THE state government has dismissed claims by the Greens that a planned three-dimensional geological model of the onshore Otway Basin was a precursor to lifting a ban on unconventional gas extraction.
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Energy and Resources Minister Russell Northe said Greens candidate Thomas Campbell was being “deliberately deceptive to spread unnecessary fear among the community”.
Mr Campbell, who is running for the South West Coast seat, urged the government to “come clean” about motives behind a call by the Department of State Development, Business and Innovation for tenders to create a 3D model of the basin, which covers south-west Victoria.
“It looks like the department is preparing groundwork for fracking regardless of the fact there’s a moratorium in place until July 2015,” Mr Campbell said.
However, Mr Northe said the mapping was not an indication of moves to lift the moratorium.
“The Premier has made it clear that under his premiership we will do nothing to jeopardise our prime agricultural production or jeopardise our environment or underground water supplies.”
He said the mapping was part of fact-finding to examine potential impacts on water resources by possible onshore natural gas development.
“An up-to-date regional 3D geological model of the onshore Otway Basin is being built to provide a fundamental dataset,” he said.
“The government has also recently passed legislation to ban BTEX chemicals in fracking, ensuring further projection for Victoria’s valuable water resources.”
The Greens want a permanent ban on fracking (hydraulic fracturing) whether for coal-seam, tight or shale gas, and on new coal mines as part of a fast transition from fossil fuels to clean energy.
Panmure environmentalist Gillian Blair has written to senior state Labor MP Jacinta Allan describing unconventional gas mining as “the number-one issue for food security for Australia”.
The Victorian Farmers’ Federation (VFF) has called on all parties and candidates to declare their positions concerning onshore gas extraction.
“We firmly believe farmers should hold the right of veto over mining and petroleum activities on their land,” VFF land management chairman Gerald Leach.
The VFF wants the moratorium extended another four years.
CSIRO research director Dr Damian Barrett has told The Standard extensive research was continuing into the industry with the aim of ensuring appropriate oversight was imposed.
He said water table pollution risks from drilling and fracking in Victoria’s shale were much lower than with coal-seam gas methods used in other states.
“Hydraulic fracturing is a very well established engineering method,” Dr Barrett said.
He said criticism the CSIRO was biased towards industry was incorrect.
“CSIRO takes very seriously conflict of interest and separates very clearly work done for industry and the community,” he said.
“Industry has no say on research decisions or publications of reports.”
