Coal Seam Gas Essay -- Environment

With environmental sustainability a key focus for the prospective the need for spick-and-span forms of power generation have resulted in a number of bungle exploration projects in Australia (Department of Infrastructure and Planning, cc8). With Australia having potentially vast untapped reserves of coal seam methane beds it must be asked whether there are any negative impacts associated with coal seam methane (CSM) before the energy industry moves into a new technology.Coalification, the geologic process that progressively converts plant material to coal, generates larger quantities of inherent particle accelerator, which are subsequently stored in the coal seams. The increased pressures from water system system in the coal seams force 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 ampere-second dioxide (U.S. EPA, 2004a). Also known as Coal bed methane (CBM), CSG is released by re moving water from the stratum which reduces the pressure on the coal seam (Department of Employment, Economic teaching and Innovation QLD, 2012). Over the past 15 years and despite the juvenile global economic downturn the CSG industry has continued to grow quick in both development 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 1990s to nearly 600 in 2011 (Department of Employment, Economic phylogenesis and Innovation QLD, 2012). As a result of this rapid growth it is indispensable to evaluate the current CSG industry to establish and minimise the current and future environmental impacts of CSG mining. Literature ReviewMany studies have been conducted into the environmental impacts of downhole ... ... treatments in the Oak Grove Field, Black Warrior Basin, In Situ, J. of Coal Research. 17(3). 273-309. get together States Environmental Protection Agency. 2000. Study Design fo r Evaluating of Impacts to Underground Sources of Drinking pee by Hydraulic Fracturing of Coalbed Methane Reservoirs. America 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. ledger of Hydrology Changes of groundwater chemistry caused by the flooding 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, 29th May, 2012).