Air quality tests have been ordered amid concerns coal seam gas (CSG) activities might be causing nosebleeds and chronic headaches in a Queensland community.
An anti-CSG group says parents at the Tara residential estate, west of Brisbane, have complained about two odours they believe are toxic gases coming from CSG wells in the area.
Lock the Gates Alliance president Drew Hutton says some children have experienced nosebleeds and chronic headaches over the past three weeks since the odours became apparent.
He said he believed one of the gases was hydrogen sulphide related to CSG activity, which can cause both conditions.
"When it gets to higher levels you can't smell it and that's when it's very dangerous; it can kill," Mr Hutton told ABC radio on Tuesday.
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Mines Minister Andrew Cripps said concerns about air quality were being investigated as a matter of urgency. Mr Cripps said the government's CSG/LNG Enforcement Unit would carry out air quality testing to establish the nature and source of the odours.
"At this stage I am not prepared to speculate on whether the odour is related to coal seam gas production, or whether it is naturally occurring," he said in a statement.
"We will only get these answers through local monitoring and testing, and will then be able to chart a course of action to address the issue if necessary."
