A GOVERNMENT report has shown that the spectacular bubbling of the Condamine River could have been caused by coal seam gas after all.

The bubbling occurs along a 5km stretch of the river that runs through much of the Surat Basin where coal seam gas is plentiful, but the source of the bubbles has always been a mystery and an issue of local debate.

Earlier this year the Newman Government investigated and found there was no risk to human health and would only say it was consistent with geological formations.

However, documents obtained by The Courier-Mail through Right to Information say that the gas creating the bubbles was "consistent with published values of coal seam gas'', but a definitive link cannot be made.

Since the bubbles were first discovered, activist Drew Hutton claimed the emissions were coming from the coal seam beneath the river and that the process of collecting the CSG through depressurisation of the coal seam aquifer was the likely cause of gas escaping to the surface.

"This means that, anywhere there is a coal seam gas field with geology that allows methane and other gases to escape from the coal seam to the surface, will present a significant health hazard to nearby residents,'' he said.

The risk was not in the methane but in the gases and chemicals that travelled to the surface with it.

"The coal seam gas companies and the State Government are desperately hanging on to the lack of hard data to avoid facing up to what the Condamine River bubbling means,'' he said.

But the Surat Basin is also leaking huge amounts of methane, far higher than those detected by Southern Cross University in its controversial findings last year which showed that gas emissions were significantly higher near CSG production facilities.

Evidence in the Government documents points to levels of more than 300 parts per million of methane at a location east of St George compared with the SCU study's level of 7ppm. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas.

The State Government is continuing to investigate what it calls a "phenomenon'' on the Condamine and to find the source of the gas seeps.

An independent scientific review will be completed by Queensland's Chief Scientist, Dr Geoff Garrett.

The CSG company closest to the bubbling is Origin, but its wells are not in production.

The company said gas was close to the surface in the area where bubbling occurred and

gas had been observed in the river and groundwater bores for several decades.

"Ongoing studies are being undertaken to build up a detailed understanding of the seeps, and the underground structure of this area, so that we have a baseline of accurate data before CSG is actively developed in the area,'' a spokesman said.

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