BLOT ON LANDSCAPE: Cooling towers and smokestacks outline the Vresova coal
gasification plant in the Czech Republic, which is heavily dependent on
coal.
The halting of an experimental energy trial in Australia has sparked concerns
about a similar trial in the Waikato.
An underground coal gasification project in Queensland – which involved
setting fire to a coal seam hundreds of metres below ground – was stopped when
traces of the cancer-causing chemicals benzene and toluene were discovered in
groundwater near the Cougar Energy-owned plant.
State-owned mining company Solid Energy is establishing a $22 million scheme
to tap energy from impossible-to-mine coal near Huntly. The pilot was due to get
under way in March, but has been delayed until Christmas.
Members of a community group that fought for more than a year to have the
Queensland plant shut down say Waikato residents should be worried.
Waikato Times
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