22 Sep 2014
West Australian Newspapers Ltd has found that a Conservation Council of WA advertisement in the Geraldton Guardian on 11 July 2014, featured multiple false claims regarding risks associated with hydraulic fracturing, a process used to extract natural gas from various geological formations.
Following a formal complaint from APPEA, the Geraldton Guardian’s owner (West Australian Newspapers Ltd), last week formally ruled that statements made by the Conservation Council of WA (CCWA) were misleading and deceptive.
West Australian Newspapers Ltd’s decision can be found at this link.
The CCWA is not entitled to replace science with scaremongering.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time the CCWA has resorted to using dirty tricks.
Earlier this year, its director was caught using social media to blame the oil and gas industry for bushfires which were found to have been caused by fallen power poles.
Communities in Western Australia’s Mid-West have been misled and deserve an apology.
The oil and gas industry will continue to engage in open and honest dialogue with Western Australian communities wanting to know the facts about the industry’s operations.
It urges the CCWA to do the same.