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Pages tagged "Gas"

Longford gas plant locks in further global warming

Longford_meme2.jpgESSO has officially opened its new gas conditioning plant at Longford in Gippsland, promoting it as the largest domestic gas project on Australia's eastern seaboard, and one that will give certainty to the state's gas supplies for about 40 years.

The development will supply 1.6 trillion cubic feet of gas to eastern Australia, which Esso says is enough to power a city of one million people for 35 years.

The conditioning plant represents the completion of the $5.5 billion Kipper Tuna Turrum project in Bass Strait, which has resulted in the development of two new gas fields and the upgrade of a third. The plant will remove excess carbon dioxide and mercury from the gas taken from the offshore gas fields, which will then be processed at Longford.

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Longford gas plant locks in further global warming

Longford_meme2.jpgESSO has officially opened its new gas conditioning plant at Longford in Gippsland, promoting it as the largest domestic gas project on Australia's eastern seaboard, and one that will give certainty to the state's gas supplies for about 40 years.

The development will supply 1.6 trillion cubic feet of gas to eastern Australia, which Esso says is enough to power a city of one million people for 35 years.

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Melbourne Protest against Jemena NT Pipeline

Friends of the Earth Melbourne and Quit Coal campaigners joined with concerned citizens gathered outside Jemena’s Melbourne headquarters to protest against the Federal government approval of the Northern Gas Pipeline. The group claimed that the pipeline, if built, will facilitate controversial on-shore unconventional gas fracking in the state and wished to express solidarity with Traditional Owners in the NT.

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We Won! Victoria is Officially Gasfield Free!

we wonWe did it! Today Victoria became the first Australian state to permanently ban the process of fracking to access ‘unconventional’ gas (gases like coal seam gas or CSG, and Shale and Tight gas). We also achieved an extension of the moratorium on onshore conventional gas drilling until 2020.

This is an amazing day. It is the result of more than five years of hard work and dedication by many thousands of Victorians. 75 regional communities declared themselves gasfield free during this process. By 2012 we had built enough collective power that we were able to stop all development of onshore gas drilling in our state. Today the ban on fracking was made permanent.

This is an incredible win for the communities in regional Victoria who fought for more than five years to gain this ban and their allies in Melbourne (short summary of the campaign available here).

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Gas Ban Win for Victoria! Thank you!

gasbanWe did it! Today Victoria became the first Australian state to permanently ban the process of fracking to access ‘unconventional’ gas (gases like coal seam gas or CSG, and Shale and Tight gas). We also achieved an extension of the moratorium on onshore conventional gas drilling until 2020.

Thank you to everyone who built and sustained this campaign. In a time of deep cynicism in politics, this shows what communities can achieve when they work together in a strategic and determined way. Drilling would be happening now in a number of places across southern Victoria if we all hadn’t got active.

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Betrayal of farmers a bad move for Coalition

final_vote_March_2017.jpgMedia release March 7, 2017

The announcement this morning that the Victorian Coalition will put forward an amendment which would see the moratorium on conventional gas drilling lifted has been met with anger from farming communities and environmental groups.

“The Coalition put the moratorium in place in 2012. It has constantly berated the ALP for changing it’s position on gas mining, yet has now performed a backflip of huge proportions” said Friends of the Earth (FoE) campaigner Ursula Alquier.

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Victoria’s gas ban a win for environment, farmers and democracy

sheep_sign.jpgMedia release February 8, 2017

Today the Lower House of the Victorian parliament is debating the Resources Legislation Amendment (Fracking Ban) Bill 2016, which will permanently ban fracking in the state.

This debate is unusual, because the ALP, Greens, Coalition and minor parties have all announced their support for the ban. “This highlights the massive community opposition to onshore gas drilling in Victoria” said Friends of the Earth co-ordinator Cam Walker.

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Gas company seeking bailout from taxpayers

unnamed.jpgFriends of the Earth media release. December 7, 2016

Lakes Oil is seeking $2.7 billion in damages from the Victorian Government after the state moved to ban fracking. It claims that the permanent ban on unconventional gas drilling is "unlawful". The company has filed a writ in the Supreme Court.

Lakes Oil is part owned by Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting. It has previously explored for gas in Gippsland and western Victoria and carried out fracking operations in Gippsland.

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Community briefings - where to for Victoria?

community_briefings_2016.jpgThe Andrews state government is coming up to its two year anniversary. That means they're halfway through this term of Parliament, with two years left before the next election.

Premier Andrews came to power with a promise to make Victoria a leader on climate change and the environment. They've definitely started on this journey - they're saying the right things, and have made some welcome decisions so far.

Since winning the election in 2014, the Andrews government has announced a permanent ban on unconventional gas, started protecting rivers from damage by cows, committed Victoria to net zero greenhouse emissions by 2050, removed 99 year leases from national parks, set strong targets for renewable energy, amongst other things.

But some big ticket items remain. What will happen to Hazelwood, the world's dirtiest power station? Will the Great Forest National Park finally be created? These and other questions still need answers.

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The Latest Inflating Gas Prices – A Whole lot of Hot Air

Since the Victorian Labor Government announced an onshore Gas Ban we’ve been hearing a lot of hot air from the industry about gas shortages and threatened price rises. But what’s really behind the industry hype and what are the facts on gas prices and availability?

Despite evidence to the contrary Andrew Smith, chairman of Shell Australia, has continued the line of hyperbole expressed in early August prior to the Victorian decision and the COAG Energy Council meeting. He argued that recent electricity price spikes in South Australia dramatically pointed to the need to expand gas exploration …”without additional gas production spikes in energy prices will continue to hurt consumers and manufacturers,” but it has been found that the price hike was largely the product of gas being linked to the export market resulting in the “very high wholesale gas prices right across the country.”

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