Doctor Denis has a chance to do the right thing - please sign this petition and ask him to do so

Petition by Friends of the Earth Australia

Ted Baillieu's resignation presents the Coalition 

with the opportunity to dump the former Premier's 

regressive anti-wind farm laws (called VC82).

Research by Friends of the Earth estimates that the wind policy 

championed by Ted Baillieu has cost Victoria 

around $887 million  in lost or stalled investment.

Meanwhile, much of our best farmland is under exploration for coal or gas. 

Gippsland produces food worth $1.3 billion each year, 

yet the fossil fuel industry is hoping 

to greatly expand mining operations across this region.

The new Premier must show he is listening to 

community concerns about new coal and gas.

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To:  The Honourable Dr Denis Napthine, Premier of Victoria Let's get Victoria back on track: clean energy, protect our farms Congratulations on your appointment as Premier of Victoria. This gives the   Coalition the opportunity to dump the former Premiers regressive  anti-wind farm laws (VC82). Research by Friends of the Earth estimates that the wind policy championed  by Ted Baillieu has cost Victoria: • Around $887 million in lost or stalled investment. • 650 direct jobs lost or stalled in construction. • 54 on-going jobs in management of wind farms. • 1,408 indirectly associated (flow-on) jobs. South Australia has been the main beneficiary of VC82, with substantial   development of the wind sector in recent years. Job opportunities, investment,  and income for farmers and local Councils have moved west as a result of the  barriers that have been placed in the way of this clean energy source. Please commit to re-writing these laws and return balance to the planning system for renewable energy. Last year, the Coalition government acted to respond to community concerns about  the threat posed by new coal and gas operations across southern Victoria by implementing a moratorium on the process of Fracking in gas production. Victoria must learn from the example of NSW and Queensland, where on-shore   coal and gas is devastating rural communities. Please act to permanently protect  our precious farmland. I urge you to maintain the current moratorium on fracking, and extend it to any exploration activity for coal or gas. Please initiate, as a matter of urgency, a thorough investigation into the  likely impacts of this industry on: • water resources, • farmland and food security, • local communities and natural biodiversity, and • greenhouse emissions. Without this data it would be negligent to allow any further development of the fossil fuel industry in our state. Sincerely, [Your name]

Call to Country ... it's also a call to care for country

This has come in to-day from Lock The Gate Allicance....

Brigid -- Today we have launched our Call to Country. It's a call from the heart of this country, from us, the people who love it, to demand real action to restrict inappropriate coal and gas mining. Our new mapping shows that 437 million hectares of our land is covered by coal and gas licences or applications. That's more than half of Australia and an area 18 times the size of Great Britain. Even our greatest international tourist icons are not safe, with at least 11 of our 16 National Landscapes at threat. Today, our Call to Country will be plastered to the window or pinned to the door of almost every federal electorate in Australia. But this is just the beginning. We're asking you to take our Call To Country and meet with your Federal Member of Parliament. Our Federal politicians have shirked their responsibilities for too long - but they have the power to actand now they need to use it. Watch our Call to County video We are calling on our federal government to: 1. Put in place an urgent moratorium on coal seam gas and other unconventional gas mining.2. Create no-go zones to protect productive agricultural land, national tourism icons and all residential dwellings from coal and gas mining. 3. Strengthen the Federal environment laws to exclude coal and gas mining from important water sources, cultural heritage sites and sensitive environment areas. 4. Put in place national standards on coal and gas pollution and enforce compliance. 5. Stop using taxpayers' money to provide handouts to big coal and gas corporations and make the miners pay their fair share in taxes. 6. Reject current development proposals for coal ports, mega-mines, dams and unconventional gas wells in significant areas. 7. Conduct research into greenhouse gas emissions from mining and make sure they are properly accounted and fully paid for. 8. Hold a Royal Commission to investigate the management of coal and gas resources by all Australian governments. What you can do Call your Federal MP and arrange a meeting Talk to your friends and family about the campaign Share these images on Twitter using #calltocountry Tweet this, some ideas to share this campaign on Twitter Share these Call to Country images on Facebook Watch and share our Call to Country video Find your federal MP on Twitter or Facebook (or email) and share this campaign with them Join Lock the Gate and help us protect our land, water and future Thank you for being a part of this movement to protect our great country and its future.

Lock the Gate Alliance · PO Box 864, Chatswood, NSW 2057, Australia This email was sent to misseaglesnetwork@gmail.com. You can also keep up with Lock the Gate Alliance on Twitter or Facebook.

New ways of getting polluting coal to the surface

Have received this email from my good friend, environmentalist,  and Networker Denis Wilson who blogs magnificently at The Nature of Robertson

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It has long been understood that there are vast coal reserves in the Murray Darling Basin, (at least as far out as Mildura).

Thing is, those coal reserves have never been regarded as "viable" for mining.

Now someone is floating the idea of developing a 2nd generation Methane exploration system, based upon techniques seemingly proven in the USA.

This is NOT good news for these regions (if anything like the disruption which has occurred in QLD and northern NSW is any guide).

Be prepared to read into the fuller report (linked), to find out what it might mean for you - South Australia, Victoria (Gippsland, Otway as well as Murray Regions) and southern NSW.

Picture above is from here

'Second Generation' methane exploration - based on biologically-generated gas in relatively shallow, low-rank coals, and prompted by the phenomenal production from the Powder River Basin of the USA - is barely a year old in Australia. Within this timeframe, however, such exploration is already showing encouraging signs for commercial success, and ACM is at the forefront of this work following recent discoveries in NSW.

Tertiary coals of southeastern Australia, especially in the populous states of New South Wales and Victoria, constitute particularly attractive, shallow gas targets. Hosting enormous coal resources, these areas are only just beginning to receive attention.

Outside of the Gippsland Basin, the greatest potential for onshore early Tertiary coal in Australia probably lies in the Murray Basin of NSW, Victoria and South Australia. The Murray is a very large basin of about 300,000 km² (compared with some 74,000 km² for the Powder River Basin), comprising Tertiary and Cainozoic sediments. The eastern Murray Basin of NSW and northern Victoria with its extensive Tertiary coal development constitutes an important but until recently untested Powder River Basin analogue. Early work by ACM and an associated company has already defined a large area of gas-charged early Tertiary sediments in this basin, where the companies have more than 50,000 km² of contiguous tenure. 

Demonstrating that biogenic gas is not confined to younger coals, ACM has also discovered substantial volumes of biogenic methane from shallow Permian coal seam aquifers in its Gunnedah Basin tenure of northern NSW.

http://www.pesa.com.au/publications/pesa_news/oct_01/nsw_supp/acm.htm

Coincidentally, Somerton Energy has claimed various leases along the Victorian "Otway" coast and offshore regions, and in South Australia.
http://www.somertonenergy.com.au/index.htm

Can hardly say "cheers" can I?