bit of reading...between the lines, page-69

The real worry for MNM/Exergen K is that their big backers, Tata, Itochu, Sedgman, Theiss and Dale Elphinstone, have not yet paid to go on a Power Works tour of the LV and take photos of the hazelwood and loy yang info stands. When that happens you can be almost 100% sure you are on a winner!

Here is some new MNM info from VHM posted elsewhere and worth sharing with MNM'rs here. Not my own work -

"Any doubt about the pre-eminent position of MNM JV partner exergen in the Victorian Govt brown coal agenda are erased thansk to those ever inquisitive greens at crikey.com.au

log in for a free trial at Crikey and you will see this expose from 8 June 2012.

There is also a copy of a confidential email about the 'Tata Power visit' and how it all connects to exergen.

The timing of the Herald Sun article last week was done to prevent the Greens being able to leak the story first.

Governments only go to this kind of trouble is something is riding on it. Spinning the media cycle like this is a sure sign that the brown coal boom in Vic is for real, and set to develop fast.

http://www.crikey.com.au/2012/06/08/how-victoria-puts-you-through-the-foi-wringer/?wpmp_switcher=mobile

(you will have to free trial with Crikey to see this, and the TATA power emails...Gold)


'Friday, 8 June 2012

How Victoria puts you through the FoI wringer
by Mark Wakeham, campaigns director at Environment Victoria.

Environment Victoria made a freedom of information request on December 15 last year.

We sought documents relating to the state government’s proposed allocation of billions of tonnes of coal to private companies, in particular correspondence with a company called Exergen who are the most aggressive lobbyists for a new coal allocation (the last coal allocation failed dismally).

We also sought policy advice and correspondence between Energy Minister Michael O’Brien and Department of Primary Industries on decisions to make wind farms harder to build in Victoria and decisions to slash support for households and businesses who want to install solar power.

Having been through the wringer before on FoI requests in the past, I expected the government to drag its heels processing the request. Our lawyers at the Environment Defenders Office (EDO) warned us that FoI has been going from bad to worse in Victoria and that we were going to need to be patient. However nothing could prepare me for the tortuous process that we’ve been through so far and that is still not complete.

First, DPI failed to process our request in the mandatory 45-day limit, so with the assistance of the EDO we lodged an appeal at VCAT against its “deemed refusal” to make a decision. Then we entered into good-faith negotiations with the department to narrow our search.

Then, because a significant number of documents were involved, we agreed to their scheduled release, the Exergen correspondence and wind policy documents were to be released on Friday, June 1, and the coal allocation and solar documents on June 15.

So imagine my surprise on June 1 to see the front page of the Herald Sun plastered with a story about the report we’d requested, the day that we were due to receive the document.

Clearly, the Baillieu government had decided to get on the front foot by providing the story to a friendly outlet that a coal jobs bonanza awaits.

The Herald Sun went big on the story with a front page plus an editorial welcoming coal exports and claiming that “Victorians will be reassured by a project likely to lead to a surge in economic activity across the state”.

When I eventually got some of the documents at 2.30pm, 24 hours after the Herald Sun, it was clear that the journalist had only received one of the documents — the piece of economic analysis commissioned by Exergen to spruik its project and make the case for the Baillieu government to give it 1 billion tonnes of coal.

It seems that it didn’t get the email correspondence that highlighted that not only does Exergen want the state government to give it 1 billion tonnes of coal, it also wants Victorian taxpayers to pay for its new mine or power station, in the form of a grant from DPI.

So not only did O’Brien attempt to control the story, he also selectively released the facts. It’s astonishing and concerning that proper processes for the release of FoI documents are treated with such disdain by the Baillieu government.

To the Herald Sun’s journalist’s credit he did do a small follow-up story the next day when it was clear he had not got the whole story, though it hardly counterbalanced the previous day’s exuberance in the paper.

Most documents relevant to the FoI search were not actually released by the state government. Environment Victoria eventually received 19 out of 66 pages of relevant documents. None of the wind policy documents were released, which hardly inspires confidence in the accountability and transparency of the decision making process that has made it harder to build a wind farm than a coal-fired power station in Victoria.

A number of letters from Exergen to O’Brien were released, but no letters written by the minister saw the light of day.

These issues are clearly in the public interest. Surely Victorians have a right to access documents that will determine whether we either become an exporter of dirty brown coal to the world, or a major generator of wind power.

Residents of the Latrobe Valley have a right to know how many new coal mines are proposed for the valley and Western Port Bay communities should know what infrastructure and ports are proposed for their bay.

We will regroup with our lawyers and decide whether to appeal the process and decisions at VCAT in coming weeks.

However, Victorians with an interest in open, transparent and accountable decision making from their government should be worried, very worried.'

So the Greens are very worried about exergen it seems." ends...

and this

"if you click on the screen image of an email headed 'tata power visit' on the crikey site it takes you to all the other papers they received from the Vic Govt under FOI.

It is clear from the papers that Tata Power sent representatives to meet with the Victorian Govt and exergen in the first week of October 2011.

It is clear that the point of discussion was Tata's interest in investing in a project that will provide them with access to the BCE product they urgently need to keep the lights on in India.

After that meeting Exergen wrote to Vic Resources Minister O'Brien and invite the Vic Govt to visit Tata in India.

And, of course, in February 2012 Premier Baillieu led a super trade delegation to India.

Who to see in particular do ya think?

Especially when on his return in March 2012 Ted B was announcing a future 'brown coal pilbara'. Which makes you think that a deal was done in India with tata/exergen.

The papers concentrate on the LV as the site of the $50 million CHTD and DICE demo plants.

I have little doubt that if exergen get their coal allocation the southern part of the the S7 that the plan is to link that up with MNM's huge 569 sq km tenements that adjoin that area.

If that all comes off then the demo CHTD & DICE plants will probably go in the LV, and BM will be a separate export project if the LV demo succeeds. The site of the demo plant makes no difference to the timing of any full plant to go into BM. If the demo succeeds then work on a 12 million tpa chtd export project will start at BM.

Why else have MNM and exergen split the costs of JORCing up BM? If MNM had not been guarantees this outcome by exergen they would have been drilling the LV, not BM.

But as the export infrastructure is at BM now, it is a no brainer to assume the first exergen/tata chtd export plant is set to be built there.

there is simply no point building a billion dollar chtd plant in the LV BEFORE the BCE can be exported from that area.

The earliest export window for BCE from the LV is probably 2020.

If this all comes off (and it looks a done deal to me) then at some MNM's multi billion tonne brown coal position in the LV AND BM has to be re-rated to 10c+ per in ground tonne.

Assuming 2 billion tonnes at BM, and probably 5 times that at the LV, that is going to demand quite a change to the current $25 million MC of MNM." ends...

I agree with the above but am totally convinced BM will go first at a smaller scale to iron out bugs for the giant LV MNM/Exergen project.

Just in my opinion and DYOR of course

B Rubes