ABC News
The Queensland Government is asking for tenders to explore potential sites for the underground storage of greenhouse gases from coal-fired power stations in the state.
Mines and Energy Minister Stephen Robertson says there is 66,000 kilometres of land including the Roma-Wandoan and Chinchilla-Moonie areas in the state's southern region.
But Mr Robertson says the technology has to be proved safe before the storage facilities can be built.
"This is just a mapping exercise, there are a whole range of other questions that would need to be asked before any project would considered to be viable and those kind of questions about possible impact on nearby aquifers and of course the long-term security of the storage of those greenhouse gasses would need to be answered by any project proponent," he said.
Mr Robertson says it could be up to 20 years before underground greenhouse gas storage becomes a reality in Queensland.
He has assured farmers that existing property rights will be respected.
"Existing surface tenures, whether it be for grazing or cropping land, shouldn't need to be significantly disturbed as a result of any identified capture and storage opportunities underground for greenhouse gases," he said.
The rural lobby group AgForce says it is concerned about what effect underground gas storage could have on water supplies.
AgForce president John Cotter says the State Government will have to guarantee water quality is not going to be affected.
"The most valuable thing this nation owns is water and much of that is underground," he said.
"We're seeing major issues with water they're dragging out with the coal seam gas. We certainly don't want a new industry started up that give people insecurity about what the long-term future is."
Mr Cotter says he is sceptical the underground storage of gas is safe.
"I have a real concern and objection to this attitude that we can just go out there and see if this can work out there but we name this land in the meantime supposing that it might be an area that they could use and I suggest that if the same situation arose where they said they were going to do this at the Gold Coast or out the back of Beenleigh somewhere we would get a significant reaction as well," he said.
