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A river in Australia bubbling with methane gas has been filmed
bursting into flames with a spark from a kitchen lighter.
Video of the
Condamine River set ablaze was posted online by Jeremy Buckingham, a Greens
member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, the Australian Broadcasting
Corporation reported.
In a Facebook post on April 22, Buckingham blamed
nearby fracking operations for the leak of methane into the river. There are
several coal seam gas fracking mines in the area, and leaks were first reported
in 2012, according to the ABC.
Fracking miners drill a pipeline into the
ground, which then curves horizontally and can be several miles long. Fracking
fluid, which is made up of water, sand and toxic chemicals, is then pumped into
the pipeline at high pressure.
The pressure forces cracks to form in
rocks along the pipeline, which the sand holds open. Natural gas then flows back
up through the pipeline towards the fracking well.
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