EPA’s inadequate response to aquifer uranium contamination by CSG company Santos
Concerns raised over EPA response to aquifer uranium contamination by CSG company Santos ABC News The World Today By Tanya Nolan 12 Mar 14 Concerns have been raised over the failure of the New South Wales Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to request follow-up tests from Santos after the contamination of an aquifer in the Pilliga forest.
The coal seam gas (CSG) company’s operations led to contamination of the aquifer in February, with the EPA fining Santos $1,500.
The EPA did not reveal what the contamination was, but Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham says the EPA’s internal report revealed there were levels of uranium in the groundwater at 17 times the recommended level.
National Toxics Network spokeswoman Marianne Lloyd Smith says she is not surprised Australia has seen its first case of aquifer contamination from CSG operations.
However, she says the EPA’s handling of the contamination is of most concern.
“When they saw those levels they should have said ‘we need to go back and do some testing or request testing of the radionuclides like radium and radon’ – the things that are very dangerous. And that’s what shocked me – it didn’t happen,” Dr Smith said.
She says the EPA should have done follow-up testing on radioactivity in the water.
“When you test uranium, you’re not actually testing the radioactivity of it,” she said. “You’re testing how much natural uranium is in the rock and so that test was high, high enough that should have said to the EPA, ‘if there’s that much uranium, maybe we should go back and look at what radioactivity we have in the water’.
“That is what wasn’t done and that’s where I think the question needs to be asked: why wasn’t that done?”
No confidence in EPA to regulate CSG industry, says Greens MP
Mr Buckingham says the EPA also ignored its own advice to conduct further testing of the site and he has no confidence in the EPA to regulate the CSG industry.
“The documents we’ve seen indicate that the EPA did not request further testing of those radioactive contaminants despite recommendations from their own testing unit that the company do so. That’s of enormous concern,” he said……..http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-12/environmentalists-alarmed-at-coal-seam-gas-contamination-scare/5315926
2 Comments »
Leave a reply to Dennis Matthews Cancel reply
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 
In Australia the mining industry and its so-called regulators have a history of not doing baseline studies before exploration and mining start. As a result we are usually unable to prove that pollution has increased.
Mining regulators are also the promoters of mining and therefore have a serious conflict of interest
LikeLike
A quick google search shows that radioactivity in fracking water is not a new phenomenon and has led to fracking water being classed as radioactive waste for which planning of appropriate treatment is required before fracking can go ahead.
It is also noteworthy that fracking has caused seismic events and has led to projects being shut down. This is also the case with hot rocks geothermal projects which also use hydraulic fracturing. The rocks have a very high temperature as a result of radioactive decay of minerals in the rock being fractured. The water that is forced through these fractures is inevitably radioactive. This type of fracking is now going on at at least two sites in SA. The aim of these hot rocks projects (also known as enhanced geothermal) is to produce electricity with the main prospective customers being uranium mines such as Beverley.
LikeLike