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Minister
warns of looming gas shortage in NSW
The
NSW Government has warned of a looming gas shortage in this State
that will see bills potentially triple in the next five years
ABC,
22
August, 2012
As
protesters blockade a coal seam gas project at Fullerton Cove, north
of Newcastle, it's been claimed there's an urgent need for new gas
supplies.
Minister
for Energy and Resources, Chris Hartcher, told 1233 ABC Newcastle's
Jill Emberson we're heading towards a crisis.
"The
contracts under which NSW is supplied gas start to run out in 2014
and they finally run out in 2017," he says.
"Now
there's one million customers for gas in the State, tens of thousands
of course in the Hunter Region, and one-third of our energy in this
State, especially for business and industry, is gas.
"We
certainly need to be addressing the gas supply crisis."
The
Minister says it's been assumed we'd be able to access our own
natural gas.
"We've
got an estimated 250 years' supply running from north Queensland way
down to south of Wollongong in a vast methane gas pool, natural gas,"
he says.
"We
need to actually now start to allow the industry to move ahead so
that it can access that vast reservoir and supply us with the gas
that we're gonna need."
Mr
Hartcher says we've previously obtained our gas supplies from coal,
the Bass Strait and the Cooper Basin, but as well as the contracts
running out the supplies themselves are dwindling.
"We
do have this massive resource of coal seam gas and that's what we
need to address and we need to address it urgently."
He
says the government aims to have the gas pipeline developed into
Newcastle.
"If
we don't do that then simply it will all go to Gladstone as it gets
developed and will all be exported overseas," he says.
"And
we will have to buy back our own gas."
The
Minister says this would send the cost not doubling but potentially
tripling within the next five to seven years.
"People
are already concerned about their electricity bills, they're not very
concerned about their gas bills now but they certainly will be in two
or three years' time if we don't develop a natural gas industry here
in NSW," he says.
As
for safety concerns over coal seam gas, Mr Hartcher says the
government won't allow industry to proceed in any area where its
activities pose a realistic threat to water, agriculture or the
environment.
He
says NSW can learn from the experiences and mistakes made with coal
seam gas both in Queensland and overseas.
"We
can develop a peaceful and successful co-existence between gas and
agriculture and water," he says.
Chris
Hartcher says the Fullerton Cove group has a right to peacefully
protest.
"They
do not have a right to impede people going about their legal
business," he says.
"This
company has valid and lawful consents to carry out the work it
proposes to undertake."
Police
have requested the protesters at Fullerton Cove move on, as they are
blocking entrance to a private property where Dart Energy intends to
sink two pilot coal seam gas wells.
But
the group says the project is a threat to water supplies and
wetlands, and are determined to prevent it proceeding.
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