No Gas Today... Diary of a
National Crisis
Karen Johnson, from Out of the Kaje #2 (October 1998)
On Friday 25th Septrmber 1998, there was an explosion at ESSO’s gas
processing plant in Gippsland. The resulting fire shut down the plant,
crippling the gas supply for virtually all of Victoria. This diary combines
the facts as reported in the media (newspapers, TV, radio) with my own
observations and experience of life without gas. It is not intended
to be a political statement or a casting-of-blame, but a simple piecing
together of events.
Friday
Dad started a few days leave today, so I took us all out for lunch. We
went to Yering Station, and had a lovely laid-back lunch in their
cafe. On the way home, we heard that there was a problem at the Gas plant
down in Gippsland. There’s been a fire of some sort, and the
main gas pipeline has had to be shut down for the time being. The only
gas left is what is in the pipes, so it’s being rationed. Once it’s gone,
it’s gone, so people have been asked to turn off their central heaters
and not to use gas stoves. Hot water services are OK for the time being,
but we all wash our hair just in case.
A few more details emerge on the evening news - there was a small explosion
near the control room, which set off a string of increasingly large explosions,
and started a massive fire. Seven workers were severely burned, and
two men are missing. The fire is probably going to have to burn itself
out, as it’s too dangerous to get close. They’re still worried that there
might be more explosions (and/or that the fire will spread to the other
two processing plants), so they’ve evacuated everyone in a 6km radius of
the plant.
I stayed at Rose’s tonight. When we came home after the MSFC meeting,
the girls had gone out and left the gas heater on. They hadn’t heard
anything about the crisis. When they came home and we told them about it,
they thought we were joking for quite a long time.
Saturday
I went into the city today. Melbourne Central was functioning pretty
much as usual, except that there were signs on all the take-away-food places
saying ‘Open with a limited range, due to gas restrictions’. The only Asian
food available in Daimaru was in the Indian section, and their sandwich
bar was closed until further notice. The Paul Bocuse bakery was operating
as normal, and it had a big sign on the counter telling everyone it was
fully electric. I bought a few croissants to take home, as bread might
be a bit hard to get hold of.
The fire’s still burning, but not as much. Almost every fireman in
the state is down in Gippsland. The rest of the plant was saved, but plant
No. 1 is a total write off. Current estimates say that it may take up to
12 weeks to repair the damage and get the gas flowing again. 12 weeks without
hot water! Thank goodness we have an electric oven, a microwave,
and most importantly a two element electric hotplate which we bought last
year to cook the Christmas pudding outside. Otherwise it would be salads
forever more.
Sunday
All the gas is gone now, and industry is shut down until further
notice. They had an announcement on the radio last night telling everyone
to go outside and turn their gas main right off, by turning the little
lever 90 degrees. Apparently they’re sending inspectors around first thing
this morning and anyone still drawing gas will be fined $500 on the spot.
They can do that because the government has declared a State Emergency.
Now the gas-free period is predicted to only be 1 week. In the meantime,
they’re trying to cobble into the New South Wales supply to provide gas
for Hospitals and Old People’s Homes.
Dad turned the hot water service right off yesterday morning, but surprisingly
the water was still slightly warm (much less than cold) this evening, so
we didn’t have to have a cold shower.
People were discussing their solutions to the crisis at Church this
morning. A few lucky households are all-electric so they can continue as
usual, but many people are even worse off than we are. The Kaye family
are entirely gas-driven, so they’re going down to their holiday house (with
tank gas) for the duration. Another family went to have the first
of many barbecues, but their gas bottle sputtered to a halt half-way through.
I’m not sure if they’ll be able to get it filled in the near future. Isn’t
cylinder gas a by-product of normal (pipe) gas production? I suppose that
gas cylinders or tankers could travel from interstate without too much
trouble.
Monday
One week, two weeks, they really don’t have a clue. Our good Premier is
making speeches about the crisis and ‘National Resolve’ left, right
and centre, but there isn’t actually anything he can do about it. The Salvos
and other aid agencies are being run off their feet by people who don’t
own any electrical appliances and who can’t afford to rush out and buy
them. The only electrical appliance we might have a problem with is the
kettle - it’s only a little old 5 cup version, and it’s not going to last
the distance. Mum went looking for an Urn yesterday, but (surprise, surprise)
there weren’t any left in the whole of Ringwood.
There were more announcements on the radio this afternoon - the Baker’s
Delight chain of bakeries is entirely electric, and they’re working overtime
to make more ordinary bread for people to buy; and the major supermarkets
are bringing bread and milk from interstate (without gas the pasteurisers
don’t work so all the Victorian milk has to be poured down the drain. What
a waste!) There might be shortages of other products in the near future,
but for the moment it’s business as usual, except for all the factories,
small business and other commercial operations relying on gas. There are
an awful lot of people out there being forced to take their annual leave
when they hadn’t planned to, but at least they’re getting paid.
At least we don’t have to worry about the electricity running dry as
well - they made an announcement that there is actually a large surplus,
because of all the factories etc. closing.
On the good news side, the fire is out, and the long arduous repair
job has been started. They’ve cut the lines between processing plant One
(where the fire was) and the other two, so now they’re trying to get them
to work by themselves. The second two plants can provide more than enough
gas for everyone, but there was only one control room and it’s kaput. It
seems like very poor design to me - it may have been the cheapest way to
build it, but wouldn’t it have made more sense to run the three plants
in parallell rather than inextricably tied together?
Tuesday
Beer is running out now. I’m not sure whether they’ve run out of bottles
to put it in, or if the brewing process relies on gas, but there’s only
a one week supply left in Victoria and they can’t make any more. I’m sure
it’s a tragedy for lovers of VB.
It’s back to a two week gas-free period now, and the Premier is promising
to consider very carefully who gets the gas first - residental consumers
or industry. No prizes for guessing which way he’ll jump - Industry is
losing mega-bucks over this, and they can sue. I’d think that this was
an election issue (the Federal election is on Saturday) but no, it’s just
considered a freak accident. At the moment, I’d vote for anyone who could
get me a guaranteed supply of hot water - ours is stony cold now, and I’m
facing my first cold shower.
Later - Been there, done that, and it wasn’t pleasant! I hope this
gas crisis doesn’t last long enough for me to get used to cold showers.
Wednesday
News Headlines today - they’ve upped the fines for illegally using gas
by a factor of ten. Now the maximum fine is $10,000 for a private household
and $100,000 for a business. I can see how some small business-owners might
be tempted, despite the fines, because they are really suffering. A lot
of restaurants, take-away food places, bread shops etc. are closed for
the duration, and many others are using makeshift arrangements to try to
get around the shortage, using urns, BBQs, camp ovens etc. One restaurant
blew sky high yesterday while the owners were trying to change a propane
gas cylinder, so not all of these ‘arrangements’ are really safe.
We went up Mount Dandenong this afternoon because a) it was a lovely
day, and b) they don’t have mains gas up there, so they can’t have run
out. Everything is open, but there were a few restrictions eg. We couldn’t
have chips with our pies, because the gas fryers were turned off, but we
could still have pies by themselves.
Thursday
They say no news is good news. If that’s true, then we must be doing
OK. Unfortunately, many people aren’t. More small businesses are closing
down, not because they rely on gas themselves, but because they get parts
or stock from factories that do... The experts are saying that this is
the worst economic crisis to hit Victoria since the Great Depression. The
big law firms have already launched a class action against ESSO on behalf
of all the people out of work etc. The politicians are calling them ‘vultures’
for not waiting until it was all over, but there is a real reason why they
mustn’t - as soon as the Victorian Parliament sits again (next week) they
are very likely to pass a law prohibiting class actions against ESSO,
along the lines of the laws against sueing your employers for negligence
which contributes to or causes serious injury/death, sueing for damages
to your property caused by official works (passed to stop people from claiming
damages after the Albert Park/Grand Prix development) etc.
In the meantime, aid agencies have called for the government to officially
recognise this as a disaster equivalent to fire/flood damage, and give
all the affected workers special consideration in terms of New Start (in
other words, waive the six month waiting period and give them some
money before their families are destitute). The Government has said no.
Unfortunately, there is a small group of people who are excluded from
taking part in the lawsuit. Because of the Worker’s Compensation law I
mentioned above, the workers who were injured in the fire, and the families
of the men who were killed outright, can’t sue. They just have to accept
what they are given, which is small compensation for the tragedy they’ve
suffered.
Friday
The last day before the election. In a peculiar coincidence, the government
has made two announcements. One, gas will hopefully be flowing again from
Monday evening, starting with businesses. Residential households will have
to wait another week for hot water if all goes well. Two, the Victorian
state government’s claims that this is not a National Disaster have been
overruled. The federal government announced a $1 000 000 aid package for
affected businesses (big and small), and anybody who has suffered financially
through the lack of gas. Full details will be published in the newspapers
tomorrow, despite protests that this is a blatant vote-grabbing attempt,
which should not be allowed to take place. In an attempt to defuse the
potential situation, Labour has promised that if it is elected tomorrow,
it will still honour the promises that the Liberals are making today.
At the MSFC tonight there were some interesting discussions centering
around the subject of gas - why this whole mess happened, and how it could
have been prevented (by duplicating services etc.) From there, the conversation
moved onto Election issues. I was drawn into a debate on the subject, but
it has no place here so I won’t repeat it.
Saturday
The Age this morning was full of letters about the gas crisis, and they
also had a fascinating (but very disturbing) article about the fires. No
speculation, extrapolation, or casting of blame, just a straightforward
factual reconstruction of Friday’s events. Unfortunately, it’s not complete
by any stretch of the imagination, because ESSO has banned their employees
from speaking to the media. Their excuse is that an official investigation
is underway, no-one really knows the whole story yet, they don’t want workers
spreading contradictory and not neccessarily factual stories etc.
Mum and Dad have gone to my cousin’s engagement party up in Bendigo.
Unfortunately, their motel doesn’t have any hot water, but as a consolation
they’re taking $10 off the bill. I’m not sure that makes up for it, but
it’s better than nothing. Mum says that if one more person says ‘cold showers
aren’t really that bad’ she’ll kill them - every time someone says it,
a closer investigation reveals that they have (guess what) an electric
hot-water service, so they haven’t had to have any! I washed my hair in
cold water for the second time this morning. I’m not going to be able to
force myself to do it more than once more, so we’d better get water soon.
That reminds me of a story I heard at the MSFC last night - somebody’s
relation is an electric hot-water-service-installer by trade, and he got
an emergency call on Friday night. What was so incredibly urgent? The local
brothel needed two electric hot-water-services so that they could continue
their business throughout the coming weeks!
Sunday
Today is FREEZING! I’ve had two jumpers on all morning, and I’m still cold.
Winter had seemed to be over, but now it’s back with a vengeance.
I shouldn’t really be complaining - we’ve been very lucky with the
weather this week. It’s been unseasonably warm (one day was actually over
30 in the city) so we haven’t missed the central heating. We could
have had real problems if this had happened three months ago rather than
now. As it is, the support groups for disabled people and Carers were really
worried that the elderly, frail and weak who were living at home would
all end up in hospital with gas-shortage-related injuries or illnesses
ranging from burns and scalds (from trying to handle kettles and saucepans
of boiling water) to malnutrition, and hypothermia from lack of heating.
Everyone’s been working overtime to try and avoid this, and it hasn’t been
a big problem, largely due to the good weather. What would happen if it
dragged on is another matter, but a resolution is expected by tomorrow
night.
Monday
After 11 gas-free days, it’s all over bar the shouting. Last night they
finally got gas plant number two up and running, so now there is a little
gas going into the system. They say that plant number three will follow
later this week, and then there’ll be plenty of gas for everyone (Cross
fingers, touch wood, breathe a quick prayer).
Now comes the crunch. Even though they have positive gas pressure,
we (private households) still can’t have any. The first gas has gone to
‘selected industries’, and they’re going to stagger the gas switch-on to
make sure that they don’t run out again. I’m not sure how they’re selecting
the industries, but I believe that they’re starting with the milk and bread
factories, and some other middle-sized consumers. The car factories
are still closed, because they use too much gas, and so are (presumably)
places like ACI (the glass factory). I also don’t know when the small businesses
eg.fish and chip shops etc. are going to get to switch on, but I hope it
will be soon - they’re the ones who have suffered most during the last
week. The really big companies may have been losing thousands of dollars
every day, but it won’t make much of a dent in their annual profits,
while a small family business which relies on having a certain amount of
cash-flow every week to pay off the mortgage may go to the wall.
They keep having announcements telling people NOT to switch on their
gas taps before they’re told to. It’s supposed to be dangerous to do it
yourself without detailed instructions (what can be so hard about turning
a valve anti-clockwise?) and there isn’t enough gas anyway. Just please,
please let it be soon!
Want to contact me? E-mail karenji@labyrinth.net.au