Community members in South West Victoria have responded to the lifting of the moratorium on onshore gas drilling. 

Members of the Protect the West Alliance from the Otways to Portland have collected over 1000 signatures on a petition calling for an extension of a ban on onshore gas exploration.

Premier Dan Andrews made the announcement to scrap the temporary ban on onshore gas drilling in March, one day after declaring a state of emergency in response to the emerging COVID-19 pandemic. 

Yesterday, the Petroleum Legislation Amendment Bill was moved in the Victorian parliament to formally lift the ban.  The Bill was met with criticism from The Victorian Greens, who noted that the Andrew’s government had significantly underestimated the environmental impact that an expansion of the gas industry would cause, and that the government was better off prioritising support towards growing the renewable energy sector (Renew Economy, 2 June 2020).

Community opposition to drilling remains strong across regional Victoria with over 70 communities declaring themselves 'gasfield free' as part of the campaign that also banned fracking.

THE GAS STORY: SO FAR NOT SO GOOD
Last week the Victorian government gave the go ahead to onshore conventional gas exploitation across the State. A moratorium had halted all exploration and drilling since 2014. In March 2020, the Andrews Government introduced new laws to lift the moratorium and allow extensive drilling for gas reserves underground from July 2021. 

In 2018, the Victorian Labour Government released five new oil and gas exploration blocks in the offshore Otway Basin in State waters, extending from Port Campbell to the South Australian border.  Climate science makes it abundantly clear that time is running out if we want to avoid catastrophic climate change.  To reduce methane gas emissions, we must stop further fossil fuel expansion and transition to 100% renewable energy and energy storage.  The State government needs to cancel the tender process for offshore oil and gas exploration and end onshore gas expansion in the Otway Basin in western Victoria.  The time for new fossil fuel expansion is over. Keep reading to meet the CAST OF GAS VILLIANS and TAKE DIGITAL ACTION NOW!

DIGITAL ACTION TO RESIST FOSSIL FOOLS!

TELL Mr Andrews … NO NEW OIL & GAS in the OTWAY BASIN FOE PETITION

Join FOE’s NO FOSSIL FUELS DIGITAL SNAP ACTION

Otway Gas Plant near Port Campbell, Victoria (source: Beach Energy website)

Community members in Victoria's south west have collected over 1000 signatures on a petition calling for an extension of a ban on onshore gas exploration.

Community opposition to drilling remains strong across regional Victoria with over 70 communities declaring themselves 'gasfield free' as part of the campaign that also banned fracking.

The announcement to scrap the temporary ban on onshore gas drilling has come just as community members from local group Protect the West in the south west of the state prepared to submit over 1,000 signatures in opposition to a lifting of the ban to the Premier’s office.

Our voices must not be silent in the face of the decision by Dan Andrews to scrap the onshore gas ban that puts our climate and our futures at risk.

The restrictions on public gatherings means we are deferring from the face-to-face actions and change the way protest happens to ensure we protect communities. 

That’s why we are calling on you to participate RIGHT NOW in our ‘DIGITAL SNAP ACTION’, by ‘checking in’ en-masse at the Premiers Office on Facebook.

Check in @Treasury Place with a selfie telling Dan Andrews why you think he has made the wrong call on with gas. (This needs to be done on a smart device like a phone, tablet, etc.)

We may not be able to protest in person, but we can still make our presence known!

Friends of the Earth expressed its shock at the announcement by the Andrews government that it will scrap the moratorium protecting Victorian farmland from risky onshore gas drilling.

The premier announced that the moratorium will be lifted to allow gas production from July next year.

Yesterday the Victorian Liberal Nationals opposition announced a new plan to ‘Unlock Victoria’s Natural Gas Potential’ in a policy which would scrap the current moratorium on onshore conventional gas drilling in the state. 

Despite pledging support for the Andrew’s Government’s ban on unconventional gas drilling (fracking), and a right of veto for farmers, the new policy contradicts the party’s previous support for the moratorium when it was enacted in 2014.

The Coalition enacted the moratorium while they were in power in large part because of the strong opposition from farmers in regional Victoria to any form of gas drilling operations on agricultural land. 

In late December 2019, the Federal government quietly announced that they are underwriting a new gas generator plant with APA Group, Dandenong (1), to be co-located with APA Group’s existing Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) storage facility at Greens Rd, Dandenong South.  Some 18 gas-fueled engines are to be installed and 7 kilometres of gas pipelines laid to connect to the existing electricity network. (2)  A similar 320 MW gas-fueled power station plant is in operation at Laverton North covering a land area of 32,726m squared, located 15 kilometres from the CBD. 

From 2011 until 2017, the Victorian community, especially regional communities in the south of the state, campaigned hard to win the ban on frackingand the moratorium on onshore conventional gas drilling.

While fracking (unconventional gas drilling) was banned permanently, a moratorium was placed on onshore conventional exploration and drilling. This has been in force since 2014, and will expire on June 30, 2020.

In the next few months, the state government will decide whether to extend the moratorium or let it lapse. Over the past year, the Victorian Gas Programhas been investigating what onshore gas resources exist. Once the final report is released (likely to happen within the next 3 months), the government will make a decision about the future of the moratorium.