Joke for the Day

A gas plant proponent walks into a meeting of concerned local residents . . . and tells the truth.

Bob Brown Foundation

An email to the Bob Brown Foundation

Hi guys,

Woodside built a gas plant near the 12 Apostles and the Great Ocean Road. I spent a lot of time fighting the plant and might have some insights into what will happen to the Kimberley.

I'd love to share them.

You can get a few ideas here:
http://twelveapostleswhatagas.blogspot.com.au/

A Lesson for Broome and the Kimberley

Port Campbell is on Victoria's Great Ocean Road and just 11km from the 12 Apostles. Woodside built a gas plant near to the town some four years ago.

The plant regularly explodes - great explosions of sound regularly occur from it - and at night its never-ending flame pollutes the night sky. Originally when the first gas plant was built its proponents promised there would only ever be one. There are now at least four gas plants close to Port Campbell.

Offshore exploration and seismic testing continues close to the Port Campbell Marine Park.

Backpacker meets 12 Apostles Gas

I am a twenty five year old English girl, making my way around Australia on a working holiday visa. I have been living in Port Campbell for the past two months, and am failing to comprehend the necessity of a gas plant in one of the most beautiful spots in Australia.

The Great Ocean Road is renowned for it’s beauty, and is something that, as Australians, you should be extremely proud of.

The gas plant can be seen for miles around, particularly in the evening, when it appears as though a small town has developed in the midst of the fields. Although it can be seen during the day, once the sun has set, and the lights from the plant appear, the picturesque views that were once available in Port Campbell are no longer available.

I find it astonishing that a country the size of Australia could not find another spot for a gas plant. Was it that the developers were left with no other option other than to develop in a place which attracts thousands of tourists each year, has some of the best views in the world, and is home to a majority of native species and vegetation?

The noise coming from the plant is also of major concern. On an average day the noise is an annoying droning sound. However, on a number of days the noise is reminiscent of a small force of fighter aircraft above. This is no exaggeration, the sound coming from the plant is that bad that I often find myself looking to the sky expecting to see a helicopter.

As a tourist, and someone who has travelled throughout Australia I do not understand the logic in the location of this gas plant. I think some serious questions need to be asked, and more importantly answered.
Yours sincerely
Jodie Channing

A note to the CEO of Corangamite Shire

'A group of Victorian councils will call on the planning minister to investigate claims that wind farms cause illness. "The wellbeing of our residents is supreme," said Moorabool mayor Pat Griffin.' The Weekly Times May 30 2012

 Dear Andrew
I wrote to you recently in regard to ongoing noise from the Port Campbell gas plants and what I believe are the Shire's obligations under Part 6 Division 1. Section 58(2) (e) of the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008: said act states noise is a nuisance and I am lead to believe the Council has a duty to act, to investigate complaints.

In regard to Section 62(2) of this I am of the opinion that the Council must act on my family giving notice of a nuisance. I received your letter dated 17 May 2012 in which you advise that council is again referring the ongoing noise issues to the EPA. The council is as aware as I am of the current limitations of the EPA.

It is four months since we met with the EPA and still there has been no action or any notable correspondence from them. Given the recognised failings of the EPA I can think that there is no other reason except expediency which motivates the Shire to again refer the gas plant noise issues to the EPA?

I hope I am wrong but councillor Griffin's comments certainly highlight the Shire's perceived lack of urgency on this matter. My family's amenity continues to be comprimised by the gas plants at Port Campbell. How do my family and other effected residents get the Corangamite Shire to view the health of some of their residents the way councillor Griffin does? I would be grateful for answers to our questions

sincerely, Mr and Mrs Rogered

The Twelve Apostles Gas Plant: Lessons Learnt

For anyone who feels threatened by gas company exploration here is a list of pitfalls the unwary should be concerned about.

Here is the start of a Be Informed, Be Wary list:

Be wary of the consultants who will try and make even coal-seam gas mines sound like days spas;

Once they're in, they're in: The original consultant employed by the first gas plant to be built near the Twelve Apostles assured the community that only one plant would ever be built - there are now four;

Ask about issues the proponents will never tell you about - like the numbers of trucks that will be shuttling along narrow country roads to and from the gas plant and the night-time ligthing which will reconfigure the night-scape (the lights from the Twelve Apostles gas plants are so bright at night that they can be mistaken for a town);

Ask how is it possible that gas companies are permitted to self-regulate for noise: the Environmental Protection Authority are understaffed and under-funded. From our experience the EPA is almost powerless in country areas. The gas companies therefore take their own readings about the noise they emit. And if they do, on the off chance, take an excessive reading, the wind, birds, tractors and perhaps the untimely flatulence of one of the gas company employees taking the reading will be blamed;

Your shire will not be interested in your plight: the Corangamite Shire has devolved all responsibilty to the EPA;

The gas companies have a great escape clause in many of their operating licences. This refers to Unplanned Events. Not irregularly does the gas plant near to the home of Mr and Mrs Rogered 'blow up'. A great explosion of sound - like the sound of a fighter jet - shakes houses and results in a flare some 10metres or more high. This is an unplanned event and even if it happens twice a day it will not be regarded as excessive noise;

And about that flare: that 10metre flame is permissible even on days of Total Fire Ban. Hard to believe after the events of Black Saturday. But then, a lot about how gas companies really operate is hard to believe:

And finally, don't fall for the sucker-punch, the lure of the lucre. Gas companies will dole out sponsorship for community programs. At Port Campbell the life savers wear bathers with a gas company logo on them. In this way the companies get under a community's guard: don't let them in. Raise the money the old fashioned way - rally the organisation's troops and cart hay for a farmer or build a farm shed. Keep the integrity of your organisation.

More History of the Twelve Apostles Gas Plant

Mr and Mrs Rogered have at various times in their four-year fight with Woodside and now Origin - the companies control or have controlled a gas plant near the Twelve Apostles and within sight of Victoria's Great Ocean Road - pleaded with representatives of the Corangamite Shire, including its mayor, and the EPA to help them solve the problem of toxic noise which comes from the gas plant.

Mayor Makin was not interested in our situation. The EPA have never taken our plight seriously. Mr and Mrs Rogered's veracity has always been questioned.

In regard to the plight of Mr and Mrs Rogered, below is another history lesson. The first part of the lesson is an excerpt from a 2010 email Mr and Mrs Rogered sent to the EPA:

Dear XXX,
out of sheer desperation I send some figures from Woodside's own recordings in 2009. These recording were taken from near our backdoor

Woodside Readings from Sat 31 Jan 2009

LEQ average: 51.7dBA
L90 average: 40.8dBA

Sun 1 Feb:

LEQ average: 48.3dBA
L90: 40.8dBA

Of course, nothing has ever come of this or anything else

sincerely

Mr and Mrs Rogered

Note: the gas plant is only licensed to emit 35db of noise. Noise is not a linear measurment and the above readings are more than double the licence limit.

For those of you still with the Rogereds here is another historical footnote. It's an extract from The Age (February 2011):

VICTORIANS have lost confidence in the ability of the state's Environment Protection Authority to do its job, according to a highly critical internal review.
It found the EPA had become confused about its role as an environmental regulator, had lost focus on prosecuting businesses and become ''fractured, reactive and inconsistent''.

The internal investigation was ordered last year by EPA chief executive John Merritt after damning external reviews by the Victorian Ombudsman and Auditor-General.