain the gas, wells are drilled into the coal seams, bringing water from the coal seams to the surface. This process reduces pressure and allows the gas to be released (Queensland Government, 2014 ). CSG is an important energy resource in Queensland and production of this gas takes up an ever-increasing proportion of Queensland gas use. Almost every farmer in Queensland depends at times on underground water. The effect of CSG extraction using underground fracturing on underground water is not clear. Basic sets of impacts that are broadly well understood are that aquifer levels will sink dramatically and will depressurise. It also risks groundwater contamination and the salt that is present in the water of coal seams will be brought to the surface as well, in a quantity of about 1.8 million tonnes of salt per year (ABC, 2010). There are several types of water contamination that are possible. One is through the injection of chemicals through the fracking processes, which will go underground and can travel to nearby water systems that are in use (Gasfield Free Northern Rivers, 2014). Another is through chemicals that naturally exist in coal seams being taken out of the coal seams and exposed to other the various water systems nearby. Some of

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