Cluff Resources' underground coal gasification project looks at the moment as if it might have escaped Holyrood's moratorium on fracking projects, and greens have therefore launched a concerted campaign to address this regrettable loophole. The latest development is that Frack Off have obtained a letter written in January by Cluff Resources to Scottish ministers. This is breathtakingly dull stuff. The company introduces themselves, explains how much they are planning on investing and the inquire whether they were covered by the moratorium.
In other words it's a complete non-story. Nevertheless it has been hyped up by the greens, who have characterised it as "holding the country to ransom", and this ridiculous claim has inevitably been given maximum publicity by the BBC's David Miller here.
This latest green campaign will be an interesting one to follow, since it is going to involve the their having to develop a whole new disinformation campaign to deal with a different technology. The initial gambit appears to be that UCG presents a risk of explosions. Both the BBC and this (green tinged) investigative journalism site quote SNP MSP Tommy Sheppard as saying that UCG carries :
the threat of underground explosions and geological trauma.
Friends of the Earth has the same allegation on this webpage, with the following citation:
Cougar Energy’s UCG trial plant in Kingaroy, Queensland was shut down in 2010 following explosions, contamination of groundwater and nearby livestock with carcinogenic chemicals. See: http://web.archive.org/web/20120119220916/http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/media-room/2011/07/01-cougar-energy-charged.html http://www.queenslandcountrylife.com.au/news/agriculture/agribusiness/general-news/kingaroy-shrugs-cougar-energy-challenge/2090607.aspx
So at best there is a single incidence of an explosion in a UCG plant. However, if you follow the links you find two news stories that do not make a single solitary mention of an explosion.
The Wikipedia page on Cougar Energy has quite a good summary of the incident:
On 16 July 2010, the Kingaroy pilot plant was temporary shut down after traces of benzene and toluene were detected in groundwater monitoring bores. However, the level of hydrocarbons in the water was 95% lower than Australian drinking water guidelines. Two readings analysed by the independent testing laboratory also proved to be false and provided incorrect results. Copies of these mistakes were contained in further independent reports provided by Cougar Energy to DERM who subsequently acknowledged and accepted the findings. Cougar Energy has initiated two legal actions in Queensland seeking damages for the closing down of the Kingaroy plant as well as orders to permit the re-opening of operations at the plant.
It's also interesting to refer to this DTI report on the UCG technology, which tells us that it presents "a very low risk to groundwater" and also makes no mention of explosions.
What do we reckon to the chances of the BBC discussing this in any of their output?
-------------------
Update: I got something wrong here. I've removed the following paragraph from the main text:
He also follows the corporation's normal policy of getting comments from two separate anti-capitalist environmentalist groups (in this case WWF and FoE) to liven things up, although in fairness they do seem to have tried and failed to get a response from Cluff, whose PR team seems to exhibit the same ineptitude as Cuadrilla's.
The article actually only quoted WWF. I think I may have confused with the Ferret article linked above. Sorry.