FLINDERS MP Greg Hunt is urging “the community” to participate in the “feedback process” established by power supplier AGL which wants to moor a floating gas terminal at Crib Point.
Work has started on preparing the existing jetty at Crib Point for the more than 300 metre long floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) although no government approvals have yet been given.
The Port of Hastings Development Authority says it is undertaking “remediation works” on the jetty which are expected to be completed in January 2019.
“[Sylvia] Simons was informed that Greg understands AGL are still completing their feasibility study to identify the risks associated with the project and that Greg encourages the community to engage in AGL’s feedback process via Jay Gleeson of AGL,” his local media advisor Mathew Langdon told The News after it reported that Ms Simons was still awaiting a reply (“Jetty gets ready for gas” The News 15/5/18). The response from Mr Hunt’s office was made after the deadline for that edition of The News.
Ms Simons, of Crib Point, said she regarded Mr Hunt’s reply as containing “the standard responses and advised AGL still has some requirements to provide and no approvals have been granted at this stage either by government or council”.
In her original email to Mr Hunt Ms Simons said she was “extremely concerned” and “appalled at the possibility of the destruction of our area”.
“We are a [internationally recognised] Ramsar area and supposedly environmentally protected. Looking at the information that has been gathered [about AGL’s plans] it would seem this is not so,” Ms Simons stated.
“Apart from our wildlife, flora and fauna there would appear to be an extreme risk to the community from possible malfunction or a freak of nature that could cause an explosion, decimating the area, in the worst case scenario. “Notwithstanding this we are also a bushfire prone area. Our clean air could also be affected along with our quiet neighbourhood.”
Ms Simons is still awaiting replies from several state Labor MPs about the gas terminal.
First published in the Western Port News – 22 May 2018
