Resort wants gas

By Kath Gannaway
THE Edgewater Resort and Spa development could hold the key to getting natural gas to Warburton.
As the Warburton Advancement League (WAL) ramped up its campaign last week to have the natural gas pipeline extended from Millgrove, it became clear it was working to a deadline.
WAL secretary Sue Slusarek told the Mail that gas company Alinta was not budging on its position that extending the pipeline was just not viable.
However Ms Slusarek said recent discussions with Garry Crockett managing director of The Crockett Group behind Edgewater, indicated the resort’s use would be the equivalent of 200 household users.
She said this would bringing the town usage very close to the 1000 users WAL believed would meet Alinta’s requirements.
Mr Crockett confirmed to the Mail on Monday that while natural gas was a clear preference in both economic and environmental terms, they would need a commitment soon if they were to plan for gas use over electricity.
“It would be a major advantage for us to have natural gas but we are getting close to the stage where we have no choice.
“We have done all the design on the basis of electricity because we’ve been advised there is no likelihood of natural gas,” Mr Crockett said.
He said design work had been done on the basis of electricity with LPG to be used in the fireplaces to achieve an “open fire” atmosphere.
Plans are being finalised now for the location of the substation for the electric power.
“We are at a finely balanced stage right now and if there is going to be a resolution in terms of the provision of gas we would need to have some fairly clear guidance.”
Mr Crockett said changing plans, even now, would come at a substantial cost to the company.
“Having said that, if there was a chance of getting natural gas we would hold things on that basis and try to support the efforts being made,” he said.
“We would be prepared to do that in our best interest as well as in the community’s interest.”
Mr Crockett said it defied imagination that a solution could not be found to solve the geological barriers which Alinta says are the main barrier to constructing the pipeline.
“It seems short-sighted with a report out on emissions and talk of a 40 per cent increase in electricity costs, natural gas seems to be so much the logical alternative.”
It is a sentiment Ms Slusarek said had widespread support in Warburton.
She said 700 people had indicated their interest in connecting to natural gas and the potential use from Edgewater made the proposal very realistic.
In the future the Ythan Springs resort and the former Warburton Hospital building are also potential gas users.
Ms Slusarek said WAL had written to business owners, traders, government departments and government members as well as to the wider community in a renewed campaign to get what it believed was not a luxury but an entitlement.
A questionnaire will be sent out to residents by the end of this week.
“We need community support. We need people to write letters and send emails detailing how natural gas would benefit them and they (the letters) will then form part of the submission we are putting together,” Ms Slusarek said.
Questionnaires and letters can be sent to ‘Gas for Warburton’ PO Box 8, Warburton, 3799, or dropped in at IGA, Snowview Service Station or the Post Office. Emails can be sent to gaswarburton@bigpond.com .
“We aim to keep the momentum going until the gas is turned on,” Ms Slusarek said.