Contact local Geelong and Bellarine candidates: Reject Viva’s dirty gas terminal in Corio Bay

Write to your local candidate

The state election is just around the corner! Tell all local election candidates to speak up on behalf of the Geelong community and reject Viva Energy’s proposed gas terminal

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Dear local candidates and MPs,

[Your personal message goes here]

I’m deeply concerned about Viva Energy’s plan to build a gas import terminal in Corio Bay, and to urge you to raise this issue within your party or directly with the Minister making the decision.

The local community has made it very clear that we do not want this project to proceed. Of more than 2041 individual submissions to the Environment Effects Statement hearings, an expert review found 99 percent were opposed, with only two in favour.

The list of groups who submitted against the proposal includes City of Greater Geelong, Borough of Queenscliffe, Labor Environment Action Network, Geelong Grammar School, GeelongPort, Australian Nursing & Midwifery Federation Victorian Branch, Norlane Community Initiatives, North Shore Residents Group, Environment Victoria, ACF Geelong, tourism business Sea All Dolphin Swims and Queenscliff Community Association.

I’d also like to draw your attention to some important facts raised during the Viva Energy Gas Terminal Inquiry and Advisory Committee hearings held this year:

Viva can’t get their gas-processing boat in time, so their project won’t address any short-term gas shortfall. European countries have snapped up all the existing gas-processing ships, likely requiring Viva to procure a new-build ship and pushing out the project timeline until 2026 or 2027 at the earliest.
This project will directly block Geelong’s potential for renewable energy jobs. Viva plans to use the same pier infrastructure that GeelongPort has earmarked for a renewable hydrogen hub (importing green ammonia). If Viva’s gas terminal goes ahead, the hydrogen hub can’t.
This project will be responsible for an enormous amount of climate pollution – more than eight million tonnes per year when the gas is burned in homes and businesses. That’s about 9 percent of Victoria’s annual emissions.
Viva’s gas plan is incompatible with Victoria’s climate targets and declining gas use. Victoria aims to cut emissions in half by 2030, and Labor has made an election commitment to reduce emissions by up to 80% by 2035. But Viva’s proposal assumes Victoria will keep burning gas at the current level until 2040, implying the gas industry will do nothing to cut emissions for 20 years. Approving this plan would undermine Victoria’s climate policies and send the wrong message to the market.
Viva’s proposal would threaten marine plants and animals in Corio Bay through extensive dredging, removing sea grasses, and discharging chlorinated water close to an internationally significant wetland for years to come.
Serious safety concerns were not adequately addressed through the EES hearings. Expert witnesses found deficiencies in the assessment of risk presented for the project including a lack of consideration of major accidents, navigational risks because of the shallow and narrow channel, as well as emergency responses and accidents at adjacent major hazard facilities impacting on the proposed terminal.

For these reasons, among others, I’m asking you to please represent the local community, and rule out any support for Viva’s gas import terminal if you win office.

Sincerely,

[Your name and postcode will be inserted here]

Viva Energy wants to build a massive gas terminal in Corio Bay, locking in a polluting fuel for decades, and making the climate crisis worse.

The Geelong community has opposed this through rallies, petitions and more than 2000 submissions to the Environment Effects Statement (EES) – but now we need to hammer home the point to local politicians!

We know the planning inquiry panel’s report has gone to the Minister, who will be making the decision soon. Now’s the time to call on local election candidates in Geelong, Lara, the Bellarine and the Surf Coast to stand up for their community and raise these serious environment and safety concerns within their party.

We’ve written a draft letter for you, but the most convincing message you can send is personal. So please add a few sentences at the start about your connection to Geelong and Corio Bay, and why you oppose Viva’s gas terminal plan. Please also write your own subject line.

Thank you for taking the time to write this letter – we know from conversations with local politicians that feedback from voters makes a big difference at election time.