The story Victoria to ban fracking: “The health and environmental risks. outweigh any potential benefits” first appeared on The Age.
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The legislation set to be introduced later this year would override the temporary ban on “unconventional gas exploration” in place since last year after an inquiry failed to reach a consensus on the issue.
In the NT, the Labor government ran on an election platform of putting in place an indefinite moratorium on fracking for shale gas amidst growing community concern about negative environmental and health impacts.
The government will also extend the current moratorium on onshore conventional gas drilling until mid-2020.
It has been on hold via a moratorium since 2012, and now a new law to be introduced into Victorian State Parliament later this year will bring an end to fracking and coal seam gas exploration and development in the state.
The Government said the decision, which responds to a parliamentary inquiry, acknowledged the risks involved outweighed any potential benefits.
But Mr Andrews said the decision was “just common sense”.
The legislation will also extend the moratorium on conventional onshore gas until 2020, but offshore gas exploration and development will continue.
“We won’t stop fighting until all onshore gas drilling is banned”, spokeswoman Ellen Sandell said. “It has been so heart-wrenching at times, when we thought the drill rigs were coming and there was nothing we could do”, she said.
However, the government has left open the possibility of an onshore “conventional” gas industry which did not use fracking, in future years. In the case of conventional gas, Victoria has had decades of safe local production.
“Activist fear campaigns can create confusion and uncertainty in the community but our political leaders have a responsibility to rise above such campaigns and support an honest, factual debate. We won’t put that at risk with fracking”, Andrews said. The study will be overseen by an expert panel including farmers, industry, business and community representatives.
“Our farmers produce some of the world’s cleanest and freshest food”.
“There has been a great deal of community concern and anxiety about onshore unconventional gas – this decision gets the balance right”, Minister for Resources Wade Noonan said.
A dairy farmer in the Victorian coastal town of Seaspray, Julie Boulton, said the threat of unconventional gas mining had been hanging over farmers’ heads for years.
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Conventional gas usually involves drilling directly into gas trapped in porous rocks, which is released without the need for high pressure pumping or fracking.
