Bentley Blockade facing massive police force | Mining Leaks
BENTLEY CAMPAIGN DONATION
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http://csgfreenorthernrivers.org/donate-now/
https://rainforestconnections.org/projects/StopBentleyGasExploration
Stop Bentley Gas Exploration Now!
Championed by: Gasfield Free Northern Rivers , Rainforest Information Centre
about the project
Stop Bentley Gas Exploration Now!
Gasfield Free Northern Rivers , Rainforest Information Centre
We are a diverse and concerned community who are standing up against unconventional gasfield exploration in the Northern Rivers.
Metgasco has returned to the Northern Rivers and now plans are underway to drill a 2 kilometre deep well in a tight sands gas deposit. This exploration project is located just 16 kilometres from Lismore, near Bentley.
Of course, not all of us can go out to Bentley for the protest, however we can show our support in other ways, through supporting newspaper and television advertisements, rallies and events in town, posting signs on our properties and at our place of business.
BENTLEY CAMPAIGN DONATION
DONATE NOW
http://csgfreenorthernrivers.org/donate-now/
https://rainforestconnections.org/projects/StopBentleyGasExploration
Stop Bentley Gas Exploration Now!
Championed by: Gasfield Free Northern Rivers , Rainforest Information Centre
about the project
Stop Bentley Gas Exploration Now!
Gasfield Free Northern Rivers , Rainforest Information Centre
We are a diverse and concerned community who are standing up against unconventional gasfield exploration in the Northern Rivers.
Metgasco has returned to the Northern Rivers and now plans are underway to drill a 2 kilometre deep well in a tight sands gas deposit. This exploration project is located just 16 kilometres from Lismore, near Bentley.
Of course, not all of us can go out to Bentley for the protest, however we can show our support in other ways, through supporting newspaper and television advertisements, rallies and events in town, posting signs on our properties and at our place of business.
OK so let me make sure this is right for everyone to fully understand the history behind this mining project at Bentley.
A petroleum exploration license PEL 16 covering the Bentley area was originally granted in 1996 and owned by a company called Carlita Holdings Ltd. The director was a man called Peter Gray who has proven links with Eddie Obeid over the Cascade Coal Mine fiasco.
The Mines Minister at the time was Ian Mcdonald who has been found guilty of serious corruption and also has links to Eddie Obeid.
The exploration license was then renewed by Chris Hartcher who has been forced to resign and is also facing serious corruption allegations. He also granted Metgasco it’s first production lease, over a 1536 hectare area in the southern part of PEL 16 along with 21 others in Sept 2012.
The NSW Police Minister Mike Gallagher has also been forced to resign and is also facing serious corruption and electoral fraud allegations.
And yet despite several ongoing ICAC investigations with referrals to the DPP for criminal prosecutions pending the NSW Police and the new Minister for Energy and Resources Anthony Roberts are still proceeding to send up to 1,000 RIOT squad and tactical response police to break a community protest in a community that has overwhelmingly voted against having a CSG industry in their region.
What country are we living in again ?
Photo Damian Kelly
Posts
Yes what sort of country would allow this to happen - The Great Barrier Reef.
ReplyDelete.
Fishermen feel vindicated after bund wall inquiry findings
10th May 2014
GPC slammed to wall by report
The backlash: What do people have to say in response to the review?
GLADSTONE fishermen and conservation groups feel both manipulated and vindicated in what is being called the failure of environmental management in Gladstone, saying the leaking bund wall in the harbour was only part of a bigger picture.
Responding to the report from the Federal Government's independent review of the failed bund wall in Gladstone harbour, which was released on Friday, the fishermen and greenies alike have blamed the Gladstone Ports Corporation and both levels of government for poor practice and terrible communication.
<<< Inquiry finds environmental conditions were too vague >>>
The GPC and Federal Government claim lessons have been learned for future practice, but conservation groups say it gives no guarantee that the failures that occurred at Gladstone could be prevented from happening again.
Gladstone Fish Market co-owner and Queensland Seafood Industry Association board member Ted Whittingham said he felt vindicated for speaking out about the problem when GPC senior management had stood behind the claim they were using world's best practice.
"What's come out now is that it was poor practice and I believe a lot of these failings lay with the senior management of the ports corporation," he said.
While co-owner and son Simon Whittingham said the fishing industry had copped the environmental impact of the failings.
"There's now been found an objective perspective - the State Government owners, developers, regulators - to be sub-standard and inadequate when it comes to doing their job," he said.
Jan Arens, from Gladstone Conservation Council, said "you can already see this is a managed problem".
"It said the GPC made all reports required publicly available - that is rubbish. It took me three years to get the data, and when I got it it was a managed sub set," he said.
He said the review panel also talked about poor community understanding.
"It's difficult to make an informed decision on what's going on when you can't get the information," he said.
GPC slammed to wall by report
GLADSTONE Ports Corporation, the Queensland and Australian Governments have been slammed in an independent review of a failed bund wall.
The report, due a week ago, was delivered with 37 findings and 19 recommendations.
Environment Minister Greg Hunt said he intends to adopt as many recommendations as possible, while the Gladstone Ports Corporation intends to incorporate the lessons learned into its future practices.
The findings of the Federal Government's Independent Review into the Port of Gladstone will be used to ensure future developments with reclamation areas in coastal environments will not fail.
The findings include:
• Bund wall design and construction was not consistent with best practice,
• Water quality monitoring site locations were inadequate, and
• The Environment Department lacked specific approval conditions, inadequate resourcing and fragmented and cross-jurisdictional regulations.
In a response from Mr Hunt's office, he said the Environment Department had already begun to address a number of the findings and a review of all operating procedures would be completed before June 30.
GPC chief Craig Doyle said the GPC welcomed the findings and recommendations.
"It is important to note that the findings of the review relate to events in 2011 and 2012," he said.
"GPC would like to assure the community that the issues affecting the bund wall have been resolved and do not present an ongoing threat to the environment."
You can read the full report here.
http://www.gladstoneobserver.com.au/news/bund-wall-shock-the-failures-could-happen-again/2254494/
Federal Government probe finds failures in Gladstone dredging project
ReplyDeleteBrian Williams
The Courier-Mail
May 09, 2014
A FEDERAL Government probe into the expansion of Gladstone Harbour has found a raft of problems and failures in the 46 million cu m dredging project and its administration.
The probe focused on the failure of a bund wall, finding that a liner was not properly fitted, water monitoring was inadequate and that waves and tides caused muddy water to leak into the harbour.
Tonnes of diseased fish were found in the harbour in mid 2011, resulting in 500 sq km being closed by the State Government after a public health scare and eventually leading to a UNESCO probe into Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area development.
The department’s Anthea Tinney and CSIRO’s Andrew Johnson led the review which said record-keeping at Australia’s largest dredging project was poor which made it difficult for the department to ensure conditions were complied with.
The damning report, which in essence finds against the department, said conditions on the work for the $35 billion Curtis Island LNG project were not specific enough to enable their enforcement or effective assessment.
``In particular, the lack of specificity created uncertainty in how the conditions were to be applied, thereby limiting the (Environment Department’s) ability to respond to alleged breaches,’’ it says.
This finding mirrors UNESCO conclusions that governments have failed to set limits on developments or police conditions.
Conservationists like Andrew Jeremijenko, Sue Arnold and Greens senator Larissa Waters had complained about these issues after problems with the leaking bund wall were revealed in The Courier-Mail in October, 2011.
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Gladstone dredging project inquiry finds conditions on port expansion too vague to be enforced
............................The inquiry has found "aspects of the design and construction of the bund wall were not consistent with industry best practice", and the geotextile layers of the wall eroded under pressure.
The investigation has found water quality monitoring sites in Gladstone were established in the wrong areas, and the federal Environment Department failed to adequately retain compliance records.
It also says environmental conditions imposed by the Commonwealth lacked the specifics necessary to enable their effective enforcement.
Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt will hand down the report this morning.
Fishermen in the Gladstone area have been eagerly awaiting the inquiry's findings.
When the bund wall leaked it coincided with an outbreak of fish disease in the harbour and nearby waterways.
However, a Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry report released in 2013 found that flooding and a large number of fish spilling out from the Awoonga Dam was the main cause of the problem.
UK natural gas at lowest since 2010 so that even Henry Hub LNG would be uneconomic
ReplyDeleteWednesday, 07 May 2014
UK natural gas prices have tumbled to their lowest level in three-and-a-half years. Prices are so low that the East Asian LNG market has prices more than twice as high while US LNG imports into the UK would be uneconomic at current price levels.
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Minister: Iran Can Export Gas to Europe Via Three Routes
Posted on May 9th, 2014
Iran can export natural gas to Europe through three different ways, deputy petroleum minister for international and trade affairs, Ali Majedi said.
“Iran owns huge gas reserves and therefore diversifying our gas exports destinations is of significance for us,” he said.
Iran can deliver gas to Europe via the Turkish pipeline which is considered the most reasonable route .
“The second route is a pipeline which passes through Iraq, Syria, Lebanon,” Majedi said, adding that “the third route is via Armenia, Georgia and the Black Sea.”
Press Release, May 9, 2014
Interesting cost comparisons ..............
ReplyDeleteWoodside at JPP would have been 12 MTPA @ $80 billion and cost $6.66 billion per 1 MT of LNG.
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Russell: Floating LNG is Australia's Future, But Not a Miracle Cost Cure
by Reuters
|
Clyde Russell
|
Friday, May 09, 2014
LAUNCESTON, Australia, May 9 (Reuters) - Building a fleet of the world's largest vessels has been touted as the solution to the high costs of developing the next phase of liquefied natural gas (LNG) investments in Australia.
But floating LNG, while worthwhile, may not be the all-encompassing panacea that major oil and gas companies are seeking.
There are currently seven LNG projects, worth an estimated $200 billion, under construction in Australia, enough to make the nation the world's largest producer of the super-chilled fuel by the time the last is commissioned around 2018.
These plants will add about 62 million tonnes of annual LNG capacity to the existing 24.4 million tonnes, which will catapult Australia's capacity past that of Qatar.
What is at risk is a so-called second wave of investment, worth at least $180 billion, that could almost double the LNG export capacity. The oil and gas majors active in Australia have been out beating the drum of high costs recently, using an industry gathering in Perth last month to bluntly warn that unless labour, regulatory and other costs come down, Australia will lose out to countries like the United States, Canada and Mozambique for new LNG projects.
One of the mooted solutions is switching from land-based LNG plants to huge floating platforms, moored above gas fields, but containing all the equipment and abilities of a conventional LNG plant, just crammed into a much smaller space.
Royal Dutch Shell has already taken the plunge, with construction of its Prelude floating LNG vessel underway in South Korea.
It will be the largest floating structure ever built, weighing some 600,000 tonnes, which is double the largest sailing supertankers. Prelude will also be almost 500 metres long and is built to withstand the category 5 cyclones that occasionally strike off the Western Australian coast, where it will be permanently moored.
But it's not clear that Prelude is any more cost effective than building land-based plants.
The estimated capital cost is between $10.8 billion and $12.6 billion for Prelude's 3.6 million tonne per annum capacity. This gives a cost of $3.5 billion per million tonnes of annual LNG capacity.
This is more expensive than the three LNG plants being built on Australia's eastern seaboard that will be the first to use coal-seam gas as a feedstock.
The Queensland Curtis project, operated by BG Group has a capital cost of $2.4 billion per million tonnes of annual capacity, the Gladstone plant being built by Santos and Malaysia's Petronas is at $2.37 billion and the Asia-Pacific LNG plant of ConocoPhillips is $2.74 billion.
However, Prelude is competitive with the land-based plants being built in the north and west of Australia that draw gas from deepwater offshore platforms.
Inpex's Ichthys project has a capital cost of $4.04 billion per million tonnes of annual LNG capacity, Chevron's Gorgon is at $3.46 billion and its Wheatstone plant is at $3.25 billion.
Russell: Floating LNG is Australia's Future, But Not a Miracle Cost Cure
ReplyDeleteFloating Advance is More Than Cost
What these numbers show is that Shell isn't saving a huge amount on building Prelude compared to land-based projects.
What the numbers don't show is that the Prelude field would never have been developed without floating LNG, as it's too small and too far offshore to be viable for a conventional platform and sub-sea pipeline to a land-based liquefaction plant.
This is the real advantage of floating LNG. It allows smaller, stranded fields to be developed at a competitive cost. This is why GDF Suez and Santos are considering the technology for their Bonaparte field, and Exxon Mobil and BHP Billiton are doing the same for the Scarborough reserve.
The decision by Woodside Petroleum to look at floating LNG for its Browse field is perhaps different, as the company initially planned building an onshore facility, but ran into environmental objections and cost escalations to the point where the economics no longer stacked up.
While floating LNG may not get around all the cost problems associated with doing business in Australia, it does allow the development of fields that would otherwise be uneconomic.
It's for this reason the giant vessels are more likely the future, rather than the problem that labour and other costs in Australia are too high.
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BENTLEY CAMPAIGN DONATIONS
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DONATE NOW
http://csgfreenorthernrivers.org/donate-now/
................................
https://rainforestconnections.org/projects/StopBentleyGasExploration
Stop Bentley Gas Exploration Now!
Championed by: Gasfield Free Northern Rivers , Rainforest Information Centre
about the project
Stop Bentley Gas Exploration Now!
Gasfield Free Northern Rivers , Rainforest Information Centre
We are a diverse and concerned community who are standing up against unconventional gasfield exploration in the Northern Rivers.
Metgasco has returned to the Northern Rivers and now plans are underway to drill a 2 kilometre deep well in a tight sands gas deposit. This exploration project is located just 16 kilometres from Lismore, near Bentley.
Of course, not all of us can go out to Bentley for the protest, however we can show our support in other ways, through supporting newspaper and television advertisements, rallies and events in town, posting signs on our properties and at our place of business.
We need your help now! 100% of the donation you make on this website will go towards keeping the Northern Rivers gasfield free. All donations are tax-deductible.
Funds raised here will be used for a variety of campaign strategies from protest camp to media as well as legal fees. These funds will help to demonstrate that we are a diverse group of concerned people who represent all sectors of society and that this community is strongly united in our opposition to unconventional gas drilling.
If you don't want this to be a common sight in the Northern Rivers please add your support to this campaign.
Metgasco is a Sydney based oil and gas exploration and production company focused on exploration in the Clarence Moreton Basin. Since 2008, Metgasco has been exploring for coal seam gas (csg) and tight sand gas in the Northern Rivers. So far, they have drilled approximately 50 exploration wells and in 2012, they began a core-hold drilling program that met with strong community opposition in the Grafton and Kyogle regions. In early 2013, Metgasco declared a moratorium on their activities in the Northern Rivers region.
In an about face in 2014, Metgasco returned to the Northern Rivers and now plans are underway to drill a 2 kilometre deep well in a tight sands gas deposit. This exploration project is located just 16 kilometres from Lismore, near Bentley. To access tight gas, hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as fracking is very likely.
Community opposition to unconventional gas exploration is high in the Northern Rivers. In a Council commissioned poll, 87% of Lismore residents voted "NO" to CSG. Metgasco has no social licence for these destructive activities that can wreak havoc on water, soil, air, biodiversity and human health.
If you don't want the Northern Rivers area turned into an industrialised gasfield please support this campaign.
Ruth Rosenhek,
For a Gasfields free Northern Rivers!
P.S. Please help spread word of this campaign by email and your social networks. Thanks much for your support.
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ReplyDeleteHi great rreading your post
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