Land owners want the facts on fracking, not the spin

The Tasmanian Greens today said that landholders in the Tasmanian Midlands were not being told all the facts about the possibility of shale oil and gas fracking in the region.

Greens Member for Lyons Tim Morris MP said that both Mineral Resources Tasmania and the Premier had recently made selective and potentially misleading statements about the potential for shale oil or gas fracking in the southern Midlands.

“Petragas itself has said that a shale oil project in the Tasmanian Midlands could include unconventional extraction techniques, known as fracking, if a commercial project goes ahead.”

“The company’s recent statement to the Australian Stock Exchange clearly indicates that the company is contemplating unconventional techniques.” [1]

“We already knew that the exploration work would not involve fracking in the first two years, but quite frankly that is a total red herring.”

“We also knew that the extraction techniques are different to those used for coal seam gas, but that’s also completely irrelevant. Nobody has said anything about coal seam gas.”

“If the resource proves commercially viable, and is ‘unconventional’ then the company itself has said that a commercial extraction project in the Midlands could involve fracking.”

“This fact appears to have been glossed over in recent statements of both the Premier and Mineral Resources Tasmania.”

“Nobody is scaremongering here, they are simply asking for landholders and the broader community to be given all the facts.”

“Mineral Resources Tasmania is supposed be an unbiased administrator of the state’s underground natural resources, and not a mouthpiece for the petrochemicals industry.”

[1] Link: ASX Release by Petratherm Limited (too tired to click on and look up the actual link then copy and paste!x)
Tim Morris MP Greens Member for Lyons