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Wednesday 18 December 2019
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Hooray for hydrogen, say governments
STREAMERS and cheers saw the launch in Japan last week of the hydrogen carrier Suiso Frontier, scheduled to arrive in Hastings sometime in 2021. The state and federal governments have each [put in $50 million to extract hydrogen gas from brown coal in the Latrobe Valley to be shipped to Japan as a “clean” fuel after being turned into liquid at Hastings. The greenhouse gases extracted from the coal during the initial pilot scheme will remain in Australia. Economic Development Minister Tim Pallass aid the ship “forms a critical part of the Andrews Labor government-supported Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) pilot project, the largest hydrogen demonstration project in the world. “The pilot has the potential to put Victoria at the forefront of the fast-growing hydrogen industry, expected to be worth $2.5 trillion globally by 2050,” Mr Pallas said. “HESC will create 400 jobs in the Latrobe Valley and Hastings regions across the life of the pilot – with thousands more expected should it progress to the commercial phase. “Hydrogen is considered the low-cost renewable fuel of the future and could help reduce carbon emissions in Australia and around the world.” “Ship another link in hydrogen ‘chain’” Page 7
Koalas need plan to survive Keith Platt keith@mpnews.com.au THE state government is being urged to protect wildlife on the Mornington Peninsula and throughout Victoria. Koalas top Mornington Peninsula Shire’s list of wildlife concerns and it wants the government to set up and finance a koala survival master plan for Victoria. The shire has asked the state’s other 78 municipalities to pressure the
government to “safeguard koalas and other threatened species from extinction”. It has also called for assurances from Energy, Environment and Climate Change Minister Lily D’Ambrosio that powerboats will continue to be banned on Devilbend Reservoir. Cr David Gill said the reservoir was a “key international classified biodiversity area” where conservation values had already been diminished
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by the introduction of trout and allowing kayaking. He said 50 wetland bird species – including blue-billed ducks, whitebellied sea eagles and migratory birds from the Northern Hemisphere – would be at risk “if the fishing lobby succeeds in making Devilbend another powerboat fishing ground”. “It is more important than ever that we show Victorians care about the protection of nature,” Victorian National Parks Association’s execu-
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tive director Matt Ruchel said when members of more than 40 community groups rallied outside state parliament on Thursday 28 November. “The Nature for Life Rally is to highlight that protecting Victoria’s nature is critical for the survival of our state’s precious wildlife, but also for all Victorians and our way of life. “Victoria’s nature is in rapid decline and increasingly threatened by climate change. We are heading for strife if we don’t act more decisively now.”
The shire’s move to protect koalas also followed a public meeting in July called by the Main Creek Catchment Landcare Group where Deakin University’s senior wildlife and conservation biology lecturer Dr Desley Whisson spoke about “Absent without leaf: koalas on the Mornington Peninsula”. Cr Gill said statistics showed a decline in koala populations on the peninsula, with “large decreases” at Merricks Beach, Balnarring and Somers. Continued Page 8