CRAIG INGRAM MP - MEMBER FOR GIPPSLAND EAST
Issued: Monday 12 February 2007
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MEDIA
RELEASE FROM CRAIG INGRAM MP - MEMBER FOR GIPPSLAND EAST Issued: Monday 12 February 2007 |
The Independent Member for Gippsland East, Craig Ingram, has supported calls from water users that the oil and gas industry must address its impact on the Latrobe Aquifer.
The deep Latrobe Aquifer covers an area of 42,000 square km from the Latrobe Valley to east Gippsland and Bass Strait.
“The aquifer has dropped by about 50 metres over the past few years due to the extraction of water, oil and gas and the impact of the coalfields in the valley,” Mr Ingram said.
“Local farmers have watched as their once free-flowing bores have stoped flowing, forcing deeper wells to be sunk costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“The federal and state governments must get serious with the oil and gas industries to force them to recharge the aquifers with fresh water when they extract oil and gas from the wells.
“It is estimated that 95,000 mega-litres of water is lost every year from the Bass Strait field, dwarfing the water used out of the system by local irrigators and other users.
“When the state and federal governments are talking water issues that cross state and federal borders, this is one issue that should be high on the agenda, but it seems either too hard or politicly difficult.”
Mr Ingram said Australia was one of the few countries in the world which allows the oil and gas industry to have such a devastating impact on ground water without requiring recharge.
“Local farmers and water users are paying the price for governments failing to stand up to the heavyweights of the oil industry,” he said.
“It’s time some of the billions of dollars in profits and taxes collected from the oil and gas industry was returned back to Gippsland to fix this problem.
“The Latrobe Aquifer is a classic example of just how wasteful we are with water and how short-sighted and timid governments are of the oil industry,” Mr Ingram concluded.
