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Why not Reg? Aside from there being no big lasting structures or mass employment in Coal Bed Methane Extraction of course - the current applications are to allow exploration to determine if the extraction of Coal Bed Methane is feasible and commercially viable. To extract Coal Bed Methane, no fracking is required. This type of gas extraction involves the pumping of water from the coal seam thus reducing the water pressure that holds the gas in situ and allowing it to bubble out and flow to the well head. When the mines were open, we were continually pumping water to the surface from the seams to prevent flooding in the mine workings. The only real difference (apart from the aforementioned surface structures and employment) between CBME and coal mining will be that we are not excavating bloody great holes beneath our villages with CBME.
Back in the day, we had a growing problem with groundwater contamination caused by leakage from the coal seam water surface lagoons. Since the closure of the mines, it took close to 20 years for the contamination to drop back to 'normal' back ground levels after near 90 years of seepage from the surface lagoons. We never stopped drinking the local water, I'm not sure that we were even aware of the contamination at the time, which probably explains the somewhat eccentric nature of the locals.
I don't know whether the amount of water being pumped from the seams will be more or less than when we were pumping it to facilitate coal mining, but, however much it is, my representation, when an application is made to begin extraction (rather than explore), will be against such extraction, unless I can be persuaded that the issues which led to ground water contamination in the coal mining era have been adequately addressed and resolved to avoid a repeat of that contamination.