An Australian member of parliament (MP) has gone to extremes to prove his point: He set a Queensland river -- the Condamine River -- on fire. http://www.care2.com/causes/why-are-we-moving-rhinos-to-australia.html
Did he go mad? Why did he do it?
Jeremy Buckingham, a representative of the South Wales Greens party, is concerned about the methane http://www.care2.com/causes/5-disturbing-similarities-between-the-porter-ranch-methane-leak-and-flint-water-crisis.html that's been bubbling from the Condamine River. And like the MP says in the video posted to his Facebook page: “Sometimes a picture says a thousand words." Buckingham blames the fracking that's only kilometers away for the river on fire. As he goes on to say in the video: "This is the future of Australia if we do not stop the frackers who want to spread across all states and territories and do this to your community, to your environment. This is utterly unacceptable."
Can you imagine an unsuspecting seabird swooping down to take a sip of that? Horrible!
A Bubbling 'Spa Bath' With Many Threats
You know, Buckingham is right -- methane leaking into a river is totally unacceptable. But the situation becomes more unacceptable when you consider that this has been happening for years. According to Lock the Gate Alliance, an Australian grassroots organization dedicated to issues around unsafe …show more content…
As reported in The Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2016/04/25/watch-this-river-ignite-into-flames-as-methane-bubbles-to-the-surface/ Origin Energy, which operates coal seam gas wells in the area, argues that it's not to blame for the methane leak. A 2012 company report conveniently found "no evidence of safety risk or environmental harm," reports The Washington Post. At one point, Origin Energy described the methane bubbling as a "'natural' phenomenon."
Did he go mad? Why did he do it?
Jeremy Buckingham, a representative of the South Wales Greens party, is concerned about the methane http://www.care2.com/causes/5-disturbing-similarities-between-the-porter-ranch-methane-leak-and-flint-water-crisis.html that's been bubbling from the Condamine River. And like the MP says in the video posted to his Facebook page: “Sometimes a picture says a thousand words." Buckingham blames the fracking that's only kilometers away for the river on fire. As he goes on to say in the video: "This is the future of Australia if we do not stop the frackers who want to spread across all states and territories and do this to your community, to your environment. This is utterly unacceptable."
Can you imagine an unsuspecting seabird swooping down to take a sip of that? Horrible!
A Bubbling 'Spa Bath' With Many Threats
You know, Buckingham is right -- methane leaking into a river is totally unacceptable. But the situation becomes more unacceptable when you consider that this has been happening for years. According to Lock the Gate Alliance, an Australian grassroots organization dedicated to issues around unsafe …show more content…
As reported in The Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2016/04/25/watch-this-river-ignite-into-flames-as-methane-bubbles-to-the-surface/ Origin Energy, which operates coal seam gas wells in the area, argues that it's not to blame for the methane leak. A 2012 company report conveniently found "no evidence of safety risk or environmental harm," reports The Washington Post. At one point, Origin Energy described the methane bubbling as a "'natural' phenomenon."