Chamber welcomes carbon plan

The Collie Chamber of Commerce and Industry has applauded the move to investigate a carbon capture storage project in the region, despite outcry from environmentalists.

Carbon capture and storage involves extracting CO2 from industrial emissions, compressing the gas into a liquid form and pumping it deep into the ground for permanent storage.

Environmentalists believe the technology, which is touted to potentially lower South West carbon dioxide emissions by 30 per cent, is unproven.

The Federal Government is spending up to $120 million on prefeasibility work to assess the Collie project and three others in Australia.

Collie Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive officer Richard Jackson said further research into the application of the technology was a positive move.

‘‘I think it makes a lot of common sense — we are a coal producing area,’’ Mr Jackson said.

Mr Jackson said environmentalists were ‘‘scaremongering’’ about the possibility of leakage.

He said researchwould be extensive and thorough before the technology was applied in the South West.

Bunbury environmentalist John Vukovich attended workshops on Saturday about the project and said due to the lack of certainty about the outcome, his questions could not be answered.

‘‘There is no guarantee it is going to stay down there that long,’’ Mr Vukovich said.

‘‘All that money could be going into renewable energy.’’

There has been little proven success with the technology around the world, according to the South West Environment Centre.

‘‘They said they want this to be the project to prove it can work,’’ Mr Vukovich said.

‘‘I think everyone thinks it’s a gamble — it’s just desperate.’’

The short-listing of the Collie project has been welcomed by Mines and Petroleum Minister Norman Moore.

The Minister said the project, which had previously received State Government and industry funding,would analyse the suitability of locations to store carbon dioxide in the Southern Perth Basin between Bunbury and Mandurah.