Try reading this without laughing: “Coal seam gas (CSG) companies including Shell, Origin Energy and PetroChina have backed a public-relations campaign to dispel "alarmist" claims about the sector. The sector on Sunday launched a "We want CSG" campaign, saying it would show how CSG was providing much-needed opportunities for regional communities throughout NSW and Queensland at a time of economic insecurity. The campaign is backed by some of Australia's largest energy companies including AGL and Santos, and major foreign investors such as British Gas and ConocoPhillips, the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) said in a statement."Our strong community feedback is that people want CSG," APPEA chief operating officer for eastern Australia Rick Wilkinson said. "They're increasingly frustrated that until now, the loudest voices in Australia's energy debate have largely been alarmist and their claims unsubstantiated. "This campaign marks the re-emergence of a fact-based energy security debate in Australia and gives voice to the many Australians who want new jobs, cleaner energy, and the revitalisation of regional communities that comes with the gas industry's expansion."
COMMENT: Is "people want CSG" one of the facts in the "fact-based energy security debate"?IT appears that only the farmers getting fracked don't like it. So proximity determines attitude. Given the widespread ambitions the frackers have for democratising the experience, at some stage people wont want CSG. Everyone will have been fracked. Let the debate begin.
On 'the revitalisation of regional communities that comes with the gas industry's expansion', there is an alternative to laying waste to the landscape and poisoning the water in the name of energy security: carbon farming. Restoring soils, regenerating farm landscapes, and revitalising regional communities while reducing emissions and reducing the CO2 overload. Trading farm-based offsets starts officially in November. That's why the central theme of this year's Carbon Farming Conference (28-29 September, Dubbo NSW) is 'preparing farmers to trade'. See www.carbonfarmingconference.com.au
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