As part of DMP’s commitment to engage with community stakeholders senior staff from the Petroleum and Environment Branches recently visited the Mid West towns of Mingenew and Port Denison.
| Date: | Tuesday, 06 October 2015 |
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As part of the Department of Mines and Petroleum’s (DMP) commitment to engage with community stakeholders senior staff from the Petroleum and Environment Branches recently visited the Mid West towns of Mingenew and Port Denison.
Staff held a stall at the two-day Mid West Expo held at Mingenew and a booth at the Irwin Shire Onshore Energy Community Information Day at Port Denison.
At Mingenew most of the community interest revolved around land access and compensation, environmental impacts to water, flora and fauna and what constitutes best practice regulation.
“DMP has attended the Mid West Expo for the past three years and we received positive feedback from those that attended the stall,” DMP Executive Director Petroleum Jeff Haworth said.
The department’s attendance at the Port Denison event followed a request from the shire to host a community information day that would be attended by relevant government agencies, industry groups and community organisations.
“There had been a number of enquiries from community members regarding news of a potential change in local gas activities and the shire decided to hold the information day to raise community awareness of future gas drilling operations,” Mr Haworth said.
The day was also attended by a number of petroleum companies, representatives from the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA), the Department of Water, CSIRO, the Conservation Council of WA, and a number of other conservation NGOs.
“The fact that the day was attended by such a diverse group allowed members of the public to be informed of a range of views and the ability to compare facts from various organisations and government experts,” Mr Haworth said.
“WA communities expect that government agencies that assess and regulate shale and tight gas do so with caution, rigour and transparency.”
As part of the approvals process, companies are legally required to formulate an environment plan that assesses the potential impacts on groundwater, as well as flora and fauna, and submit a list of all chemicals used, which are published on the DMP website.
“There is also a requirement for industry to undertake timely, open and ongoing engagement with all stakeholders throughout the life of a project,” Mr Haworth said.
Part of commitment to engage with community stakeholders
