AFR pumps gas

It must a dream running an Australian lobby group. Just stick out a press release and so long as its anti-government it’ll get major headlines at the AFR:

The tougher restrictions on coal seam gas development proposed in NSW could drive up energy bills by more than $2 billion this decade because of looming supply shortages, the energy supply industry has warned.

This advice comes from the Energy Supply Association of Australia, a lobby group dedicated to promoting the interests of fixed energy generators. For a bit of fun I rang said lobby and asked where the $2 billion figure came from. It’s an “internal estimate”, apparently. From the confusion generated by this peremptory question, it was clear that nobody else in the media had bothered to call. 

To be clear, I don’t know if the $2 billion figure is a good estimate, nor in fact if it’s a worthwhile trade-off for the policy benefits. That’s the point. Neither does the AFR. But that hasn’t stopped the reporting of the press release as accepted truth, not to mention adding a little favourable editorialising in what is supposed to be a simple report:

…NSW relies on other states for 95 per cent of its gas requirements, but many of the existing contracts are due to expire in the next few years and may not be renewed as more gas is sucked north by the $60 billion of LNG export projects under construction in Queensland.

Developing the state’s own CSG resources is regarded as critical to head off shortages and try to limit price increases.

According to whom? And how about a quote from either the government or fracking expert on why the policy was installed?