Coal seam gas water powers ahead - Dalby power station gets green light ...

Once again Dalby shows itself off as the 'smart town' - and Toowoomba looks like the dumb cousin!

Imagine where Toowoomba might be now if that trio of misfits - Mayor Thorley, Deputy Mayor Ramia and Engineering Head Flanagan had recognised the potential of the coal seam gas industry and its water byproduct.

Seems there needs to be a wholesale change in the Council at the election next year to elect and employ people with real vision for Toowoomba - people with a vision for an integrated region - combining power and water solutions - rather than the isolationist policies this trio tried to force on the people of Toowoomba with a recycled water plant which would have caused severe financial strain* for the city ...

* a polite way of saying the ill-fated recycled water project would have driven Toowoomba's finances to the brink of bankruptcy - but the TRF trio could not have cared less - they were more interested in their own self-promotion than the best interests of people in Toowoomba.

Excerpt from ABC News:

Deal signed on Darling Downs gas-fired power station

13 June 2007

The country's biggest coal seam gas-fired power station will be built on the Darling Downs.

Origin Energy has signed a $780 million construction contract to start work on the power station in August.

The 630-megawatt gas-fired station will be built at Braemar, west of Dalby, and will produce enough electricity to supply 400,000 homes when it comes online in 2010.

Origin Energy managing director Grant King says it will emit 50 per cent less carbon than a coal-fired station.

Mr King says it is a further tick of approval for the state's coal seam gas industry.

"[It] will not only support Queensland's continued development but also other states in Australia - it's such a large resource," he said.

Around 300 jobs will be created over the construction phase and Dalby Chamber of Commerce president Paul Hodder says he hopes most will be filled by locals.

"Both direct and indirect jobs will come out of that and Dalby is well-placed to cater for," he said.

He says the district can cope with another major project, having witnessed the construction of the nearby Braemar power station last year.

"There is a good supply of rental accommodation both short and long-term available in town," he said.

Origin Energy will also contribute $500 million to pipe coal-seam gas from nearby reserves at Spring Gully.

See - How Dalby gets it right - and Toowoomba got it wrong.