MANY may recall that during the Vasse by-election I put my credibility on the line by stating I would cross the floor to oppose “fracking” or any individual projects that would undermine the values of the area or where there is a risk to aquifers or health.
I hold the same view now, and this is the same position I have taken on other issues including supporting the Government’s decision to reject the Margaret River Coal Mine proposal, petitioning against the proposal to take 45 gigalitres of water from the Yarragadee for Perth and more recently appealing the decision with the EPA regarding the Yoongarillup Sand Mine.
Unlike Mr Murray and the Labor Party, who appear to have only recently discovered fracking and farmers' rights, my Liberal colleagues and I continue to address these and many other issues to ensure the protection and safety of our environmental, agricultural and community interests in the South West.
Vasse MP Libby Mettam
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MICK Murray is factually incorrect in some of the statements in his letter (the Mail, October 19).
A number of deep exploration wells drilled in the South West since the 1960s have shown that there are no potential gas bearing formations in the area other than the one that hosts the Whicher Range accumulation. Fracking the same formation at another location will fail just as it has at Whicher Range.
Mr Murray's comparison of fracking in WA to the situation in Queensland is not valid. Queensland and NSW are producing coal seam gas from numerous closely spaced shallow wells. The issues there are not fracking but the location of many wells over prime farming land and the disposal of the formation water which is withdrawn from the coal to allow gas to flow. WA does have a potential for shale gas, mainly in the Central West and the Kimberley. Production of shale gas does require hydraulic fracturing and in most cases horizontal drilling, but in contrast to coal seam gas the wells are deep and widely spaced. The Whicher Range accumulation is not shale gas.
A 225 page Legislative Council report entitled "Implications for Western Australia of Hydraulic Fracturing for Unconventional Gas" was released late last year. The Committee acknowledged the economic benefits that would accrue to WA from the production of unconventional gas.
John Geary
