AN ENVIRONMENTAL leader has expressed concerns for the region’s agricultural sector following a number of recent gas drilling breakthroughs.
Energy duo Vintage Energy and Lakes Oil’s discovery of carbon dioxide at its Nangwarry-1 drill site has prompted Limestone Coast Protection Alliance chair
Angus Ralton to express disappointment in the continued exploratory efforts in the Otway Basin.
The carbon discovery comes as Beach Energy announced it will drill a second well at the Haselgrove-4 site to target a different section of the sawpit sandstone.
Mr Ralton said he discoveries did not correlate to the production of cheap gas, saying State and Federal Governments had spent millions of dollars to support mining operations in the region.
“It is not cheap gas as we have already spent millions on Beach Energy’s exercise which is a horse and buggy of the problem,” Mr Ralton said.
“We are chasing today’s problems with yesterday’s solutions and it is not going to work.
“Australia has heaps of gas at the moment and we can establish a domestic reserve if the government had the strength to put local industries in front of corporate profits of the gas industry.”
Mr Ralton encouraged corporations to look at renewable energy sources.
“There are more jobs in renewable energy and a better future than in the gas industry,” he said.
“It is not just an environmental argument but also an economical one.”
