DOZENS of protesters rallied at the entrance of Beach Energy’s $12m new conventional drilling site on Sunday where a blockade was set up by police and security personnel.
In a sign of solidarity, people in more than 20 cars travelled to the site south of Penola to peacefully protest against the energy company’s gas mining activities.
Beach Energy organised security at the entrance following a request by the Limestone Coast Protection Alliance to tour the site.
The peaceful on site protest was organised as part of a “We Love Penola Day” family event on Sunday, which was aimed to raise awareness of Beach Energy’s Haselgrove-3 gas well south of the historic township.
The alliance has also put up a large protest sign on private property near the front of the entrance and has vowed to roll out more in the vicinity of the drilling project.
Limestone Coast Protection Alliance chair Merilyn Paxton revealed she called Beach Energy regional manager Glenn Toogood ahead of the event to request a tour of the site.
“But Glenn said he could not do a tour of a large number of people on Sunday – only two to four people at a time if an appointment was made,” Ms Paxton revealed.
“We planned a visit to the site because we wanted to show people where it is.”
Ms Paxton said Limestone Coast Police had a presence at the drilling site and also spoke with alliance members before departing from Penola.
“They came here a couple of times and told us to please understand that we are not able to go down to the site today,” Ms Paxton said ahead of travelling to the site.
“We said ‘we do understand that’, but people can make their own arrangements with Beach Energy to have a look at the site in the future.”
She said Sunday’s protest was the first appearance by the group at the site.
“But there will be more,” Ms Paxton warned.
Speaking to The Border Watch, Mr Toogood said the area was a “construction site” and safety was paramount to safeguard Beach Energy workers and protesters.
“It would be inappropriate to take a large number of people to the site – we had no details of how many people, who they were or what safety equipment they had,” Mr Toogood said.
He said security was placed at the entrance of the site to be prudent.
Mr Toogood said concerns were also raised about a large number of protesters coming out to the site, which was adjacent the potentially dangerous Riddoch Highway.
While respecting the right for people to protest, he said equally people should understand the company had a legal right to be there.
Regarding the announcement that another energy company was looking to drill for gas in the Limestone Coast, Ms Paxton described it as “terrifying”.
“It does prove what we have been saying that Beach Energy’s project is just the first well that we will see,” the prominent activist said.
“Rawson has made no bones about the fact they are interested in sites around Robe, Beachport and Penola.”
She said Rawson had indicated it wanted to “rebuild” the gas industry in the region.
“It is just beyond comprehension the State Government wants to go ahead with this, particularly when the state is going so well with renewable energy,” Ms Paxton said.
Rawson Oil and Gas Limited announced on Thursday it had entered into a binding agreement to acquire a working interest in “PEL 155” near Nangwarry.
The company hopes to discover substantial quantities at the site, which is about 10km southeast of the Katnook has processing facility.
