Queensland community action prevents Santos from freely dumping coal seam gas waste

 Independent Expert Scientific Committee warned
environment minister Josh Frydenberg of
 ‘considerable scientific uncertainty about
potential impacts on surface water’. 

Legal action by a Queensland community group has forced the federal government to stop Santos freely dumping coal seam gas waste water in Surat Basin rivers and streams.

A federal court challenge by the Western Downs Alliance has prompted the minister for environment and energy, Josh Frydenberg, to revamp his approval of the Santos gasfield development, in what has been hailed as a victory in protecting the Dawson river.

The case was set down to be heard by the full bench of the federal court next month, in what was to be the first legal test of the “water trigger” in Australia’s environmental laws, which requires the minister to consider the impact of a resources project on local waterways.

Read Joshua Robertson’s story on The Guardian - “Queensland community action prevents Santos from freely dumping coal seam gas waste.”