Coal Seam Gas Essay -- Environment

With environmental sustainability a learn focus for the future the need for cleaner forms of power generation turn in resulted in a good turn of gas exploration projects in Australia (Department of home and Planning, 2008). With Australia having potentially vast untapped reserves of coal communication channel methane beds it must be asked whether there are any negative impacts associated with coal seam methane (CSM) before the energy exertion moves into a new technology.Coalification, the geologic emergence that progressively converts plant material to coal, generates large quantities of natural gas, which are subsequently stored in the coal seams. The increased pressures from water in the coal seams draw in the natural gas to adsorb to the coal. The natural gas consists of approximately 96 percent methane, 3.5 percent nitrogen, and trace amounts of carbon dioxide (U.S. EPA, 2004a). Also known as Coal bed methane (CBM), CSG is released by removing water from the stratum whi ch reduces the pressure on the coal seam (Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation QLD, 2012). Over the noncurrent 15 years and despite the recent global economic downswing the CSG industry has continued to grow rapidly in both organic evolution and exploration. The Queenslands coal seam gas overview shows this clearly with the annual number of wells drilled has increased from 10 in the early mid-nineties to nearly 600 in 2011 (Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation QLD, 2012). As a result of this rapid growth it is necessary to evaluate the current CSG industry to establish and minimise the current and future environmental impacts of CSG mining. Literature examineMany studies have been conducted into the environmental impacts of downhole ... ... treatments in the Oak Grove Field, non-white Warrior Basin, In Situ, J. of Coal Research. 17(3). 273-309.United States environmental Protection Agency. 2000. ask Design for Evaluating of Imp acts to Underground Sources of Drinking Water by Hydraulic Fracturing of Coalbed Methane Reservoirs. the States EPA.Ardis, L. 2006. Clash Over Coalbed Methane. The Tyee. http//thetyee.ca/News/200 6/11/14/CBM/. (Accessed Thursday 31st May 2012).Razowska L, 2000. Journal of Hydrology Changes of groundwater chemistry caused by the implosion therapy of iron mines (Czestochowa Region, Southern Poland). 244(200). 17-32. Polish Geological Institute.Montana Department of Environmental Quality, 2007. Coal Bed Methane Federal, State, and Local Laws, Regulations, and Permits - That May Be Required http//www.deq.mt.gov/coalbedmethane/cbm_water_quality.mcpx (Accessed Tuesday, twenty-ninth May, 2012).