About 70 local residents from the region formed the Mount Gambier Community group and ‘greeted’ Tony Abbott with a visible, silent protest about the threat coal seam gas exploration and extraction posed to their livelihoods, the environment and the diverse economy that Tony Abbott said he fully supported!

A spokesperson for the Community group said in relation to the risk of pollution from fracking associated with coal seam gas extraction, “Our aquifers in the South East connect to the Blue Lake, we eat the food from the surrounding districts, we drink wine from these areas and we have the tourism that flows on from the entire South East.”

These comments at the protest were similar to those of the local Regional Development Australia local chairperson, Richard Vickery who said that compared with some other regions, “We (Limestone Coast) have a much more diverse economy due to our natural advantages with underground water and a very broad range of soil types and a quite predictable climate...”

Abbott Dodges The Issue, While SA Minister For Mining Companies Before Anything Else, Tom Koutsontonis Supports Fracking

When asked about his position on coal seam gas extraction and fracking in the Limestone Coast region, Abbott craftily deflected the question by saying it was a state government issue. To appease business interests in the region in wine, viticulture and agriculture, he said that any progression of coal seam gas should be carefully considered... or words to that effect.

Given the undeniable evidence that the concerns about coal seam gas and fracking in the Limestone Coast region (and indeed other regions such as the Hunter Valley)  extend across the whole class divide, from some of the richest winery owners to pensioners and low paid rural workers, you would expect the SA Government Minister Koutsontonis to reply with at least a measured response so as to not completely alienate himself from the majority of the Limestone Coast community.

However this was not to be. He just did the expected attack on Abbott (no problem with that) and then came in full support of the expansion of coal seam gas and fracking!

Meanwhile in NSW, the state Liberal Government was heading for election day in late March with a policy of a moratorium on coal seam gas! This policy was in coalition with the Greens, Indigenous groups and minor parties!

Coal Seam Gas Extraction By Fracking and Global Warming A Toxic Mix

Combine this outburst with the state Minister’s enthusiasm for turning South Australia in to a nuclear waste dump state and the alarm bells for the people of South Australia are starting to ring.

On the following Saturday, the Advertiser newspaper released a poll saying 70% of South Australians were against the nuclear option for the state’s future.

The next day, the Sunday Mail newspaper contained a report from Earth Hour co-authored by Professor David Karoly, an atmospheric scientist, which predicts that the South East Limestone Coast region will become even more in demand for viticulture due to the adverse impact of global warming on viticulture areas in the state in the Barossa Valley and Riverland.

If this is the case, creating a further risk to the area by pandering to the interests of coal seam gas companies like Beach Oil is very short sighted.

Minister Koutsontonis and his fellow Labor Government Ministers have the opportunity to re build South Australia as a sustainable, environmentally friendly economy based on renewable energy. South Australia is the driest state on the driest continent on Earth, a perfect opportunity to build an economy powered by the Sun’s energy and the the already proven energy initiatives in the state from wind farms.

The choice is stark and real.  

In the same week as Abbott visited Mount Gambier, the Lock The Gate Alliance web site reported that toxic chemicals - toluene, ethyl benzene and xylene from AGL’s fracking waste water had been found in the Hunter Valley waste water system.

The state government needs to heed the voice  of the communities such as the Limestone Coast Protection Alliance and the warnings from the Fukishima disaster about nuclear power by Japanese Professor Akiyama who said in commentary about SA ‘going nuclear’: “A nuclear accident anywhere is a nuclear accident everywhere...Japanese people had underestimated the risk” of nuclear power stations. He warned that when assessing the risks, “Think the unthinkable!"  

The same reasoning should apply with the risk assessment of coal seam gas and fracking in prime agricultural regions like the Limestone Coast

See also: http://www.protectlimestonecoast.org.au/