Australia’s leading scientific research organisation the CSIRO has criticised a pro-coal seam gas (CSG) television advertisement for falsely claiming the CSIRO believed groundwater was safe from contamination by CSG mining.
The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) authorised the television advertisement that aired on the national Network Nine at the weekend.
The ad claimed the CSIRO believed groundwater was “safe from coal seam gas” activities.
In a statement the CSIRO has completely rejected the claims.
“At no time has CSIRO made such a statement, and nor do the results of CSIRO research support such a statement,” a spokesman said in a statement.
The spokesman said CSIRO has previously stated coal seam gas extraction was likely to pose a “low risk” to groundwater quality through contamination.
CSIRO has also indicated CSG mining would cause groundwater levels to fall, in some places by “several metres for several hundred years”, he said.
The spokesman said CSIRO had become aware of the advertisement through social media before it was shown and had asked that it not be aired.
Drew Hutton, president of the Lock the Gate Alliance, which opposes coal seam gas mining, has called for APPEA’s CEO Rick Wilkinson to be sacked from the Queensland government’s Gasfields Commission.
The commission regulates the relationship between landowners and CSG companies.
Mr Hutton said Mr Wilkinson would have known the CSIRO had never said groundwater would be safe from CSG mining.
“The state government should immediately ask Mr Wilkinson to stand down from the commission,” Hutton said in a statement.
An APPEA spokesman says the lobby group stands by the advertisement.
“APPEA has created a number of ads for its latest CSG campaign that relate to economic benefit, environmental protection, energy security, and technological know-how,” he said in a statement.
“All of our ads have been approved as factual by the independent advertising regulator.
“The ads we run, where we run them, and when we run them, will be determined over the months ahead.”
One Response
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