LAKES Oil NL has denied any interest in Coal Seam Gas in the Toongabbie-Cowwarr area despite allowances for it in a recent mining exploration licence application, declaring its main interest as clean brown coal.
Members of the Toongabbie community have begun a “Community over Mining” campaign outlining their concerns that CSG mining could be undertaken in Gippsland in the future.
The campaign can be found online at www.communityovermining.org and www.gippslandactiongroup.org
Concerns were raised following a mining exploration licence application lodged by Commonwealth Mining Pty Ltd, owned by Lakes Oil NL, which covers 148 square kilometres and is pending State government decision. The area includes farmland around Toongabbie and Cowwarr, along with a pocket of the Macalister Irrigation District.
However Lakes Oil NL (owner of Commonwealth Mining) executive chairman Rob Annells said the company was not interested in Coal Stream Gas, even though the application has allowances for it.
“The problem with Victoria, unlike other states, brown coal is classified as a mineral, not petroleum,” he said.
“Mineral (applications) carry everything from brown coal to CSG, it even carries Uranium rights, and I think it (CSG speculation) is very unfair because we’re not interested in CSG.”
Mr Annells said there was no evidence of coal bed methane in the area.
“Of any company, Lakes Oil has done so many drills in the area over time and there is no evidence of coal bed methane, it doesn’t exist, there is plenty of gas further south.”
Victorian Farmers Federation mining spokesman Alex Arbuthnot, who has met with Mr Annells to discuss the application, acknowledged it was clear that Lakes Oil NL’s main interest was brown coal.
“Rob Annells, I think he has said it publically, I am not interested in CSG, what we are interested in is brown coal,” Mr Arbuthnot said.
“And what we are seeing in a number of tenements, and this may be 10 years away, they do see the export of clean brown coal as a real option.
“If what the industry is saying, if what Annells is saying, it is highly unlikely to be CSG.”
Mr Arbuthnot said while he believed the mining and agricultural industries could co-exist, he recognised the importance of the Macalister Irrigation District as a food production hub.
“No-go zones I think are going to be a point of discussion, and I give as my example the MID,” Mr Arbuthnot said.
“I would think strategically for the state, it would be far more important to have it as a food growing area than to dig it up for coal.
“The question of no-go zones I think will certainly become part of the public debate nationally because there is no doubt food security is globally becoming a very important issue.
“We have a national food plan being developed, we have a state food plan which is being strategically being developed, and as chairman of Gippsland Agribusiness I am advocating and hope by this time next year we will have a Gippsland food plan.
“So we hope to highlight the very importance of this area for food production and not only domestically but internationally.”
Mr Arbuthnot said it was inevitable industry would become more interested in brown coal, and as a result farmers needed to be aware of their rights.
“Over the years I have worked persistently to strengthen our mining acts, to ensure that farmers have rights,” he said.
“We have also worked with the mining industry and developed information and guidelines, because there is a limit to how far Acts of Parliament can go.
“So for instance we have in our mining act, an economic clause that the land is worth more for agriculture than mining.”
Mr Arbuthnot said he would like to see the VFF run more information sessions on farmers rights.
The Department of Primary Industries will hold an information session on Coal Seam Gas at GippsTAFE Traralgon tomorrow from 2pm to 7pm.
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