Central Coast gas drilling cancelled, claim Labor federal election candidates Local News 2 Aug 10 @ 09:23am by Staff Writer Gas exploration off the Central Coast may be dead in the water. Labor candidates for Robertson and Dobell Deborah O?Neill and Craig Thomson have both claimed victory in stopping the drilling .
However the main companies behind the project have not yet released any official public statement confirming that they have pulled out of exploring the zone, known as PEP 11.
?This is a huge win for the people of the Central Coast who have stopped Advent Energy?s plans for offshore drilling off our coast,? Ms O?Neill said.
?I have been opposed to this plan from day one but we couldn?t have done it without support from the local community.
?Several hundred residents joined the campaign and signed my petition to stop off-shore drilling on the Central Coast.?
Mr Thomson, the member for Dobell, said the news was a huge relief for local residents.
?We?ve fought this proposal tooth and nail and it just goes to show a little bit of people power goes a long way.
?I don?t support any form of off shore drilling on the Central Coast, or any other activity that puts our stunning coastline under threat.?
?I am delighted that the company has listened and withdrawn its application.?
However, Liberal candidate for Dobell, Darren Jameson labelled the announcement by Ms O?Neill and Mr Thomson as ?more spin?.
?This appears to me to an electoral fix,? Mr Jameson said.
``Labor cannot be trusted and if they can?t be trusted on this issue, than how can they be trusted to represent our electorates.
?The fact is Labor candidates do not make company announcements, and as of last week, on July 27, on the Australian Stock Exchange website, the company involved in the drilling still indicated that the drilling would be going ahead at some time in the fourth quarter.?
Greens candidate, Peter Freewater said he believed the withdrawl of the application was an ?election stunt?.
Mr Freewater said that while the announcement was fantastic news, he was cynical about the timing.
?I think this will all come back after next year?s State Election,? Mr Freewater said.
?We?ve got an energy hungry government on both sides who are after out mineral and gas resources and I just hope this doesn?t emerge again after the election.?
As of 9am today neither of the two companies behind the drilling had anything on their company news webites indicating they had abandoned the project.
Perth-based Advent Energy holds a 25 per cent stake in the PEP 11 exploration site along with Sydney-based Bounty Oil and Gas NL which holds the remaining 75 per cent.
As late as last Tuesday, July 27, Bounty Oil, a publicly-listed company, had told the Australian Stock Exchange that drilling preparations for the offshore Sydney Basin were going ahead. Advent Energy is not a publicly-listed company.
But Bounty told the ASX they anticipated ?commencing drilling in PEP11, early in the fourth quarter of 2010.?
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