Queensland Curtis Liquefied Natural Gas Project near Gladstone

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Gas giant, western downs Regional Mayor Ray Brown has welcomed a commitment by a gas giant to build 280 new houses and pour money into social infrastructure in the Dalby area.

The State Government granted conditional approval to Queensland Gas Corporation’s multi-billion-dollar Queensland Curtis Liquefied Natural Gas project near Gladstone a project that would generate huge numbers of jobs in the Western Downs area. Premier Anna Bligh estimated the project could create up to 8000 jobs. It proposes to extract coal seam gas from the Surat Basin, west of Toowoomba, and pipe it to Gladstone for liquefaction.

It is expected to generate more than $6 billion a year in exports. Co-ordinator-General Colin Jensen completed his review of the Environmental Impact Statement for the BG Group-owned project and approved it with strict conditions, one of which is to build 280 new dwellings on the Western Downs.

Cr Brown said he appreciated the commitment on housing and improving roads infrastructure, but said he still had serious concerns about the broader CSG industry and its impact on underground aquifers of the Great Artesian Basin.

Environmental campaigner Drew Hutton was outraged at the approval, saying it had been granted despite Mr Jensen’s reporting that there were very serious shortcomings in the company’s EIS and it was a possible “environmental crisis” in the making.

“It is understandable that the Bligh Government in its comments today would focus on the provision of affordable housing for the affected areas and ignore the environmental threats because these are enormous,” Mr Hutton said. Federal Government approval is still needed and QGC would have to meet many other conditions. curtis jensen natural gas pipeline, gladestone gas jobs, gladstone csg housing affects june 2010, working in gladstone petroleum