Final showdown for gas terminal plan

CRUCIAL hearings to decide the future of a proposed floating gas terminal at Geelong are under way.

An Inquiry and Advisory Committee (IAC) started deliberations on Monday this week to inform its advice to the state government on whether to approve the planned import and storage facility for Corio Bay.

The IAC is one of the final steps of an Environmental Effects Statement (EES) process that the state government ordered proponent Viva Energy to undertake for project approval.

Viva kicks off hearings with a 10-day submission that will call on more than 20 expert witnesses to argue for the project’s benefits and management of risks including environmental, cultural, amenity and safety.

Viva is arguing that its terminal would provide critical gas supply for Victoria ahead of a forecast shortage later this decade.

“It is not possible to flick a switch and go from fossil-based fuels economy to renewables and so reliable gas supply is important to support that renewable energy transition process,” Viva’s opening submission stated.

Stakeholder authorities and opponents will start their presentations from July 7, with a challenge to be spearheaded by Geelong Grammar School (GGS) with its four-day submission and GeelongPort (over three days).

The GGS expert witnesses will argue the terminal project would add to already excessive noise impacts for its nearby Corio campus, that Viva’s EES provides inadequate marine ecology impact assessment and the terminal poses a safety risk to the campus and its students.

GeelongPort’s evidence claims the EES is “materially deficient” and should not proceed as currently proposed, due to insufficient information around emergency management and its significant impacts for existing Port of Geelong operations.

GeelongPort has also flagged its own hydrogen hub idea for the same site, which it states would be impossible to proceed as planned if the gas terminal goes ahead.

A host of local environmental advocacy groups, community organisations and dozens of individual residents will also provide their views.

Hearings are online following a request from GGS that received endorsement from a majority of parties.

The inquiry also included a site visit to Viva’s Geelong Refinery last week.

The IAC anticipates hearings will end on August 5.

A six-week public consultation period for Viva’s EES earlier this year attracted more than 2,000 written submissions – almost all of which were in opposition.

The public inquiry arrives as concerns about an energy crisis mount among federal and state authorities, who have outlined a plan for new gas procurement and storage methods in response to the existing energy supply shortage.

New federal Environment Minister Chris Bowen has warned there is “no easy fix” to the present constraints, which he has blamed on international pressures related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and outages at domestic coal power stations.