Still no certainty on fracking

The Tasmanian Greens today asked the Minister for Resources to confirm whether PetraGas intended to use the method of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) if they were successful in finding commercially viable quantities of shale oil or gas within their southern midlands tenement.

Greens Member for Lyons, Tim Morris, said that the public deserved to know whether or not this controversial practice was going to be utilised in light of the fact that the PetraGas lease covers 3868 square kilometres of the Southern Midlands.

“So far neither the Minister or PetraGas have been able to reassure the public that fracking would not take place if the company are successful in finding gas or oil deposits,” said Mr Morris.

“The Minister shirked giving a straight answer when I put it to him today.”

“Despite strong and growing community opposition, both Labor and the Liberals support this license and whatever negative impacts it may eventually impose upon property owners and the environment.”

“Locals are understandably anxious, there has been no community engagement and getting information on this project has proven to be difficult.”

“Fracking has a track record of polluting water supplies and disrupting farming operations in other parts of Australia, it is an extremely bad fit for the Tasmanian brand.”

“Tasmania can be proud of its status as a responsible global citizen, we almost entirely rely upon renewable energy, why we would want to extract fossil fuels at this stage in history makes no environmental and very little economic sense.”

“There are no guarantees that it will lead to any long-term local jobs and it could in fact upset the existing economy that some families and businesses have invested a lot of time and money into establishing,” Mr Morris said.
Tim Morris MP Greens Member for Lyons