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[Spinifex]

Video: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-23/fracking-has-made-the-condamine-river-flammable,/7352686

Part of a Queensland river bubbling with methane gas has burst into flames after being ignited by a Greens MP, who blames nearby coal seam gas (CSG) operations for the "tragedy in the Murray-Darling Basin". New South Wales Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham has released vision of himself on a boat sparking a kitchen lighter above the Condamine River.

"Holy f***. Unbelievable. A river on fire," he exclaims in the video. "The most incredible thing I've seen. A tragedy in the Murray-Darling Basin." Mr Buckingham said the river held the flame for more than an hour.

The video, posted to Mr Buckingham's Facebook page, had been shared more than 20,700 times by Saturday morning. The methane seeps in the river, near Chinchilla in south-west Queensland, were first reported in 2012, triggering a series of investigations.

Mr Buckingham said nearby CSG operations were to blame.

"This area has been drilled with thousands of CSG wells and fracked. This river for kilometres is bubbling with gas and now it's on fire," he said.

"This is the future of Australia and the Murray-Darling Basin if we do not stop the frackers who wants to spread across all states and territories ... this is utterly unacceptable."

Gas seeps pose no risk to public safety, energy company says

A 2013 report by scientific analysis firm Norwest Corporation outlined several "scenarios" that could be contributing to the bubbling in the river. These included natural events such as drought and the recharging of aquifers after floods. Human activity such as CSG operations and water bore drilling were other possible contributing factors.

Origin Energy, which operates CSG wells in the district, has been monitoring the bubbling.

"We're aware of concerns regarding bubbling of the Condamine River, in particular, recent videos demonstrating that this naturally occurring gas is flammable when ignited," a statement from the company said. "We understand that this can be worrying, however, the seeps pose no risk to the environment, or to public safety, providing people show common sense and act responsibly around them.

via ABC

The CSG industry claims that this is totally normal and poses no safety risk. I find it hard to believe that that fracking continues on unimpeded with so many questions surrounding what impact it has on the surrounding environment.

 

[Arkos]

 

[Marky Mark]

Does "providing people show common sense and act responsibly around them" mean not swimming in or drinking the fresh water?

 

[ConfusingJazz]

Congrats, you're Cleveland 40 years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtW8RkI3-c4

The Cuyahoga River that flows through Cleveland has caught on fire 13 times throughout history.