Gasland Refugees, an exposé of the unconventional gas industry by Tara Meixsell and me, will shortly be released by publishers, Melbourne Books.
Here follows a short excerpt:
“I got to know Tara Meixsell author of Collateral Damage through Facebook and we now regularly exchange information. For her, watching Queensland from afar is like watching the train wreck that she witnessed in Colorado all over again. The Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) is a purportedly impartial body appointed by the government to ensure the safety of stakeholders. It initially comprised nine members, seven of who were representatives of the industry. Really impartial!
The Queensland government announced that it would create the Queensland GasFields Commission midway through 2012, an independent body formed to manage the co-existence between rural landholders, regional communities and the coal seam gas industry in Queensland. There are seven commissioners, and their credentials are set out in the body of the book but in terms of independence or lack thereof, such credentials are not dissimilar to those who served on the COGCC. I could find only one commissioner on the Queensland GasFields Commission who I would have no difficulty in describing as ‘independent.’ Little wonder that when Tara Meixsell looks at what is occurring in Queensland she feels that’s she is viewing an ugly replay of recent history in Colorado.”