A CO2CRC spokesperson told PNN's sister publication, EMN, yesterday that it had agreed not to discuss the progress of the preliminary monitoring program or drilling results until it had first informed the community and relevant stakeholders.

The spokesperson said the community consultation was in line with current standards for best practice, and that the first session had been well attended.

During the community consultation, CO2CRC hopes to establish a stakeholder group including local government, community representatives, contractors, landowners and regulators to deal with operational concerns relating to the day-to-day activities of the project.

The stakeholder group will be charged with dealing with potential issues including noise complaints, use of public roads and other project-related community impacts.

The project is scheduled to begin injecting CO2 for underground storage in the second half of 2007.

The gas injection is scheduled to continue up to two years, followed by another two years of monitoring at the site, which will be compared against the results of the baseline monitoring program to assess the efficiency of the pilot project.

The second community consultation will take place next Thursday (October 12) at Nirranda Hall, Great Ocean Road at 8pm.