Farmer’s contamination fears after Arrow applies to drill 280 further wells near failed Linc Energy site

It’s regarded as one of Queensland’s worst environmental disasters. Now this gas company wants to drill within 1.3km of the failed project – and they reckon they have the data to back it up.

A Hopeland farmer holds fears of further contamination from one of Queensland’s biggest environmental disasters, after Arrow Energy applied to drill a further 280 wells near the failed Linc Energy underground coal gasification site.

But Arrow Energy says its application to amend its environmental authority is “supported by extensive modelling and data”, which shows the development “will have a negligible to low-level impact on groundwater movement from the former Linc Energy site”.

Arrow’s application excludes the former Linc Energy site, where the process of underground coal gasification fractured the overburden and allowed contaminants to escape into the ground and water.

The site was previously the subject of 314 sq km excavation exclusion zone, where landholders were banned from digging any hole deeper than two metres.

The Linc Energy underground coal gasification pilot plant at Chinchilla, 2016. pic: supplied

Brian Bender, whose property is less than 10km from the former Linc site, said he did not believe Arrow’s proposal was safe.

“Arrow can say whatever it likes about this site but I would like to see some independent research conducted as well as more information from the department confirming what Arrow is claiming in its application,” he said.

“I’m a firm believer nothing should be done until the Linc energy situation is fully resolved and at this stage it is simply not resolved.

Chinchilla cotton grower Brian Bender.

“There should not be any CSG activity around the Linc Energy site.

“The risk of further contamination is too great. Until all the information regarding the damage has been released, there should be no drilling at that location.

“There are too many unknowns in this situation.”

Arrow’s monitoring of water bores on the Linc Energy site show that after July 2019, there were concentrations of benzene within the Walloon Coal Measures ranging from just over 200 micrograms per litre, down to around 10 micrograms per litre.

“These contaminants have not been detected in the groundwater samples obtained from Arrow’s Macalister seam or Wambo seam monitoring bores installed within 100m down-gradient of (the Linc Energy site) or in the up-gradient site,” the application said.

Additionally, Arrow Energy’s modelling expects the contaminants to have degraded to safe drinking water standards (one microgram per litre) by the end of 2026.

An Arrow Energy spokesman said subject to approval of the application, Arrow was targeting a production start date of 2024 within the petroleum lease in question

“In that case, drilling of wells nearest to Lot 40 DY85 would not begin until 2026 at the earliest,” he said.

The Linc Energy Hopeland site from the air.

The closest well to the Linc Energy site would be 1.3km away, the application said.

An Arrow Energy spokesman said Arrow had committed to rigorous ongoing monitoring and reporting from the area over the duration of the project.

Arrow Energy’s application noted that “modelling allows Arrow to explore potential impacts in the future under different scenarios in order to assess the risk posed by our activities”.

“It is important to understand that models do not represent a prediction of what may happen in the future. Rather, they determine the potential outcomes under a set of assumed conditions and are therefore a powerful tool to assess potential change, to indicate risk and to identify scenarios that have a low likelihood of occurring.”