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Wednesday 7 November 2018
5974 9000 or email: team@mpnews.com.au www.mpnews.com.au Community minded: Workers from PAME Engineering, Subsea 7 and Cooper Energy gather with community group representatives. Their donations will benefit a range of community groups. Picture: Garry Sissons
Digging deep for the community CRIB Point community groups have benefitted from the generosity of workers at three petroleum and mining engineering, pipe laying and gas exploration companies at Western Port. The groups, Crib Point CFA, Crib Point Junior football/Netball Club, Crib Point Community House and Crib Point Maritime Museum, received about $4500 each raised through raffles and matched dollar-for-dollar by corporate partners PAME Engineering, Subsea 7 and Cooper Energy. “We wanted to do something for the community,” PAME Engineering’s safety manager John Saxby said. The company fabricated 67 kilometres of gas pipeline for Subsea 7 and Cooper Energy. About 55 workers started work on the 1.5 kilometre long pipe stalks in early April and finished in September. Crib Point Community House coordinator Mary Budd said her share of the donations would help provide free activities in upcoming programs.
Hydrogen plant to get all clear Keith Platt keith@mpnews.com.au A PILOT plant at Hastings to turn hydrogen gas into liquid before being shipped to Japan is scheduled to be operating by 2020. The state government has effectively bypassed Mornington Peninsula Shire by signalling its intention to amend the planning scheme to allow the hydrogen plant to proceed. In April the state Labor government
and the federal Liberal National coalition each gave $50 million towards the $496 million project to produce hydrogen from brown coal in the Latrobe Valley (“Parties unite over power” The News 17/4/18). The gas to liquid plant will be built on “highly-suitable land” owned by BlueScope at Hastings, according to Hydrogen Engineering Australia (HEA), a consortium comprising Kawasaki Heavy Industries, J-POWER, Iwatani Corporation, Marubeni Corpo-
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ration, and Australian energy provider, AGL. AGL is currently locked in a bitter dispute with Western Port residents opposed to its plans for a floating gas terminal at Crib Point and a gas pipeline to Pakenham. The consortium behind the hydrogen fuel plant says extracting hydrogen for fuel from brown coal “is an exciting opportunity for Victoria and Japan to partner for mutual benefit and to work towards creating an environmentally
sustainable solution which will put Australia on the frontline of the changing face of clean energy provision here and around the world”. Mornington Peninsula Shire mayor Cr Bryan Payne last week said news of the government’s takeover of planning powers for the hydrogen project “sadly reflects on the state of planning in Victoria and raises issues of where public health and safety responsibility fits with government at both the federal and state level”.
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“A condition of any permit which is raced through like this because government is in caretaker mode, should carry an iron clad guarantee from the state and federal government that the community will be fully supported financially if any social or health matters arise from this project,” he said. Although the gas would be trucked to Hastings for the pilot plant, a pipeline around Wester Port was planned if a permanent project proved viable. Continued Page 10