Anna Bligh's Gold Coast desal plant quality compromised in rush ...

10 November 2009

Fears the $1.2 billion Gold Coast desalination plant was rushed, compromising its quality, have been raised by officials overseeing the troubled project.

The Tugun plant, meant to be a showpiece of the State Government's $9 billion water grid, has been plagued by problems including rusting pipes, cracking concrete, faulty valves and leaching of contaminants from a rubbish dump.

The Government is refusing to take delivery of the facility until next June because of serious faults that have delayed the handover by 18 months.

Now, documents obtained by The Courier-Mail under Freedom to Information laws reveal serious concerns were raised about the pace of construction.
...

See - Courier Mail - Rushing ruined Tugun desalination plant.

Brisbane experiments with rainwater harvesting ...

29 October 2009

Capturing rain water and storing it under Brisbane's suburban streets could be the answer to South-East Queensland's water security, doing away with the need for large-scale dams such as Traveston Crossing, experts say.

Scientists hope a storm water harvesting trial on Brisbane's northside will help them work out how to capture some of the 500 billion litres of rain water - equivalent to 500,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools - which falls over Greater Brisbane each year but simply runs into creeks and rivers.

They argue all new residential estates should be built with the capability to store and harvest rain water supplies underground or in smaller, local dams.

See - Brisbane Times - Summer harvest the key to Brisbane's water future?

Will Coalworks proceed with Hodgson Vale coal mine ...

21 October 2009

Google Hodgson Vale and, alongside real estate ads featuring green valley vistas, is a website boasting the area's coal gasification potential.

The New South Wales-based Coalworks has a 51 square kilometre exploration lease over the area, a fact which Councillor Mike Williams said had made some potential buyers wary about investing.

He has gathered anecdotal evidence investors had been spooked by the company's prediction, published in The Chronicle in August, that a coal mine could be operating in the area in five years if a second round of drilling was successful.

See - the Chronicle - Coal talk takes shine off sales boom.

Rain delays Wivenhoe-Toowoomba pipeline connection ...

6 November 2009

The connection of the final pipe between Wivenhoe and Cressbrook Dams to supply urgently needed water to Toowoomba has been delayed.

It was meant to be connected today but overnight storms dumped more than 30 millimetres on the site.

The rain has made the ground too soggy to complete the connection.

See - ABC News - Rain delays drought connection.

Anna Bligh starts 'we saved Toowoomba' campaign ...

6 November 2009

The State Government says Toowoomba would be in total drought next year without water from Wivenhoe Dam.

Workers today will complete a 38-kilometre pipeline from the dam to Toowoomba, before moving on to finish the pump station.

See - ABC News - Pipe completed to drought-striken city.

Anna Bligh - 'I may have saved you but you'll pay for it' ...

Gasification project pilots cleaner coal energy ...

A Queensland company is piloting technology which will generate power from coal without having to dig it up and with 25 per cent fewer emissions than a traditional black-coal power station.

Cougar Energy is developing an underground coal gasification (UCG) project 10km south of Kingaroy, in southern Queensland.

UCG is the process of extracting coal from the ground through its transformation into a combustible gas for power generation. It can also be used in the production of diesel, fertilisers or chemicals.

See - Brisbane Times - Gasification project pilots cleaner coal energy.

No water by-product with this one ...

Victoria's desalination plant secures funding ...

AquaSure, a group of investors building Australia's biggest water desalination plant, agreed to a $1.7 billion loan to help fund the project, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Banks offered to lend more than AquaSure sought, meaning the Victoria state government won't need to make up a shortfall, said the people, who asked not to be identified as they're not authorized to discuss the matter. National Australia Bank and Westpac managed the syndication, they said.

See - SMH - Desal plant secures funds; Vic govt off the hook.

Brisbane dam levels at 73.4% ...

... according to SEQwater.

Western Sydney faces water crisis ...

7 November 2009

The State Government must consider curbing population growth in western Sydney because there will not be enough water to sustain agriculture, recreation and environmental flows in the region, scientists say.

More than 600,000 extra residents will live in western Sydney by 2031, according to the State Government's Metropolitan Strategy.

But scientists working for the water strategy group WISER say there will be only just enough water for drinking and bathing, leaving little for the region's market gardens, playing fields, and the Hawkesbury-Nepean River system.

See - SMH - Western Sydney faces water crisis, scientists warn.

Anna Bligh keeps location of SEQ's second desalination plant secret ...

The Bligh Government is sitting on a high-level report identifying the location of the second-wave of desalination plants planned for Queensland.

The report, completed months ago, reveals which of two environmentally sensitive sites at Bribie Island or Marcoola on the Sunshine Coast will host a proposed new desalination plant.

A site at bayside Lytton in Brisbane and either the Bribie or Marcoola options – both of which involve building in national parks – were identified last February as "priority" locations.

However, despite promising a final decision on sites by mid-year, the Government now says it will not release the report until a decision is made on the Traveston Dam in the Mary Valley.

See - Courier Mail - Bribie Island or Marcoola; desalination site kept secret.

Better build this one better than the first ...

SEQ - hosing allowed as water restrictions relaxed ...

Southeast Queenslanders can finally get the hose out of the shed as tough drought-induced water restrictions are lifted from next month.

The changes mean some households could use up to 80 litres more water a day per person.

They also allow residents to water their lawns and gardens and wash their cars with hoses before 10am and after 4pm on any day except Mondays.

The changes, to be introduced on December 1, bring the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast into line with the rest of the region.

Both coasts are using an average of more than 200 litres of water per resident a day, significantly more than in Brisbane, Logan and Ipswich. Sunshine Coast water usage is averaging between 230 litres and 260 litres a day.

See - Courier Mail - Hosing allowed as water restrictions to be eased.

Weather threatens Hinze Dam project on the Gold Coast ...

The threat of a stormy and wet summer has pushed the $395 million project to double the capacity of the Hinze Dam on the Gold Coast to crisis point.

See - Sunday Mail - Weather threatens Hinze Dam project on the Gold Coast.

San Diego - recycled water advocates say use celebrities to sell it ...

People trust scientists. But they also trust celebrities, sports figures, and others. Go out and recruit a bunch of Chargers and Padres to start drinking the Orange County water which is augmented from re-purified sources. Get a panel of local doctors to endorse (and drink) recycled water.

See - Voice of San Diego - Win the Hearts and Minds to Get Recycled Water.

This was suggested (!) during the Toowoomba water debate - see - Recycled water celebrity endorsement.

Getting bottles of NEWater was easy. Getting politicians to drink it convincingly was another matter ...

Toowoomba water access charge fallout continues ...

Brisbane City residents pay just $155 per annum to access water, $480 less than what Toowoomba residents will pay under the new access charges.

Brisbane ratepayers are charged $1.84 for every kilo-litre, Toowoomba city residents $1.50.

See - WIN News - Water charges.

Council is blaming the rate rise on the $187m Wivenhoe pipeline, the cost to maintain it, and the State government's withdrawal of the 40% infrastructure subsidy.

See - WIN News - Council blames anyone else for problems.

Toowoomba's 2009 water charges - here comes the pain ...

Toowoomba Regional Council - water charges:

Toowoomba Bulk Water Supply

Access charge - $320 per half year ($640 per annum)

First Tier - $1.50/kL (First Tier max. consumption limit - 100kL)

Second Tier - $2.80/kL

Half yearly water rates notice - to be sent in November and May.

SEQ - water supply merger to lead to separate bills ...

Courier Mail:

Water supply merger to lead to separate bills

23 October 2009

Brisbane ratepayers will receive a separate water bill from January, following the formation of a huge council-owned water distribution company.

The change is likely to coincide with another hike in water charges, expected to push the average Brisbane household water bill above $600 a year, nearly double what it was five years ago.

The company, Queensland Urban Utilities, will handle the distribution and sale of all water to homes and business in Brisbane, Ipswich and towns in the Lockyer Valley.
...

See - Courier Mail - Water supply merger to lead to separate bills.

Anna Bligh's decision to reserve 20% of CSG supplies for domestic use "mind bogglingly stupid" ...

Ivor Ries argues in the Eureka Report that Qld reserving 20% of CSG for domestic use is "so mind-bogglingly stupid" that it may just stop all development.

See - The Eureka Report (subscription required).

See - Qld Government report - Blueprint for Qld's LNG Industry.

Toowoomba's Cooby Dam and Cressbrook Dam - reports ordered into spillway adequacy ...

The department has also ordered reports on the adequacy of spillways at Cooby Dam and Cressbrook Dam near Toowoomba and Baroon Pocket Dam on the Sunshine Coast as part of an ongoing investigation into dam safety.

See - Courier Mail - Queensland dams overflowing with risk for local residents.

4350water blog updates on Twitter ...

If you're not following 4350water blog on Twitter, you're not following 4350water blog ...

Environmentalists rally against SA water privatisation

See - ABC News - Environmentalists rally against SA water privatisation.

Oakey taps bore water for drinking water supplies ...

The Chronicle:

Treated bore water for drinking

30 September 2009

Take it from Will Higgins: Oakey water is now so pure you can't taste it.

That was the Toowoomba Regional Council engineer's verdict after sampling a glass of H20 at the opening of the town's new reverse osmosis plant yesterday.

He said the bore water treated in the $4.8 million system was so clear that salt had to be added to it before it was pumped to houses - otherwise it would damage the infrastructure.

“It's terrific water,” he said over the sound of the plant which is as noisy as a night club.

The Israeli-designed system produces two megalitres of pure water every day for Oakey.

The bore water goes through a sand filter, then two lots of screens which are so fine they can take out a grain of sand.

Finally, it hits a synthetic membrane which removes the final stubborn particles of salt.

New Acland Coal Mine uses the leftover salty water.

The company pipes it 20 kilometres for reuse in its coal-washing facility.

The plant was officially opened by Natural Resources Minister Stephen Robertson.

“This has taken some pressure off the existing reticulated water supplies for Toowoomba which have been under significant stress for a number of years now,” he said.

See - The Chronicle - Treated bore water for drinking.

Brisbane eases water restrictions - Toowoomba Regional Council says no ...

Courier Mail:

Water restrictions eased to wash off dust

24 September 2009

South-East Queenslanders have been granted a wet week to house down cars and houses with water restrictions relaxed because of yesterday's dust storm.

Deputy Premier Paul Lucas today announced that water restrictions would be relaxed from 12.01am this Saturday until 11.59pm on Sunday October 4.

Residents will be able to wash cars and buildings with a trigger hose, high pressure hose or hand-held twist-nozzle, but they will not be able to use the water on their gardens, or driveways and paths.

See - Courier Mail - Water restrictions eased to wash off dust.


Excerpt from Toowoomba Regional Council response:

Level 5 water restrictions remain for Toowoomba network

24 September 2009

Residents on Toowoomba’s water supply network must comply with Level 5 water restrictions banning the use of town water outside homes and businesses.

Toowoomba Regional Council’s Water Services portfolio leader Cr Paul Antonio said proposed Queensland Water Commission exemptions allowing clean-ups in the wake of this week’s dust storm would not extend to residents on Toowoomba’s water network.

Cr Antonio said council set and administered water policies and the current restrictions for the Toowoomba water supply network.
...

Cr Antonio said council set and administered water policies and the current restrictions for the Toowoomba water supply network.

“Given our combined dam capacity (9.7% as at September 23) and the limitations of the current Level 5 restrictions, council could not consider allowing any exemptions for widespread external cleaning,” he said.
...

These restrictions do not apply to the use of rainwater.

Toowoomba Deputy Mayor Antonio backflips - now Toowoomba won't run out of water ...

The Chronicle:

We won't run dry

22 September 2009

Toowoomba will not run out of water — ever.

That was the strong message from Deputy Mayor Paul Antonio yesterday after a Sunday Mail article this week painted a grim picture of the city’s water supply.

Cr Antonio stressed there was “absolutely no cause for alarm” as the Wivenhoe Dam pipeline neared Cressbrook Dam.

“There is absolutely no way we can run out of water,” he said.

Cr Antonio said Toowoomba’s three dams, Perseverance, Cooby and Cressbrook, were sitting at 9.7 per cent.

Water Services acting director Greg Lindsay said the city was currently using both dam water and basalt bores, with the basalt bores making up about 30% of the total supply.

Mr Lindsay said none of the city’s five Great Artesian Basin bores were currently operating because they were waiting for a permanent power source to be connected to the bore stations.

“Two or three of the artesian bores should be able to come online by the end of October,” he said.

“Earlier in the year for about three months, we were using a generator to run one of the (artesian) bores, but it was far too expensive.”

Cr Antonio said he expected water to be flowing through the Wivenhoe pipeline to Toowoomba by January.

The $187 million pipeline will be able to pump 14,200 million litres of water a year which is more than 50% above the current demand.

When asked if he thought it was irresponsible of The Sunday Mail to portray the situation as dire as it did, Cr Antonio declined to comment.

“But what I will say is that I’m going to be positive about Toowoomba’s water supply rather than negative.”

Chamber of Commerce president Shane Charles said negative stories about the city’s water supply could “certainly” affect out-of-town investment.

“It’s becoming increasingly important that we’ve got a positive message,” Mr Charles said.

“We need to attract business investment and even just visitors to the town.

“Toowoomba has to be seen as a lifestyle destination, but if people perceive that we’ve got water trouble and it is hard to live here, then that doesn’t do us any favours.”

See - The Chronicle - We won't run dry.

Toowoomba's Deputy Mayor tries to scare residents about water ...

Since 2005, Councillors have been using scare tactics about Toowoomba running out of water.

It was supposed to run out by Christmas 2005.

It didn't.

Now it's Deputy Mayor Antonio's turn.

He seems to think that the GAB supplies are going to dry up.

The article also implies that bore water use is just commencing.

To some in Toowoomba on bore water for quite some time, this will be a bit of a surprise.

Sunday Mail:

Toowoomba taps into bore water as drought continues

20 September 2009

The town that rejected recycled water has been forced to tap into an emergency allocation of bore water while it waits for a lifesaving pipeline connecting Wivenhoe Dam to the region's water supply.

While Toowoomba was in full bloom as it celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Carnival of Flowers yesterday, away from the festivities the region continued to bake in a decade-long drought, with dam levels falling to a critically low 9.8 per cent.

In a sign of the desperate times, the Toowoomba Regional Council Deputy Mayor, Paul Antonio, said the town was now pumping water from an emergency allocation from the Great Artesian Basin.

It comes three years after residents rejected a recycled water referendum when dam levels were over 23 per cent.

Now Australia's second largest inland city, with a regional population of more than 150,000, will come within a few months of its dams running completely dry as the State Government works to complete a 38km pipeline from Wivenhoe to Cressbrook Dam.

The much-needed pipeline will be able to pump 14,200 million litres of water annually - more than 50 per cent above present demand - when it is completed by the end of January next year.

"Without this pipeline, the water situation for Toowoomba is grim," Infrastructure and Planning Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said.

To make matters worse, consumption per resident increased to 129 litres a day last week, compared with 120 litres in the same period last year, as residents grow weary of the long dry and strict level 5 water restrictions. The region's three dams, Perseverance, Cooby and Cressbrook, hold a maximum storage capacity of 135,074ML, but only about 12,3362ML remains, of which 8523ML is classified as "dead storage", or unable to be used.

Mr Antonio estimated without any further supplementation the dams would run dry by June. The council had thought that by mid 2010 "we would be in deep trouble for water", he said.

But it could be worse, Mr Antonio admitted, saying there was uncertainty about just how much water was usable.

See - Sunday Mail - Toowoomba taps into bore water as drought continues.

Desperate times?

Clearly not desperate enough to prevent the Council from supplying bore water to the Carnival of Flowers Garden Competition entrants.

And if the Wivenhoe pipeline will be finished in January 2010, why is there any need for Deputy Mayor Antonio to try to whip residents into a panic by saying the water will run out by June.

He's just not making sense ...

Queensland's new rules for coal seam gas ...

See - Qld government - Blueprint for Queensland's LNG Industry.

Anna Bligh's new rules for coal seam gas water ...

Excerpt from Blueprint for Queensland's LNG Industry:

September 2009

Managing produced water

Coal seam gas (CSG) is primarily methane, which is absorbed and maintained in the coal seam. To produce CSG, the water contained in the coal seam must be removed to create a pressure void into which the gas migrates. As a result, a significant amount of saline water is produced. The quantity and quality of CSG water can vary considerably between wells and regions.

In 2007–08, approximately 13.5 gigalitres (GL) of CSG water was produced in Queensland.

It is estimated that production of gas for domestic consumption in the Surat Basin will produce an annual average of 25 GL of CSG water for the next 25 years. With the potential growth of the CSG/LNG industry, it is possible that the CSG water production may be in the order of:

• 126 GL/year for a 10 Mtpa industry

• 196 GL/year for a 28 Mtpa industry

• 281 GL/year for a 40 Mtpa industry.
  

In addition to CSG water containing concentrations of salts, it may also contain other contaminants that have the potential to cause environmental harm if released to land or water through inappropriate management. There are also ecological risks associated with the disposal of CSG water and, without proper treatment, the use for CSG water is limited.

To address the potential risks of CSG water the government has decided that:

• CSG producers are responsible for the treatment and disposal of the CSG water they create.

• CSG producers must treat CSG water to a standard defined by the Department of Environment and Resource Management before disposal or supply to other users.

• Evaporation ponds are to be discontinued as the primary means of disposal and transitional arrangements are to be developed in consultation with industry.

• Remediation action for existing ponds is to occur within three years.

• Ponds, necessary for aggregation or brine storage, are to be lined to a standard defined by the Department of Environment and Resource Management.

• At the approval stage, CSG producers will need to advise how they intend to manage water on their operations through the preparation of a CSG Water Management Plan.

• Water which is in excess to that which can be directly injected or beneficially used is to be aggregated for disposal.

See - Blueprint for Queensland's LNG Industry - Page 4.

Anna Bligh's Traveston dam plans awash with protesters ...

Anna Bligh is damned if she does, damned if she doesn't.

The Queensland Premier's doggedness in building a $1.5 billion dam to drought-proof the state's insatiable southeast has drawn the wrath of a powerful coalition of convenience: farmers and greenies.

The government plans to dam the Mary River at Traveston Crossing, just north of Gympie, to augment Brisbane's water supplies. Drought lowered the city's dam levels to 16 per cent last summer despite the nation's toughest water restrictions.

To the chagrin of the dam's opponents, Bligh is implying southeast Queensland could run out of drinking water, even though new desalination plants and recycled water technology have been put in place.
...

But in the end Bligh may find a rejection by Garrett to be a convenient cop-out.

She can play up to the voters she most needs to impress at the next state election -- those in the thirsty Brisbane-to-Gold Coast corridor -- without antagonising green voters or those in the conservative heartland around Gympie.

See - The Australian - Anna's dam awash with protesters.

Amazing. Recycled water was touted by Anna Bligh as 'wonder water' - now she threatens to force people to drink recycled water if she can't build her dam ...

Qld's coal seam gas industry faces Qatar competition for Asia sales ...

Courier Mail:

Cheap Qatar gas threat looms

19 September 2009

Premier Anna Bligh was in full flight this week, lauding a burning bright future for Queensland coal seam gas and looking forward to a very nice contribution to the state's royalty coffers.

But Queensland coal seam gas hopefuls, so many of whom are aspiring to become big exporters of liquefied natural gas, had better make sure the sales contracts some of them have signed are rock solid.

And those who haven't yet got firm buyers would do well to quickly lock in long-term customers.

The go-ahead this week for the giant $43 billion Gorgon LNG project in Western Australia, and announcements of a string of sale contracts by the participants, which could garner $150 billion over the life of the project, makes things on the global LNG horizon look good.

A world hungry for Gorgon gas would also be hungry for Queensland LNG - seen as the state's next boom industry - wouldn't it?

The Premier on Thursday talked of Queensland LNG projects exporting as much as 40 million tonnes of gas a year. Maybe - one day.

LNG facilities take many years to progress from a glint in the eye to plants producing gas. And in the shorter term, there's an elephant in the room, as industry monitor EnergyQuest's Graeme Bethune called it recently, in the form of Middle Eastern gas gusher Qatar.

Queensland has five LNG projects under study that can be taken seriously at this point - though even some of these will probably fall by the wayside or merge with competitors.

The likely first off the rank, if all goes to plan, will be the small LNG Ltd-Arrow Energy plant planned for Fisherman's Landing near Gladstone.

Arrow's plan is to produce about three million tonnes of LNG a year from two small liquefaction "trains", as LNG processing lines are known. It is aiming to ship first gas by 2012.

Arrow's shares spiked more than 3 per cent yesterday on news that Norwegian shipping company Golar LNG Ltd had agreed to sell gas from the proposed Gladstone project to a subsidiary of Japan's Toyota Group.

Toyota Tsusho has agreed to buy around 1.5 million metric tons of LNG a year for 20 years from 2014, which is enough to underpin the project's first LNG processing train.

The other four big schemes are the Santos-Petronas project, that proposed by Origin and ConocoPhillips, the BG Group-Queensland Gas Co plant and Royal Dutch Shell's operation - which is also expected to take its base supply from Arrow's coal seam gas areas, in which Shell has a 30 per cent stake.

Each of these projects is hoping to eventually have three to five million tonnes-a-year trains, or at least two in quick succession, with each extra train having a big multiplier effect on the profitability of any LNG operation because the first trains in such large developments chew up huge amounts of capital.

That would be 60 million tonnes a year of LNG.

Premier Bligh talked of just 40 million tonnes when she announced this week's draft blueprint for the industry. That may reflect industry concerns that not all Queensland's hopefuls will get up, as well as worries about competition from Qatar and the recent plunge in US gas prices.

Estimates of world demand for LNG into the next decade or so vary widely. EnergyQuest's August Energy Quarterly said world LNG demand growth had averaged 7 per cent a year since 2003.

EnergyQuest consultant Andy Flowers predicts future demand will grow at 8.5 per cent a year.

This would take demand to 520 million tonnes a year by 2020, from 163 million tonnes in 2007.

But the Japanese Institute of Energy Economics forecasts growth averaging only 4.1 per cent to 4.9 per cent over that period, to reach 332-388 million tonnes by 2020.

Long before that, Qatar, likely to be the world's lowest-cost producer of LNG, is planning to churn out 77 million tonnes a year.

Australia at present produces about 20 million tonnes a year.

Gorgon is looking at 15 million tonnes and hoping to quickly add another 10 million tonnes, while Woodside and ExxonMobil, Santos and Oil Search - with their project in PNG - are also close to entering the market with large licks of production. Another worry for Queensland's gas industry is future LNG prices.

The state's coal seam gas groups looked to export markets to tap prices that have long been well above prices in Australian. But the financial crisis led to a dramatic fall in the price paid for US gas.

Prices have recovered somewhat in the last week, despite huge stockpiles, to about $US3.30 for 1000 cubic feet- still well short of the $US14 they commanded last northern hemisphere summer.

The risk remains that Qatar could aim its cheap gas at Asian markets, whereas it had been assumed it would target the US and Europe.

Which all means Queensland's hopefuls could find their preferred Asian markets a lot harder to crack, or offering lower prices, than they have long hoped.

See - Courier Mail - Cheap Qatar gas threat looms.

Anna Bligh threatens to use recycled water if Traveston Dam not built ...

Brisbane could run out of drinking water unless the federal government backs the nation's greenest new dam, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh warned yesterday.

"Ultimately the lives of more than two million people and their ability to drink is at stake here," she said.

"The next time a drought hits southeast Queensland, and it will, I want to make sure people have got the water they need to drink and to conduct their lives."

Ms Bligh said the state government would have to build two new desalination plants or resort to recycled water for drinking if federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett blocked the proposed $1.5 billion Traveston Dam on environmental grounds.

See - The Australian - Brisbane must have dam, Anna Bligh warns.

Also see - Courier Mail - Dam alternatives too costly.

Traveston Dam gets approval ...

Sunday Mail:

Traveston Dam gets approval

13 September 2009

The controversial $1.6 billion Traveston Crossing Dam has been given environmental approval and could get the go-ahead from Federal Government within weeks.

Queensland Co-Ordinator General Colin Jensen has signed off on the project – with a host of new environmental conditions, including more protection for endangered fish, frogs and turtles in the Mary River.

Work will start at the site near Gympie by early next year if federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett gives his approval. Bruce Highway upgrades will also begin with the work.
...

See - Sunday Mail - Traveston Dam gets approval.

Coal seam gas - the case for ...

ABC News:

Australia's methane gas could power the world: expert

12 September 2009

Australia's abundant methane gas reserves found in coal seams could help power the world, according to a gas industry consultant.

Addressing a major offshore oil and gas industry conference in Darwin this week, Tony Regan of Tri-Zen International says there are also rich reserves of methane gas within coal seams in the Gladstone and Bowen Basin region of Queensland.

"These are large world scale projects, expect to see some consolidation," he said.

"But at the moment, we have got five projects, potentially 28 million tonnes within five years. That's more than existing Australian northern production."

Mr Regan says that globally there are more reserves of coal methane than conventional natural gas reserves, and Australian reserves represent about 40 per cent of the world's proposed new projects.

"CBM [coal-bed methane] in Australia is very, very significant," he said.

"Australian energy development is hugely significant. Those projects there represent about 50 per cent of the total global proposed new capacity."

See - ABC News - Australia's methane gas could power the world: expert.

Coal seam gas - the case against ...

Eureka Report recently interviewed Don Voelte, chief executive of Woodside Petroleum.

In his view, the coal seam gas industry is overrated for the following reasons:

• CSG is at the start of a steep learning curve on extraction, transport and storage.

• smarter players have defined a large resource and sold out.

• the companies which have bought in now need to try to determine how to make money from CSG.

• dealing with the associated water will cause headaches.

Climate change - focus on the means ...

The Australian:

Focus on the means

7 September 2009

Our present approach to solving global warming will not work. It is flawed economically, because carbon taxes will cost a fortune and do little, and it is flawed politically, because negotiations to reduce CO2 emissions will become ever more fraught and divisive. And even if you disagree on both counts, the present approach is also flawed technologically.

Many countries are now setting ambitious carbon-cutting goals ahead of global negotiations in Copenhagen this December to replace the Kyoto Protocol. Let us imagine that the world ultimately agrees on an ambitious target. Say we decide to reduce CO2 emissions by three-quarters by 2100 while maintaining reasonable growth. Herein lies the technological problem: to meet this goal, non-carbon-based sources of energy would have to be an astounding 2.5 times greater in 2100 than the level of total global energy consumption was in 2000.

These figures were calculated by economists Chris Green and Isabel Galiana of McGill University. Their research shows that confronting global warming effectively requires nothing short of a technological revolution. We are not taking this challenge seriously. If we continue on our current path, technological development will be nowhere near significant enough to make non-carbon-based energy sources competitive with fossil fuels on price and effectiveness.

In Copenhagen this December, the focus will be on how much carbon to cut, rather than on how to do so. Little or no consideration will be given to whether the means of cutting emissions are sufficient to achieve the goals.

Politicians will base their decisions on global warming models that simply assume that technological breakthroughs will happen by themselves. This faith is sadly - and dangerously - misplaced.

Green and Galiana examine the state of non-carbon-based energy today - nuclear, wind, solar, geothermal, etc - and find that, taken together, alternative energy sources would get us less than halfway towards a path of stable carbon emissions by 2050, and only a tiny fraction of the way toward stabilisation by 2100. We need many, many times more non-carbon-based energy than is currently produced.

Yet the needed technology will not be ready in terms of scalability or stability. In many cases, there is still a need for the most basic research and development. We are not even close to getting this revolution started.

Existing technology is so inefficient that - to take just one example - if we were serious about wind power, we would have to blanket most countries with wind turbines to generate enough energy for everybody, and we would still have the massive problem of storage: we don't know what to do when the wind doesn't blow.

Policymakers should abandon fraught carbon-reduction negotiations, and instead make agreements to invest in research and development to get this technology to the level where it needs to be. Not only would this have a much greater chance of actually addressing climate change, but it would also have a much greater chance of political success. The biggest emitters of the 21st century, including India and China, are unwilling to sign up to tough, costly emission targets. They would be much more likely to embrace a cheaper, smarter, and more beneficial path of innovation.

Today's politicians focus narrowly on how high a carbon tax should be to stop people from using fossil fuels. That is the wrong question. The market alone is an ineffective way to stimulate research and development into uncertain technology, and a high carbon tax will simply hurt growth if alternatives are not ready. In other words, we will all be worse off.

Green and Galiana propose limiting carbon pricing initially to a low tax (say, $5 a tonne) to finance energy research and development. Over time, they argue, the tax should be allowed to rise slowly to encourage the deployment of effective, affordable technology alternatives.

Investing about $100 billion annually in non-carbon-based energy research would mean that we could essentially fix climate change on the century scale. Green and Galiana calculate the benefits - from reduced warming and greater prosperity - and conservatively conclude that for every dollar spent this approach would avoid about $11 of climate damage. Compare this with other analyses showing that strong and immediate carbon cuts would be expensive, yet achieve as little as $0.02 of avoided climate damage.

If we continue implementing policies to reduce emissions in the short term without any focus on developing the technology to achieve this, there is only one possible outcome: virtually no climate impact, but a significant dent in global economic growth, with more people in poverty, and the planet in a worse state than it could be.

Bjorn Lomborg is director of the Copenhagen Consensus Centre, author of Cool It and The Skeptical Environmentalist, and adjunct professor at Copenhagen Business School.

The Australian - Focus on the means.

Anna Bligh bans Gordon Nuttall betrayer Brendan McKennariey ...

The Australian:

Nuttall's betrayer banned by Bligh

10 September 2009

The Labor-linked company director who allegedly bribed former Queensland minister Gordon Nuttall has been banned from doing business with the Bligh government.

Brendan McKennariey, the star witness in corruption charges against the former Labor MP, was told yesterday he was no longer welcome to tender for Queensland government contracts.

The move comes after revelations in The Australian yesterday that Mr McKennariey's company, GBG Project Management Services, has just been awarded a $430,000 contract as part of the upgrade of the Lotus Glen Correctional Facility in Cairns.

In the Brisbane Magistrates Court yesterday, Mr McKennariey was named as the source of a string of alleged corrupt payments to Mr Nuttall while GBG was doing work for the government.

Mr McKennariey, a former ALP member and long-time friend of Mr Nuttall, has not been charged and GBG's recent taxpayer-funded work was awarded, without a tender process, through a subcontractor on the prison upgrade.

Public Works Minister Robert Schwarten - who once cancelled a contract with one of Mr McKennariey's companies, leading to a successful lawsuit against the government - yesterday said he was not welcome to do business with the government.

"It is well known that I got rid of Mr McKennariey in 1999 over concerns with another contract and it is fair to say he is not welcome to tender with the government and he is not on any of our pre-qualification lists," Mr Schwarten said.

"The decision to award the sub/sub-contract to GBG was made independent of the Bligh government."

State Opposition Leader John-Paul Langbroek said the latest revelations should put further pressure on Premier Anna Bligh to launch a royal commission.

"Without a royal commission, there is no way of knowing what business transactions this government is entering into are above board and which are dodgy," he said.

During the brief mention in Brisbane, Mr Nuttall, 56, - who was barefoot and wearing a suit - gestured to his family sitting in the court's public gallery, touching his hand to his heart.

According to the bench charge sheet tendered to the court, Mr Nuttall is facing 15 charges: five of official corruption, five of receiving or soliciting secret commissions and five of perjury. Police allege that while Mr Nuttall was serving as industrial relations minister and then health minister in the Beattie government, he corruptly received sums of money from Mr McKennariey - and then lied about it at a secret CMC hearing.

It is alleged Mr Nuttall received at least four payments from Mr McKennariey between December 2001 and July 2005, the largest being $10,000.

Police allege that on December 10, 2001 - when Mr Nuttall was IR minister - he corruptly received $10,000 from Mr McKennariey. The next payment allegedly was made on Christmas Eve in that year, when Mr Nuttall received $1200 from the businessman.

On December 29, 2004, when Mr Nuttall was health minister, he allegedly received $4000 from Mr McKennariey. In July the following year, there was allegedly another payment of $2000.

Police also allege there was at least one other payment - of an undisclosed amount - in 2005, in which Mr Nuttall asked Mr McKennariey for money.

The perjury charges relate to a secret CMC hearing shortly after Mr Nuttall retired from politics in September 2006. Police allege he knowingly gave "false testimony" to the CMC hearing relating to five separate matters.

They allege he said he did not know that "Simon David McNeillage engaged Brendan John McKennariey and Graham Michael Doyle to deliver training under a contract with the Department of Industrial Relations".

Police say Mr Nuttall told the CMC he had not discussed Mr McKennariey's business dealings with him. He also allegedly told the CMC he was not aware of any involvement of GBG and Mr McKennariey in wastewater issues. A fifth perjury charge relates to Mr Nuttall's alleged false testimony to the CMC that he "did not receive payments of funds by other benefactors other than Ken Talbot".

A committal mention was set down for October 5, with the view to the committal hearing being held in January. Outside court, Mr Nuttall's solicitor Neil Richardson said his client would plead not guilty to all counts and Mr Nuttall was "very confident" he could beat all the charges.

See - The Australian - Nuttall's betrayer banned by Bligh.

Gold Coast seawater desalination plant pumping at full capacity ...

... but faults not fixed until mid 2010.

Brisbane Times:

Gold Coast desal plant pumping at full capacity

7 September 2009

Construction is finished at the Gold Coast's $1.2 billion desalination plant, and the new complex is pumping at full capacity ahead of its operational handover before the end of the week.

The plant is now pumping out about 3000 litres of water every second.

The first handover, scheduled in the next few days, will transfer operational management from the Gold Coast Desalination Alliance to Veolia Water, who will become the private operators of the plant.

But the plant won't be formally handed over to its owners, WaterSecure, until a number of defects have been remedied.

"At the moment that's looking like some time around the middle of next year," WaterSecure chief executive Keith Davies told AAP.

Mr Davies said a higher grade of steel had been ordered for pipework and this would not be installed until the end of June 2010.

But Mr Davies said at the moment the plant was operating at capacity.

"Today we're running flat out, pumping 133 million litres a day, but the plant has been built with expansion in mind ... something around 170 megalitres (Ml) per day," he said.

"We'd need to put extra equipment into the plant, but that could be done."

The plant is capable of supplying enough water for the daily needs of nearly a million people.

The massive water storage tanks at the plant, which each hold 15Ml of fresh drinking water, are filled and emptied into the water grid more than four times each day.

When the sea water arrives at the plant through a 2.2km-long underground pipeline, it's pumped through mesh screens to remove any large waste.

Mr Davies says it's a tribute to the engineering and construction of the plant, and the quality of local sea water, that virtually no waste has been collected yet.

"Any waste is dropped into a container the size of a small wheelie bin," he said.

"The bin has been in place for almost a year, and so far it's never been emptied."

See - Brisbane Times - Gold Coast desal plant pumping at full capacity.

Where is the water being pumped to ...

Toowoomba Regional Council buys new office furniture ...

More chaos within Toowoomba Regional Council ...

The Chronicle:

Council tight-lipped on senior exec

3 September 2009

Toowoomba Regional Council’s acting CEO has denied top executive Jo Molin was forced to resign last week.

Brian Pidgeon yesterday confirmed the former Director of Strategic Services had given notice on August 24 — about nine months after she moved from Western Australia to fill the long-vacant position.

When The Chronicle called to speak to Ms Molin yesterday, she had already left the council. Mr Pidgeon would not comment on when she had her last day.

Councillor Noel Strohfeld, who is the portfolio leader for her department, yesterday was not aware she had resigned.

He seemed shocked by the news.

"It would be sad to see her go," he said. "She’s done a tremendous amount in the time she’s been here."

Relations between Ms Molin and some other councillors were noticeably frayed during her last four months.

In April, her department was blasted over delays with the development of a job-creation strategy.

Two months later, the make-up of an economic development advisory committee was pulled apart by councillors.

An attempt to convince the council to join a global warming preparation scheme, led by her staff, also failed.

Mr Pidgeon would not comment on circumstances surrounding Ms Molin’s quick departure or say where she was headed.

"Council wishes her well in any future endeavours," he said.

He refused to comment further.

"All matters concerning staff and their employment are confidential," he said.

At this stage no-one has been appointed Acting Director of Strategic Services.

Attempts to contact with Ms Molin yesterday failed.

See - The Chronicle - Council tight-lipped on senior exec.


The children are just not playing well together. And Cr Strohfeld is really being kept in the loop.

How much will her payout be ...

Veolia Water company sued by South Aust. government for massive overcharging ...

The Australian:

State sues water firm for millions

1 September 2009

One of the world's largest water companies has been accused of misleading and deceiving South Australians over a contract signed 14 years ago, prompting the Rann government to launch legal action for damages that could run into tens of millions of dollars.

Acting Premier Kevin Foley yesterday announced the unprecedented legal action by a state government after a statement of claim was filed in the SA Supreme Court against United Water, owned by giant French company Veolia.

The legal case has been lodged by SA Water -- the government agency that manages the United Water contract.

Veolia Water is involved in the construction of the Sydney desalination plant and is running southeast Queensland's desalination plant on the Gold Coast. It is a branch of Veolia Environment, which has business arms in public transport, energy and waste management.

South Australian Water Minister Karlene Maywald said any damages won if the case were successful would be passed on to consumers through reduced increases in future water prices.

"We're on a pathway to double our prices of water, and any return of dollars will of course reduce the ... quantum of that increase," she said.

The contract at the centre of the dispute was signed in 1995 by the then Liberal government when it privatised the management of South Australia's water and waste water systems. The pricing structure was signed off again by the Liberals during a 2001 review.

Opposition finance spokesman and former Liberal treasurer Rob Lucas said yesterday the Rann government renegotiated SA Water's contract with United Water in 2003.

"If they are saying it's a bad contract, why didn't they do something about it in 2003?" he asked. "If it was so obvious, why didn't they renegotiate then?"

However, The Australian understands that while the amendments to the contract were signed in 2003, they were first agreed to under the Olsen Liberal government in 2001.

In its statement of claim, SA Water alleges that United Water improperly included research, business and industry development costs in its lump sum service charges from about January 2000.

It claims the water company included all of its corporate overhead costs, including costs that related to United Water's other operations, such as those those in New Zealand and Ballarat.

Under the terms of the contract with South Australia, there is a pricing review every five years. The 15-year contract comes up for renewal next year.

Mr Foley said it was not until the 2006 review, the first conducted by the present Labor government, that "serious concerns" about elements of the contract were raised.

"We have been in negotiation and discussion with United Water since that period, and have been unable to resolve or reach a point where we can move forward with an agreed pricing formula," Mr Foley said.

"This is an unprecedented action by a state government, but it is in the interests of the South Australian taxpayer and South Australian water users.

"It is our view and strong case that will be argued that the effect of this behaviour by United Water leads into the tens of millions of dollars in terms of overcharging for services."

See - The Australian - State sues water firm for millions.

Toowoomba Regional Council still lying about Toowoomba water supplies ...

"According to Toowoomba Regional Council modelling, Toowoomba will run out of water by the second half of 2010 unless significant inflow is received."

See - Qld Treasurer's press release - Vital Toowoomba pipeline project nearly complete.

So, all bore water and GAB supplies as well as dam water will now run out by July 2010?

And yet year on year (August 2009 compared to August 2008), dam levels have only reduced from 10.4% to 10.2%.

Is this the same modelling that said that Toowoomba would run out of water by Christmas 2005 ...

The non-existent recycled water barrier one - checks deficient on hospital waste ...

Worth revisiting.

The Australian:

Checks deficient on hospital waste

7 April 2009

Hospital waste in southeast Queensland was to be recycled as drinking water without the necessary approvals in place to ensure the water was not contaminated.

An audit by Queensland Health has found deficiences in the approvals for the disposal of wastes to the sewer in Brisbane's three biggest hospitals. A fourth, Ipswich Hospital, did not have an approval in place for its wastes.

The Queensland Water Commission has repeatedly assured the public that all approvals were operating for the disposal of hospital wastes to the sewer.

The approvals were designed to ensure that contaminants such as blood and cancer chemicals were prevented from being added to the mix to be recycled as drinking water.

The hospital approvals were faulty or non-existent at the time authorities planned to begin pumping recycled water to Brisbane's Wivenhoe Dam in February. The Government deferred the plan after The Australian reported concerns by microbiologists that the seven-stage screening process may not be adequate to prevent contamination.

Premier Anna Bligh confirmed yesterday that the plan would proceed when dam levels dropped to 40 per cent; they are currently at 50 per cent.

The Government refused to release the Queensland Health audit report yesterday. However, a senior Queensland Health source said the audit raised serious concerns about the trade waste approval system at four major hospitals.

The audit covered Ipswich Hospital and, in Brisbane, the Prince Charles Hospital, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, and Princess Alexandra Hospital.

"Local councils are supposed to enforce these approvals but that has not been happening," the source said.

"Three hospitals did not have current trade waste contracts in place and one did not even have a trade waste approval.

"With recycled water on the way, this is the state of the management of hospital wastes. Nobody really knows what's being poured down the drains and it's not being monitored in any capacity."

Queensland Water Commission guidelines state that all hospitals must obtain a trade waste approval and have waste management plans in place. The guidelines say the safeguards would ensure contaminants such as unused pharmaceuticals, clinical waste, cytotoxic waste from cancer treatment, and radioactive wastes were disposed of appropriately and did not enter the sewer.

Queensland Health population health director Linda Selvey declined to be interviewed about the audit report but issued a statement to The Australian.

Dr Selvey admitted "shortcomings have been found" with waste approvals at the four hospitals and said action had been taken to deal with the situation.

"Despite some concern raised by the auditors in relation to possible inadequacies in the waste management practices in hospitals, the output from the advanced water treatment plant has consistently tested to be free of contaminants that could have come from hospitals," Dr Selvey said.

See - The Australian - Checks deficient on hospital waste.

Queensland - beautiful one day ...

Gladstone LNP plants = demand for CSG = more CSG water needing treatment and use ...

Brisbane Times:

Gladstone's liquified gas plans start to solidify

28 August 2009

Gladstone's potential liquified natural gas (LNG) industry, worth an estimated $40 billion, could create 18,000 jobs in the region over the next 10 years, the Premier says.

Anna Bligh today announced the next step for two project teams bidding for work in the region.

Several of the world's biggest natural gas producers have announced plans to generate liquified natural gas from coal seams in the nearby Surat and Bowen coal basins and pipe the gas to plants at Curtis Island at Gladstone.

Around 13,200 jobs could be created in the central Queensland cities of Mackay, Gladstone and Rockhampton, with 600 jobs in the southern coalfields around Roma and the Darling Downs.

Premier Bligh is under pressure to keep Queensland's rising unemployment rate at bay after promising to create 100,000 jobs over three years during the State election in March .

The draft terms of reference for the Australia Pacific LNG project - a 50:50 partnership between Origin Energy and ConcocoPhillips - were released today, outlining the background for the project.

Last week, the two joint partners released independent advice which showed their submission could create 10,300 jobs

The terms of reference for this project team outlines how it must prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for their proposed LNG processing plant on Curtis Island.

Ms Bligh also announced the next step for a second team submitting a bid for a LNG plant near Gladstone, consisting BG (British Gas) Queensland Curtis Liquified Natural Gas.

She released their EIS this morning for seven weeks' public consultation.

"This LNG project has the potential to deliver thousands of jobs from the Darling Downs to Gladstone and millions of dollars in economic benefits," Ms Bligh said.

"The project could employ more than 4000 people during construction and around 1000 people during its operation," she said.

The two projects are among eight publicly announced for the east coast of Queensland. The first export of LNG could begin as early as 2012 with significant exports scheduled from 2014 onwards.

Santos/Petronas, Royal Dutch Shell and Arrow Energy have alslo announced plans for LNG projects in the region.

Santos/Petronas plan a 450 kilometre gas pipeline from Santos' gas fields in central Queensland to Gladstone.

Petronas is the largest LNG supplier in Asia and owns the world biggest fleet of LNG transport ships.

See - Brisbane Times - Gladstone's liquified gas plans start to solidify.

Perth residents not interested in recycled water for drinking ...

ABC News:

Perth slow to support drinking waste water

25 August 2009

Public reaction to a plan for the future of Perth's main water supply has shown a lack of support for using recycled waste water for drinking.

A draft strategy for the future of the Gnangara mound has been open for public comment for the last seven weeks.

Recommendations in the strategy include recharging the groundwater system with recycled water, and, in the longer term, sourcing water directly from a waste water treatment plant.

Strategy director Melanie Strawbridge says there have been more than 100 responses to the plan.

"People were fairly happy to have it treated and put back into the aquifer and then used for public water supply later, say in a decade or two's time, but there wasn't yet a lot of [support for] direct use for public drinking water," she said.

Ms Strawbridge is encouraging people to have their say.

"It's going to help shape the recommendations and, perhaps where recommendations don't get changed, it's going to provide a lot better context so that we can really point out the pros and cons of doing the sorts of things that they want.

The public comment period ends on Monday.

See - ABC News - Perth slow to support drinking water water.


Have your say at the Gnangara Sustainability Strategy website.

Down in the sewer for Queensland Labor mates ...

Something for everyone.

Alleged corruption.

Labor mates.

Confirmation that little is really known about industrial waste coming out of hospitals and the potential dangers to the community.

$2.1 million contract. $100,000 spent. Where's the $2 million?

The Australian:

Down in the sewer for Queensland Labor mates

26 August 2009

Young scientist Ben Kele had his first taste of the cut-throat world of business and politics when Queensland's Crime and Misconduct Commission came knocking.

A typically impoverished post-graduate student at Central Queensland University in Rockhampton, Kele was waiting for officials to respond to his groundbreaking work in the bowels of the state's sewers, where he had spent months testing the toxicity of waste flowing from regional hospitals and remote health clinics.

The testing, commissioned by health minister Gordon Nuttall, had never been done before. It found that children in remote communities across the state were being made sick from leaky pipes and unsanitary practices in health facilities. But when the CMC investigators arrived, Kele was stunned to learn he may have been duped by a company of Labor-connected businessmen, including then senior Beattie government MP Gary Fenlon, and his work was about to go down the drain.

It all came to a head yesterday with the CMC announcing they would charge Nuttall - jailed last month for seven years for corruptly receiving $360,000 in secret payments from two mining executives - over the taxpayer-funded study that Kele had once hoped would be his legacy.

Nuttall will face court next month for allegedly taking $150,000 in bribes from long-time friend and Brisbane businessman Brendan McKennariey in relation to the wastewater study and a training program in indigenous communities.

McKennariey, whose daughter once worked in Nuttall's electorate office, has not been charged and is believed to have been offered indemnity to give evidence against the former health and industrial relations minister.

But for Kele - first courted in 2003 by McKennariey, Fenlon and former Labor staffer Graham Doyle to sell wastewater treatment technology he developed as a student - the experience has been a lesson in the hard world of business.

"It was like eating the apple in the Garden of Eden," he told The Australian yesterday.

All three were major shareholders in GBG Project Management Services, which convinced Kele to "commercialise" his new technology.

Kele says he has since lost money on the deal and his reputation has been damaged.

The first he knew there was trouble was when the CMC told him that the government had paid $2.1 million for the wastewater study.

Kele and his two colleagues were told there was only $100,000 available and they personally took pay cuts, receiving just $5400 each for four months work, so that the rest of the money could be spent on laboratory tests.

What they found was startling.

Their report details links between the sickness of indigenous children in remote Queensland communities and their coming into contact with wastewater laced with toxic chemicals produced by regional health facilities.

They also found antibiotic-resistant organisms were present in treated water outflow from other regional hospitals.

"We expected this to make a huge mark and for more work to be immediately done," he said.

"But once the CMC became involved with the corruption allegations, we heard nothing - it became political and no one wanted to touch it.

"I have no idea whether these problems have been fixed."

A spokeswoman for Queensland Health last night said all of the recommendations of the report had been implemented.

The CMC and Director of Public Prosecutions have refused to detail the allegations or their investigation into the two contracts; a 2001 workplace health and safety program and a 2004 wastewater study.

The first contract was awarded by the Department of Industrial Relations, when Nuttall was minister, and the second was awarded by Queensland Health, just before Nuttall was dumped from that portfolio. Sources have told The Australian of the circumstances leading up to the $2.1m health contract, as well as the involvement of Labor-linked businessmen, former bureaucrats and the exploitation of some of the state's emerging scientists.

At the centre of the allegations is GBG Project Management Services. The company's name carries the first name initials of Fenlon (who retired from politics this year), Doyle and McKennariey. Unlike the other two, Fenlon did take a seat on the board despite his 13 per cent holding.

Fenlon has not responded to repeated approaches from The Australian. Doyle, who resigned as a director in December, and McKennariey have also refused to comment.

According to sources close to the CMC investigation, soon after Fenlon convinced Kele in 2003 to allow GBG to commercialise the technology the young scientist had developed, the company wrote a letter to Nuttall suggesting he launch a study into the toxic wastewater dumped by hospitals and clinics in regional and remote Queensland.

It is not known what discussions had been going on between Nuttall, then health minister, and GBG directors. A few months later, GBG approached John Gowdie to be project manager. No allegation of wrongdoing has been made against Gowdie.

Months later, expressions of interest were called and the GBG-led group is understood to have been the only tenderer.

Queensland Health capital works and asset management head Geoff Stevenson - who quit the public service to join GBG as chief executive - awarded the contract to GBG.

Stevenson has previously refused to discuss the contract with The Australian.

Kele jumped at the opportunity to be involved in the study because the area had long been neglected. "It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; little is really known about industrial waste coming out of hospitals and the potential dangers to the community," he said yesterday.

He wasn't surprised when Central Queensland University was told the budget was only $100,000. Two other scientists, Billy Sinclair and Barry Hood, were recruited.

"The three of us basically worked for nothing - we were paid $5400 each for about four months work of climbing down into sewers and drains to get samples," he said.

"Poor Billy - this guy is Scottish and he is afraid of creepy crawlies and down in the drains he was covered in some pretty big cockroaches. But we wanted to keep the wages down so that we could pay for the lab tests, because the samples need to be tested within 24 hours. We were sending samples off at four in the morning, I bribed the ladies in courier companies with chocolates."

Kele was gutted when the CMC told him GBG had been paid millions for their work. "It was a huge shock, and terribly disappointing," he said.

His involvement with the Labor mates, as he now calls them, started out innocently enough.

While he was developing his pioneering wastewater treatment system, Kele was buying stacks of bamboo - which is used in the process - from a local supplier.

Kele says the supplier told a friend, Fenlon, about the young scientist's breakthrough.

Soon after, Fenlon called Kele "out of the blue", saying he wanted to have a meeting to discuss commercialising the 33-year-old's technology.

"Obviously, it was a great opportunity, and Fenlon then introduced me to his mates, McKennariey and Doyle," he said. "They offered to top-up my scholarship, dollar for dollar, and gave me some shares in the company and signed over rights to the system.

"They gave me some money for my study, but not what was promised and over the years I have lost money and I can't get out of the deal without spending a lot of money on legal fees.

"But the worst part is the damage that has been done to my professional reputation with this investigation; it makes my work ugly and depressing if I dwell on it."

See - The Australian - Down in the sewer for Queensland Labor mates.

Also see - Gordon Nuttall faces charges over $150k 'bribes'.

Former Beattie Minister faces corruption charges over wastewater project ...

Courier Mail:

Gordon Nuttall faces fresh charges

25 August 2009

Fresh official corruption charges as well as five counts of perjury have been laid against jailed former Labor minister Gordon Nuttall.

Nuttall has been charged under section 87 of the Criminal Code with 5 counts of corruptly receiving payments totalling $152,700 from Queensland businessman Brendan McKennariey between December 2001 and April 2006.

He is also facing five counts of perjury in relation to evidence he gave during a CMC closed hearing.

Officials from the Crime and Misconduct Commission travelled to the Wolston Correctional Centre at Wacol this morning to serve him with a notice to appear in court.

Nuttall is currently serving a seven-year jail term after being convicted of receiving secret commissions in the form of $300,000 from businessmen Ken Talbot and Harold Shand.

The latest payments were allegedly made when Nuttall held three ministerial positions - in the industrial relations, health and the primary industries portfolios.

"The alleged payments from Mr McKennariey to Mr Nuttall were made during a period when Mr McKennariey was receiving funds (as a subcontractor) from two projects being undertaken with the Government,'' the CMC said in a statement.

These were a Workplace Health and Safety training program in Indigenous communities commissioned by the Department of Industrial Relations in 2001 and a study on waste water in hospitals commissioned by Queensland Health in 2004 and 2005.

Nuttall will appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on 9 September 2009.

See - Courier Mail - Gordon Nuttall faces fresh charges.


Mr McKennariey is the managing director of GBG Wastewater Management, an Arana Hills-based company which specialises in water treatment.

Among its contracts, GBG claims to have installed the first school-based effluent waste water treatment system at Greenbank State School in December 2004.

The firm's CEO, Geoff Stevenson, previously worked as a government adviser, according to Mr McKennaiery's online business profile.

See - Brisbane Times - Disgraced Minister faces further corruption charges.

Coal seam gas water - dollars from dirty water ...

Australian Financial Review:

Dollars from Dirty Water

21 August 2009

Large quantities of often toxic underground water, hitherto a serious barrier to coal seam gas extraction, could become valuable in its own right with careful planning, according to water purification engineers.

Names such as Origin Energy and ConocoPhillips, Santos and Petronas, the UK's BG Group and China National Offshore Oil Corp, Arrow Energy, Shell and others are in a scramble to invest billions of dollars to extract underground methane gas from coal areas such as the Surat and Bowen Basins in Queensland or the Gunnedah Basin in NSW.

But to do this they have to extract and dispose of large amounts of often saline, sometimes quite toxic underground water.

On October 30 last year, the Queensland government barred the previous practice of simply dumping the water in large evaporation ponds, which could be the size of several football fields, It ordered coal seam gas producers to find less environmentally damaging disposal methods for the water, not to mention cleaning up the existing evaporation ponds within three years.

What is a nuisance now as toxic waste water could be converted into useable water for stock watering, irrigation, watering of forestry plantations or even town water augmentation, say water processing specialists.

The best solution would be to pipe the water to a small number of centrally located purification plants, according to water engineer Vaughan Pearce of the water planning and design division of engineers MWH. This would aggregate a steady flow of water from several individual bores over 20 to 30 years, for optimum processing of different grades of water over an economic amortisation period.

Uses could include agriculture and horticulture immediately around the processing plants, extending even to glasshouse crops.

"The blueprint should be set in the Surat Basin," Mr Pearce said. "We would have an emerging industry, be able to set the economies and refine the management."

"It would give greater certainty with environmental issues, you'd be more certain of supply and quality. The industry is on the verge of massive expansion."

On cue, Australian desalination plant proponent EES Tech has agreed to provide its thermal desalination technology to water purification group Impulse Hydro for application to coal seam gas projects, with one contract already signed. The contract provides that this plant will be available for inspection as a test site for other potential customers.

EES Tech chief executive Murray Railey said the company's JetWater thermal desalination would be added to reverse osmosis water purification systems to take the percentage of useable output water from less than 75%, from osmosis alone, up to 97 per cent from the combined application.

"This has widespread immediate application to the growing coal seam gas industry in Australia, as well as in other mines which will be required to clean their waste water before it can be discharged," he said.

EES Tech holds the rights to three environmentally sustainable technologies which could be applied in coal mining.

Impulse Hydro chief Earle Roberts said: "Because of the efficiency of the combined systems the eventual market for the units in the coal seam gas industry could exceed $50 million over the next three years."

From any individual bore, the flow of water is strongest over the first three years. Government co-ordination of individual industry projects, with waste water piped up to 50 kilometres or more to central plants, would allow varying flows from different sites to be averaged out, and lightly contaminated water segregated from toxic flows requiring more intensive processing.

One expedient to be treated with caution is simply reinjecting the water into the ground after extraction of the methane coal seam gas. In the United States, after some years of this practice, local communities are finding previously pure aquifers becoming contaminated with saline water and toxic waste products.

One possibility for the Queensland government might be to establish a centre of excellence for saline water management, MHW's Mr Pearce said.

See - AFR - Dollars from Dirty Water.