“We know nothing about it; it’s something new that’s in the world, we’re talking about storing something below this ground that no-one knows about”
That’s Tony Ferraro who has run a dairy farm in the South West town of Yarloop since the 1970s.
He lives in the shadow of Alcoa’s alumina refinery battling, he says, its relentless emissions.
Now, Mr Ferraro has a new fight on his hands.
He is opposed to a plan to pump carbon dioxide emissions from big industries in the region into rock beneath his property as part of a process called geo-sequestration or carbon capture and storage.
“We have a potato grower who exports potatoes to Indonesia, we have a melon grower that sends melons to Dubai, Harvey Fresh, the company I supply, exports milk so it’s a major concern,” he said.
“If it was to get into our waterways, what will happen to all of it?
“The natural flow of all this water goes to the Harvey River which is a central river which flows to Mandurah or the Peel Estuary.”
Mr Ferraro’s property is one of dozens between Yarloop and Collie that the State Government wants to access to develop Western Australia’s first onshore carbon capture and storage project.
Under the plan, carbon dioxide from emissions would be captured before they’re released into the atmosphere and the CO2 would then be turned into liquid.
It would then be transported through a pipeline and pumped into the Lesueur rock formation and a saline aquifer about two to three kilometres below the earth’s surface and stored there permanently to help reduce pollution.
Farmers are not the only ones uneasy about the idea.
Greyhound trainer Frances Farrell moved to the region five years ago for the peace and quiet.
“I honestly thought the carbon tax was to get companies to clean up things,” she said.
“Not for the government to pump it into the ground out of sight out of mind, so no, I don’t want it on my property.
Ms Farrell owns seven acres of land and doesn’t grow local produce but she remains deeply concerned.
“I refused entry, I said no way,” she said.
“They didn’t have any answers, I got a list of questions, who knows what happens if it leaks into the groundwater.
“There’s a lot of cattle around here, there’s a lot of native life, there’s no answers, it’s just ‘it might never happen’, well might’s a big word.”
Legislation
Ms Farrell is one of many landowners who have refused access for testing.
The State Government has since moved to legislate the process by including it in the Petroleum and Geothermal Act of 1967 and the change is currently before Parliament.
The act classifies land below the earth’s surface as belonging to the government therefore removing a landowners ‘right of veto’ or ability to refuse access to land.
Landowners will be given 90 days to reach an agreement and if that doesn’t happen, the government can take the case to court.
Mr Ferraro is not happy with this.
“I’ve got Alcoa all around me, they pollute my skies, they’ve got caustic in the backyard and all the Government does is bend over backwards for these multinationals,” he said.
“Nothing for me, the farmer, I have no rights.”
The region’s local MP, Liberal Murray Cowper, is fighting the proposed changes.
“I actually believe this geo-sequestration legislation needs to be sent back and redrafted,” Mr Cowper said.
“What they’re trying to do is graft if you like or piggy back onto the back of some very strong legislation; that is the petroleum and geothermal legislation and I dont think it sits comfortably.”
The Mines Minister Bill Marmion says his colleague is simply confused about the changes and claims they actually pave the way for land access agreements to take place.
“All we’re doing with this act is making an amendment, so the same rights exist for geo-sequestration, that already exist for oil and gas,” he said.
“So the philosophy is the assets below the ground at depth, we’re talking 1.5 to two kilometres below the ground, belong to the people of Western Australia.
“It’s a philosophy that has served Western Australia very well in terms of our oil and gas industry; we’ve done very well and I think it’s a philosophy that could work quite well for geosequestration.”
Mr Cowper says he is not opposed to the technology itself but he is against the idea of trialling it within what he argues is WA’s premier food growing region.
“At this particular point in time, they’re not sure if the Lesueur Aquifer is suitable,” he said.
“It is seven times saltier than the sea.
“You’ve got a fresh water body up here, the Leederville, which is 350 parts per million which is good water; the water they use for the dairy farmers and the market gardeners.
“Now what they want to do is put CO2 into the ground and potentially push the salt water into the fresh water and there’s a danger there for the growers.”
Mr Cowper hasn’t had any support from his Liberal colleagues but has received the backing of Nationals MP Shane Love.
“It’s not in the interests of either the oil, gas or carbon capture technology [companies] for them to go into a community and be at loggerheads with that community,” Mr Love said.
“It’s much better if it can be done in a way that everybody in the community is on side, or at least the majority.”
Benefits
While it is clear the project faces many hurdles getting the local community on board, the project could help the state reduce its carbon emissions, particularly in the South West region where there are a number of heavy polluting industries.
Andrew Ross heads up the team of CSIRO researchers working with the government to shore up the viability of the project.
He says it will have huge benefits for the state.
“In the South West it will reduce those emissions potentially up to 30 per cent,” Dr Ross said.
“Across Western Australia it’s nine per cent of emissions potentially that can be reduced by the method.”
The researchers have carried out initial tests and drilling in the area, taking rock samples to determine whether they will be able to store CO2.
The federal government has committed $52 million in funding for the project, half of which has already been spent.
There have been Commonwealth budget cuts to the sector due to an earlier shift to an Emissions Trading Scheme, but the Government has promised the remaining funds won’t be at risk.
Dr Ross says the project is still being evaluated and far from reaching fruition.
“The area that’s currently identified is a very large area,” he said.
“The whole intent of the evaluation phase is to try and understand the whole of that area so that particular areas can then be selected from that large area.”
Despite this, landowners like Mr Ferraro are adamant carbon capture and storage should not be taking place under their prime farm land.
“It’s not just me the dairy farmer [that is concerned], most West Australians should be concerned,” he said.
“And, if this property rights amendment goes ahead and we lose the argument, people in the Mid West, North West, wherever, lower South West will all be in the same boat.”
