Here we are rolling along in the district known as the Darling Downs. Downs are not flat plains nor undulating hills, they are more like gentle rises and falls.
It it luscious rich black-soil farmland. At the right time of year it puts on a marvellous display of sunflowers but right now it had milo fields being harvested, dead corn stalks and empty fields being tilled for winter planting.
And this is the type of land they are hellbent on mining beneath for CSG and the like.
ReplyDeleteI love the concept of a 'foodbowl' and invariably read that sort of story.
Now Julie, you were a keen supporter of the Carbon Tax and the coal seam gas industry has been accelerated as a result because it is a cleaner form of energy. Gas fired power stations are being built. And countries we export to also want gas.
DeleteThe Darling Downs is certainly foodbowl country as are the Liverpool Plains we passed through earlier in the trip.
I was (am) a keen supporter of pricing carbon, which is really trying to slow the extraction of coal from the earth because it lays waste to the surace of the earth. I am hesitant about CSG because it is beneath land already in use as a food bowl (LP and DD) or in use as prime grazing land. and we do not know the long term effects yet.
DeleteHere is a (long) story that may be of interest ... http://bulga.theglobalmail.org/
ReplyDeleteIf nothing else look at the google gif in chapter 3 which shows the creep of mining from 1987 to 2012 ... I think I would prefer Packer's casino to this ... if the state MUST have income, and I acknowledge that yesterday's employment figures stand NSW in good stead. Just wish there was a less invasive way.
My mac won't display that story ... it must have flash in it. I will have to wait until I working on my PC.
DeleteIt looks a rich and fertile place. I agree with Julie.
ReplyDeleteBut it's a bit of a dilemma ... see my response to Julie.
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