Fraccing 'can have dramatic impact'

EVEN putting aside the question of chemicals, protesters say the practice of hydraulic fracturing - or “fraccing” - in coal seam gas drilling can have a dramatic impact on water quality.

Protesters at a recent gathering of Keerong residents and Northern Rivers Greens members, along with Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann, said one of the chief concerns arose when a drill hole cut through an underground pool of water, or aquifer.

In the worst cases, the drill hole might cut through salt and freshwater aquifers. The water from the two bodies of water would mingle and the freshwater be spoiled by the salt water.

However, there were significant issues even where only a single freshwater aquifer was penetrated by a coal seam gas drill.

In that circumstance, protesters feared methane gas could leak around the drill shaft, dissolving into water within the aquifer and creating the flammable water made infamous in the US documentary Gasland.

Metgasco, which is drilling for coal seam gas around Casino, has avoided this problem with a commitment to avoid aquifers when drilling for gas.

Metgasco and Arrow Energy, the other coal seam gas company with a presence on the Northern Rivers, have said they will not use the toxic chemicals highlighted in Gasland in their Australian operations.