Arrow Energy has been granted environmental approval to drill 55 coal seam gas wells near a site contaminated with benzene, naphthalene and cyanide in western Queensland.
The project is an expansion of the Shell and PetroChina joint venture’s existing six-well facility at Hopeland near Chinchilla on the western Downs.
The Department of Environment and Science (DES) says there are “strict conditions” on the environmental authority (EA) obligating Arrow to monitor any potential movement of contaminants from the site of Linc Energy’s failed underground coal gasification project.
The department says Arrow must expand the number of bores in its existing groundwater monitoring network, have a program to detect changes to groundwater, and monitor all groundwater points at identified locations every quarter….