The Premier Jacinta Allan and Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio today announced approval for the go ahead for the Beach Energy Gas Field near the 12 Apostles National Park. But it wasn’t the lead in the press release but only features 15 paragraphs in, 3 paragraphs from the bottom. Talk about trying to sneak through new gas.
Update Action: Generate a Letition to send to your State MP
The gas drilling well will be located on Keerray Woorroong coastal country on private land and will drill under the Port Campbell National Park marine sanctuary to access the gas field..
Beach Energy is an Australian Stock Exchange-listed oil and gas company. They are the second biggest oil producer in Australia after Woodside Energy. Beach Energy is 28 per cent owned by billionaire Kerry Stokes’s Seven Group. Over the years Beach Energy, the Seven Group and Kerry Stokes have made extensive political donations to the Liberal, National and Labor parties federally and in a number of states.
The IPCC and International Energy Agency are clear: we cannot afford any new coal or gas fields started, consistent with meeting climate goals. The approval flies in the face of climate sciemnce and the crisis we face with accelerating temperatures and climate impacts.
The announcement was made towards the end of a long press release on Renewable Energy To Power Our Schools And Hospitals.
“the Victorian Government has approved Beach Energy’s plans to produce gas from the offshore Enterprise gas field, on the condition that Beach Energy make best endeavours to sell to domestic customers first.”
While we welcome the announcements for new wind and solar farms, this does not by any means justify openning a new gas field which will add to global warming and the climate emergency.
The Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio and Premier Jacinta Allan announced:
- The Mortlake South 158-megawatt Wind Farm now complete and is the final project to come online as part of the Victorian Labor Government’s first Victorian Renewable Energy Target (VRET) reverse auction. It created 100 jobs during construction. It will generate enough energy for 115,000 homes.
- The first project from Victoria’s second renewable energy auction opened: Pacific Partnerships’ 102-megawatt Glenrowan Solar Farm will power about 55,000 homes annually, created 125 jobs during construction.
- All projects from the first reverse auction – Berrybank Wind Farm, Dundonnell Wind Farm, Cohuna Solar Farm and Winton Solar Farm are now complete, delivering a total 807 megawatts of cheap renewable energy. This $1.1 billion investment in regional Victoria created 900 jobs during construction including 270 apprenticeships and traineeships.
Victoria is has set a climate target of 95 per cent renewable energy generation by 2035 but sees the remaining 5 per cent has gas peaking power.
Australia is awash with gas but most of that gas is exported as LNG, and used in the conversion of gas to LNG for the substantial profit of overseas mining companies. Early this year it came to light that Japanese companese have over contracted Australia LNG gas and are reselling to the Asian market along with subsidised gas infrastructure. (See IEEFA reports in March and May 2024, Wesley Morgan in The Conversaton, June 12)
We applauded most of the State Government actions towards electrification in the Victorian Gas Substitution Roadmap Update released in December 2023.
Approving Beach Energy 12 Apostles project is one decisive follow up answer by the Victoria Labor Government to Brunswick Greens MP Tim Read adjournment question on fossil fuel expansion in December 2023. You can do, should do better, Lily D’Ambrosio.
We highlighted in 2021 Victorian Labor’s hypocrisy and denial of the climate science regarding opening new fossil fuels projects: Labor Expanding gas extraction in Victoria against the climate science, but Labor decisuions continue to deny the established science.
We argued in our Future Gas Strategy submission to the Federal Government in late 2023 that Gas is not a Transition fuel, although it may help in the short term in managing the energy transition in the power sector. The Future of gas is small and dwindling argues the Climate Council in this myth-busting article. Of course our submission, along with many others were almost totally ignored by the Federal Government.
References
Premier of Victoria media release, 6 June 2023, Renewable Energy To Power Our Schools And Hospitals https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/renewable-energy-power-our-schools-and-hospitals
The science on no new fossil fuel extraction and climate targets is clear:
- Welsby, D., Price, J., Pye, S. et al. Unextractable fossil fuels in a 1.5 °C world. Nature 597, 230–234 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03821-8, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03821-8
- Nogrady, Bianca, Nature, 8 September 2021, Most fossil-fuel reserves must remain untapped to hit 1.5 °C warming goal https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02444-3
- Kelly Trout et al (17 May 2022), Existing fossil fuel extraction would warm the world beyond 1.5 °C , Environ. Res. Lett. 17 064010, DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/ac6228, https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac6228
- The International Energy Agency 2021 report, Net Zero by 2050 – A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector, makes it clear that no new fossil fuel development can be made if the world is to reach net zero by 2050.
- Samantha Hepburn, Professor in the Deakin Law School, Deakin University wrote at The Conversation in 2022: “Australia is heading in the wrong direction by opening up new fossil fuel exploration. The move will damage our longer-term security and undermine our climate imperatives. It ignores the glaring economic realities that will eventually push gas out of the market. And opening new gas fields while carbon-capture remains uncertain is dangerous for the planet.” – The Conversation, 25 August 2022
- Climate Council, 12 June 2024, Powering Past Gas: An Energy Strategy That Works. https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/powering-past-gas-an-energy-strategy-that-works/
On Japan overcontracting Australian LNG Gas:
- Sam Reynolds and Christopher Doleman, IEEFA, March 11, 2024 Japan’s largest LNG buyers have a surplus problem https://ieefa.org/resources/japans-largest-lng-buyers-have-surplus-problem
- Amandine Denis-Ryan and Josh Runciman, IEEFA, May 17, 2024, Japan does not need Australian LNG to keep the lights on in Tokyo https://ieefa.org/resources/japan-does-not-need-australian-lng-keep-lights-tokyo
- Wesley Morgan, The Conversation, 12 June 2024, Climate holdout Japan drove Australia’s LNG boom. Could the partnership go green? https://theconversation.com/climate-holdout-japan-drove-australias-lng-boom-could-the-partnership-go-green-231816
Climate Action Merribek, 22 December 2023, Minister questioned on Fossil Fuel coal and gas projects in Victoria https://climateactionmerribek.org/2023/12/22/minister-questioned-on-fossil-fuel-coal-and-gas-projects-in-victoria/
Climate Action Merribek, 14 December 2023, Victorian Gas Substitution Roadmap Update proposes energy savings and cooling respite for renters, https://climateactionmerribek.org/2023/12/14/victorian-gas-substitution-roadmap-update-proposes-energy-savings-and-cooling-respite-for-renters/
Climate Action Merribek, 19 September 2021, Labor Expanding gas extraction in Victoria against the climate science, https://climateactionmerribek.org/2021/09/19/labor-expanding-gas-extraction-in-victoria-against-the-climate-science/
Photos by Matt Hrkac, 19 July 2021 at the 12 Apostles National Park with the Climate Emergency Red Rebels. Republished under Creative Commons Licence. ATTRIBUTION 2.0 GENERIC. See This Flickr Photo Alblum: https://www.flickr.com/photos/matthrkac/albums/72157719519134758/
Climate Action Merribek 