Members of the South East community are questioning the independence of a study into the social and environmental impact of the gas industry in the Otway Basin.
Early this month, the state government announced it had contributed $1 million to the study, which will be conducted by CSIRO’s Gas Industry Social and Environmental Research Alliance.
It will investigate key issues concerning communities within the Otway Basin.
Mineral Resources Minister Tom Koutsantonis says by working with the community, GISERA will be able to generate high quality scientific research to better inform the development of the SA Oil and Gas Strategy.
Beach Energy, which has drilled the Haselgrove-3 conventional well, south of Penola, says it welcomes the independent scientific study by Australia’s leading scientific organisation.
“Our position at Beach is that science always dictates our industry and how we operate,” a Beach spokesperson said.
Last year, Beach received a $6.89m Plan for Accelerating Exploration grant to drill a second conventional well.
But, Limestone Coast Protection Alliance chairperson Merilyn Paxton questions why another study is needed after a two year Parliamentary Inquiry, which included hundreds of submissions, found there was no social licence for gasfields in the SE.
“How can it (GISERA) be independent when it is funded by the mining industry?” she said. “They say they are undertaking a scientific study but they will never find against gas extraction.”
But CSIRO rejected speculation about the independence of GISERA and its ability to conduct impartial research, saying the Alliance had established processes to ensure the independence, transparency and integrity of all research undertaken.
These processes included a National Research Management Committee, which oversees the finance and completion of research projects, and Regional Research Advisory Committees, which review and approve research projects that address community concerns, issues and potential impacts.
CSIRO emphasised that the majority of RRAC members were independent stakeholders, with all decisions and discussions at RRAC meetings recorded in the meeting minutes and made available for public scrutiny on the GISERA website.
A SA RRAC will be established, and will include a representative from both the CSIRO and state government, as well as several independent community and academic members.
The Liberal Opposition and SA Best have both pledged a decade-long ban on unconventional gas in the Limestone Coast.
But Australian Conservatives MLC Rob Brokenshire, who sat on the Parliamentary Inquiry into Unconventional Gas in the SE, says it doesn’t go far enough, and an amendment to the Mining Act 1971 is needed.
“They can continue to frack at Moomba but there is no social licence in the SE and there won’t be one in the foreseeable future, because the agriculture is too valuable, the viticulture is too valuable and the tourism is too valuable,” he said.
“If you make a mistake and damage the sophisticated aquifers you can’t go back.”
LCPA are holding Meet the Candidates forums at Mount Gambier on Monday March 5 and Naracoorte on Tuesday March 6.
