In light of the of the ensuing water contamination scare that stemmed from Cougar Energy's coal gasification plant closure in Kingaroy, South Burnett farmers issued confirmation on Wednesday that Biosecurity Queensland is conducting tests on their cattle herds for possible exposure to chemically-smeared water supplies.

The Queensland government ordered the shutting down of Cougar Energy's underground coal gasification (UCG) facility last week following the discovery of toxic chemicals on its underground water supplies, as it admitted that it had been aware of the possible contamination prior to its closure order of the plant.

The Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) issued advisories to landholders yesterday following confirmations that benzene and toluene, both dangerous chemicals, had penetrated bores on the site of the plant, warning them to refrain from using the water emanating from the bores.

Wendy Buttsworth, a farmer in the area, confirmed that she had moved her livestock away from the site as a precautionary measure, as she decried that the unfortunate situation should have been prevented from reaching its current state as it would most likely result in lost income for most of the farmers grazing on the area.

In a meeting of Kingaroy landholders and affected residents last night, a unanimous call for the permanent closure of Cougar Energy's UCG plant was voiced out by the group as they accused Mines Minister Stephen Robertson of fumbling the proper regulation of the emerging synthetic gas industry.

The Kingaroy Residents Group told Mr Robertson that they were worried by the possibility that carcinogenic chemicals had already seeped into the area's water supplies, scoring DERM at the same time for its sluggish reporting of the incident, which was countered by DERM director-general John Bradley, arguing that mandatory 14 days were allowed to lapse prior to summoning Cougar to discuss the leakages.

Even so, group spokesman Damian O'Sullivan said that the government must strongly consider the eventual abandonment of Cougar's plant as he cited that overseas experiments had already proven that "this particular process causes a lot of water pollution and the particular process should not be allowed on farmland."