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Rural lobby groups and farmers have ramped up their opposition to a project that aims to store carbon dioxide in Australia's biggest underground freshwater reservoir, the Great Artesian Basin.
The National Farmers' Federation and Queensland group Agforce have taken out full-page ads in several newspapers today, appealing to federal and state leaders to oppose a proposed carbon capture and storage project planned for Moonie, about 400 kilometres west of Brisbane.
AgForce has also started a legal fundraiser and asked the public to donate, saying it is prepared to take the matter to the Federal Court.
Glencore subsidiary CTSCo is seeking to inject hundreds of thousands of tonnes of liquefied carbon dioxide into the basin.
The technology is being hailed as one way Australia can open new oil and gas projects while simultaneously combating climate change.
Glencore rejects claims the project is unsafe, saying it is based on robust scientific fieldwork reviewed by third-party experts.
Concerned about impact
But Agforce Queensland chief executive Michael Guerin said the plans risked the basin's future.
"We are weeks away from a decision potentially which will allow emissions from a coal-fired power station to be pumped into it and that's not reversible," he said.
"The court of public opinion wouldn't accept this if it was with the Great Barrier Reef or Sydney Harbour."
AgForce said while it waited for the Queensland government to assess an environmental impact statement for the proposal, every state and territory Labor leader should oppose the plan.
National Farmers' Federation president David Jochinke said inland rural and regional communities were deeply concerned about the potential impact.
"If this plan ever got off the ground, it would seriously threaten essential water aquifers and food production land across nearly 1.7 million square kilometres – it's madness," Mr Jochinke said.
"The Minister for the Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek must realise the absurd contradiction in waving through such a seemingly well-intentioned development that could cause irreparable damage to such a precious natural resource."
The project was approved by the previous Morrison government.
Basin the lifeblood for many communities
The basin spans more than a fifth of the continent, is worth about $13 billion to the national economy and is a vital resource for communities and businesses.
The plan involves capturing and liquefying CO2 from the Millmerran coal-fired power station and trucking it north to a storage well near the farming town of Moonie.
CTSCo is aiming to inject up to 110,000 tonnes of CO2 per year into the Precipice Sandstone, a groundwater formation in the basin, which is about 2,300 metres underground.
The site is less than 10km from Ken Cameron's mixed farming property and is the same aquifer from which the Cameron Pastoral Company extracts water.
Mr Cameron said the business stood with AgForce as one of 17 Australian companies that had already pledged financial support for its campaign to stop the project.
Project reviewed by experts
A Glencore spokesperson rejected claims the project was unsafe.
"Contrary to the claim made by AgForce, we're not leaving anything to chance; the CTSCo project is based on robust scientific fieldwork, data and analysis," the spokesperson said in a statement.
"The project is seeking approval to inject food-grade CO2, like you find in soft drinks, deep underground, where we will closely monitor it throughout the entire project."
Glencore said its project had been reviewed by third-party experts, including the Australian government's Independent Expert Scientific Committee, the Office of Groundwater Impact Assessment and the CSIRO.
In November, hydrogeologist Ned Hamer, who has spent years working on the basin, said he had not been able to find another CCS project in the world that involved the injection of liquefied CO2 into a water resource aquifer.
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