Forum Post: Coal Gasification: Like Fracking?

"Few people have heard of coal gasification, which is the process of creating synthetic natural gas out of coal by setting it on fire and injecting it with oxygen and water. But even fewer people have likely heard of underground coal gasification, which is the process of doing that while the coal is still deep underground.

Some of the people that are hearing about it the most are in Campbell County, Wyoming, where an Australian company’s proposed underground coal gasification project is just one step away from becoming the only one of its kind in the country.

Local residents and environmental groups are fighting the project, saying it is an untested process that only promises to contaminate their already dwindling water supply with deadly benzene. If approved, the project — located in part of a major regional aquifer — would likely receive federal exemption from the Safe Water Drinking Act, a law that protects the quality of drinking water."

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/11/12/2923951/untold-story-wyoming-proposed-coal-project/

This is being proposed by an Australian concern. I wonder if they tried it out in Oz yet?