Ferry fuel option rejected

The Fast Ferry Sunset Committee has rejected options which would see refuelling take place on the water at Ettalong or 55,000 litre fuel tanks placed under the Ettalong foreshore.
It unanimously endorsed refuelling in Sydney "on environmental grounds and because the facilities are already established there to service Sydney ferries and other watercraft".
The possibility of locating fuel tanks within the Ettalong club grounds was given a luke-warm response.
Any such option "would have to include the storage tanks to be underground in the car park areas of the club and the proposal would have to include a stage two vapour recovery system installed as mandatory," the committee decided.
The two Peninsula councillors present at the meeting, Cr Lynne Bockholt and Cr Judith Penton, are believed to have strongly supported the resolutions.
The sunset committee is made up of local residents, representatives of the Ettalong Ratepayers and Citizens Association and Gosford Councillors.
Cr Bockholt, who chairs the committee, said: "The committee has met on a number of occasions and has now completed the initial stage of the public consultation process.
"The next stage is for the applicant to present to Council and the committee information and reports covering matters such as traffic management, parking, environmental concerns, visual amenity and refuelling.
"This will then be placed on public exhibition to allow the wider community to make comment before the matter goes to Council officers for thorough investigation before going to Council for resolution," she said.