Martin Nicholson, Brunswick Heads
Now that the NSW government seems to have restricted CSG mining and Metgasco has suspended activities locally, perhaps it is time to take a deep breath and consider the consequences.
Many people in NSW, including in this area, rely on gas for cooking. Further south, particularly in Sydney, they rely on it for both cooking and heating.
NSW has limited supplies of conventional gas. Already we import gas from both Victoria and Queensland. As local supplies dwindle, gas prices are expected to rise significantly over the next decade. That means more expensive cooking and, for some, more expensive heating as well.
The only solution to lowering gas prices is to increase gas supply. NSW has significant reserves of CSG that it would like to use to increase gas supply and restrict price rises.
I am no fan of burning gas for too much longer because of greenhouse gas emissions. But to replace all gas appliances with electricity will be very costly for most households.
So I wonder how the good people of NSW will feel about CSG when they realise that local objections to mining may have made a significant contribution to increasing their gas bills?
The areas raised being both QLD & VIC have a 100 year life of supply of LNG. See [http://peakenergy.blogspot.com.au/2008/06/no-post-tonight.html] for an in depth account to supply not only AU but the world. As a country, we seem to be getting little value as to our export earnings and what would be smart is to have major domestic gas pipeline supplying to all of AU like the roll-out of the NBN and shelve exports. We do not need added gas fields, especially when the science is out on the question of our Great Artesian Basin [largest water table in the world] and the ramification that it may be contaminated by chemicals or the process of fraking.
What you do not explain is why these gas companies and in particular the state government is not suggesting to the public that there will be any infrastructure set aside to supply gas domestically to each householder in this state.
They haven’t, so they won’t.
The plan to export Australia’s gas reserves to China is what threatens Australian people’s access to a reliable supply of gas, not failure to mine the Clarence-Moreton basin for CSG.
The Clarence-Moreton Basin only holds enough gas for NSW and ACT (6 million people) for 20 years – as per Metgasco’s own press release this week. That would last the Chinese population of 1.3 billion about one month. What do you propose we do then?
The myth of a gas shortage that Martin promotes is one perpetuated by industry lobbyists and has been taken up by the NSW government to put false fears into the people of NSW.
Far from it, Australia has abundant gas supplies, both conventional and unconventional, which are more than sufficient to supply existing domestic markets.
This has been confirmed by BHP Billiton Petroleum chief Mike Yeager, who stated back in May 2012 that “the Bass Strait field still has a large amount of [conventional] gas that’s undeveloped” and that there’s plenty of gas to supply the eastern states “indefinitely”.
The deception of Government and industry is apparent in light of the fact that half of Australia’s gas production is exported. Staggeringly, industry plans to triple its exports by 2020, which for Queensland, means 84% of its LNG will be for export. Queensland itself plans to export 10 times the gas NSW needs.
If what we witness in Queensland is any indication of how the industry would have operated in NSW, gas prices tied to a global market will force up domestic gas prices, refuting the claim that domestic gas supplies will lead to cheaper gas prices.
The myth of a gas shortage is a more a crisis of failed Government policy to ensure that Australia’s gas is reserved for domestic use. Instead of flogging off a non-renewable resource for marginal returns, the NSW Government should implement a domestic reservation policy like EVERY other country in the world.
Better still, rather than mining more polluting fossil fuels, the NSW Government should roll out renewable energies such as solar thermal and wind, which are free and inexhaustible. As demonstrated by Beyond Zero Emissions’ Zero Stationary Energy Plan, baseload solar thermal and wind would make Australia’s stationary energy sector zero carbon within a decade, create jobs and export renewable energy expertise to the world. This is what should be powering Australian homes and business, not another dirty fossil fuel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tspCBr6UToE
If there isn’t any better alternative then perhaps we could be allowed to purchase some of the csg that’s being shipped through our beautiful Great Barrier Reef to China and elsewhere. That gas is unstoppable now so we may as well make use of it if we need it. Or is it only allowed to be sent overseas? How ridiculous if it’s cheaper for us to purchase from the U.S., the worldwide glut will bring the prices right down…
Not sure about you, but I will gladly pay more to know that the threats imposed by CSG are minimised! It’s not all about $$’s Martin!
Martin . I think I`ll pay more for my gas instead of putting the health & well-being of our children in danger .
Wow do you really believe that Martin ? At a guess I’d think you may have shares .. plummeting shares .. if not I can only think you really don’t understand the dangers and destruction of CSG … there are many other alternatives to cooking our food and heating Martin rally for that .. I am hoping that the good people of new south wales will push for alternative energy FREE energy .. It may cost at first but in the long run it will be better for our future and our children’s future.
I agree in point, however these gas reserves were destined to be sold overseas for 3 cents a litre while we in Australia are paying anything from 70 cents to $1.90 per litre, when a safe ecological way is developed to mine these reserves without damaging our state for decades to come I will be the first to say go for it. If the gas companies spent the money to do this research they would be working for society and not for the almighty profit $$$