It's the word of an expert from the Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning versus residents on whether coal seam gas (CSG) would damage the environment or not.

Dennis Bird from the Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning told a Queensland parliamentary committee that fluids used to extract CSG would not likely contaminate aquifers or underground water stores because extraction involves the use of chemicals available at supermarkets and hardware stores.

He explained that since the chemicals are used in small quantities, it would hardly have any impact on the environment. CSG operators use fracking which is a mixture of sand, water and chemicals to force coal seams apart to extract the gas.

However, the Lock the Gate Alliance pushed for the closure of the Western Darling Downs gas well in Queensland. Drew Hutton, president of the alliance, said residents of Tara estates have complained of the presence of gases which smell either like rotten eggs or a sweeter fragrance. But both smell cause children in the area to feel sick.

Mr Hutton believes the rotten egg smell is hydrogen sulphide and the sweet smell is gas nitrous oxide. He said the two smells are at the same site where there is bubbling at the Condamine River, which is also the source of methane that emanate from de-watered coal seams run by CSG companies.

"When water is extracted from the coal seam, the resultant depressurisation releases methane and other gases, much of which will be collected by the gas well but some could find other pathways to the surface, depending on the level of interconnectedness," Cowra Community News quoted Mr Hutton.

"If the material overlaying the coal seam contained such potential pathways then you would expect methane and other gases to travel to the surface where they would present a major health hazard," he added.

The federal and state governments have dispatched teams to the area to investigate if the gas emissions are linked to the CSG operations.

An impartial investigation is necessary because of the clashing interests presented by CSG operations. While residents are wary of the impact of CSG operations on their health and the environment, the industry said the government stands to gain $243 billion in federal taxes and power prices could go down by 10 per cent.

Those two benefits are hinged on CSG developments getting government and community approval, a report commissioned by the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association said.

The report said CSG could also boost Australia's economy by over $500 billion due to the creation of more than 20,000 full time jobs yearly by 2035.

According to Mr Bird, in Queensland alone, the eight CSG projects being planned is expected to boost the state's gross domestic product by $3 billion a year and yield $850 million royalties.

Besides CSG, Australia has the potential to become the world's top producer of liquefied natural gas (LNG). In the past 12 months, four LNG projects across the country worth $90 billion were approved by the government. There are seven more LNG ventures worth $170 billion under construction.

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