Pledge your support to protect the GAB

QFF chief executive officer Jo Sheppard said QFF had been inundated by concerned farmers, conservationists and mayors from across the state about the issue of carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects involving the GAB.

She said everyone continued to be unified in terms of their concern around Glencore's project.

Mining giant, Glencore, through its subsidiary CTSCo, is awaiting a decision from the Queensland government as to whether it can inject CO2 from the Millmerran power station into the GAB at a trial site near Moonie.

Ms Sheppard said she was particularly concerned with some of the statements made by Glencore about the Great Artesian Basin and carbon capture projects on its website.

"We are concerned...that the world is looking at the GAB as a cheap way for them to do CCS so they can meet their (carbon) offset requirements," she said.

"We should all be really concerned about this and act immediately to protect Queensland and Australia's natural assets.

"We cannot risk the GAB ending up as a punching bag for global companies who are trying to meet their offset requirements."

Ms Sheppard said QFF had launched a registry for pledges of support because it had been inundated by people wanting to put their name to everyone's unified work in calling on the state government to block CCS in the GAB.

"We have a duty of care to protect the Great Artesian Basin for future generations. We cannot let poor climate policy put at risk some of our greatest environmental assets, poor climate policy that will not achieve the environmental outcomes that we're all seeking," she said.

People have until Monday, April 8, to sign their name to pledge their support for the GAB at https://www.qff.org.au/no-ccs-in-the-gab/

Ms Sheppard said the list of names would be presented to the Premier Steven Miles next month.

The pledge registry follows news last Friday that AgForce had commenced proceedings in the federal court to challenge the federal government's determination in relation to Glencore's application and the GAB under the EPBC Act.

AgForce CEO Michael Guerin said AgForce was seeking a judicial review of the federal decision of February 2022 that the Glencore proposal was not captured by Matters of National Environmental Significance provisions under the EPBC Act.

Glencore claims its CTSCo's project is based on robust scientific fieldwork, data and analysis, and has involved review from expert third-party institutions.

It also says that the carbon dioxide it is seeking approval to inject underground "will be food grade like the CO2 you find in soft drinks".

In April, 2021, a Glencore statement said the CTSCo project would use China Huaneng's CO2 capture technology at the Millmerran coal fired power station to capture a stream of CO2 which would then be transported and stored permanently in a non-potable aquifer at a depth of more than 2km.