Toxic waste could endanger drinking water if Santos CSG project goes ahead – report

Up to 130 spills of toxic waste could occur if the Santos Narrabri coal seam gas project goes ahead, potentially endangering high-quality drinking and irrigation water, according to a leading academic.

An area of bushland being rejuvenated after a spill at
 Santos’ Bibblewindi water treatment facility which is
part of Santos’s Narrabri gas project. 

In a damning report obtained by Guardian Australia, RMIT hydrologist Matthew Currell said he found basic scientific gaps in the 7,000-page Narrabri gas project environmental impact statement (EIS).

Currell, a senior lecturer in environmental engineering, said the EIS was missing analysis of waste water from existing gas wells and contains conflicting information on whether the project area was part of the recharge zone for the Great Artesian Basin.

He said neither Santos nor the New South Wales government had enough monitoring wells to ensure groundwater was properly monitored.

Read Gabrielle Chan’s story on The Guardian - “Toxic waste could endanger drinking water if Santos CSG project goes ahead – report.”

More than $3m goes on researching wind turbines

$3.3m researching a question for
 which we already knew the answer.

An Australian research council has given two grants worth $3.3m to research the impact of wind turbines on human health despite concluding last year there was no evidence turbine noise was harmful.

Prof Anne Kelso, the chief executive of the National Health and Medical Research Council, said it had made the grants because “existing research in this area is of poor quality and targeted funding is warranted to support high-quality, independent research on this issue”.

The council will give $1.94m to the University of New South Wales professor Guy Marks to measure the effect of infrasound on sleep quality, balance, mood and cardiovascular health.

Read The Guardian story - “Wind power: funding body spends $3.3m on research into turbines' health impact.”