PARK WATCH Article September 2024 |

The Victorian Government recently approved a new gas extraction project close to the iconic Twelve Apostles

In June, the Allan Government green lit Beach Energy to drill and extract gas under the ocean close to the Twelve Apostles.

In 2021, then-Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio approved gas exploration under the National Parks Act. This upgraded extraction status allows Beach Energy to conduct ‘onshore to offshore directional drilling,’ which differs from traditional offshore drilling that accesses gas directly from the seabed.

Instead, this project taps into gas reservoirs from an onshore wellsite, with a well path running under Port Campbell National Park to an offshore reservoir and an underground pipeline leading to the Otway Gas Plant. Various groups and First Nations representatives have opposed this approval.

It’s disheartening to see the approval of new fossil fuel projects that contradict the Allan Government’s stated goals of mitigating climate change. This risky and controversial operation has now begun.