	Updated: December 17, 2009
Regions: Western Australia Campaigns: Kimberley Northern Australia

Stop Ferguson's Kimberley timebomb

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On the 2nd December 2009 minister Fergusson set a two stage deadline for the companies involved (Shell, Chevron, BP, BHP, Woodside) to agree to a Kimberley hub site or lose their gas leases:

a 30 day deadline for joint venture partners to agree to Government conditions (expires 1 January 2010);

a 120 day deadline to agree to a LNG processing site (see below for more detail) (expires 1 April 2010).

Act now!

1. Sign online - send a message to State and Federal Government Ministers and the Browse joint venture partners

2. Join or donate to the Wilderness Society and support us in protecting the Kimberley’s special environment.

3. Volunteer

Right now, the Kimberley is under threat like never before. The Western Australian government, the Federal Resources Minister (Martin Ferguson) and the company Woodside have turned up the heat on the Kimberley.

They are recklessly pushing for a huge and polluting industrial site to be located at James Price Point on the Kimberley coast - despite there being technically and economically viable alternative options that would be less environmentally damaging.

The proposal for a fossil fuel (LNG) processing facility on the Kimberley coast at James Price Point to process offshore Browse Basin gas would have devastating environmental impacts. It also represents the thin edge of the wedge, opening the door for strip mining for bauxite on the Mitchell Plateau, alumina refineries and coal and uranium mining.

The Commonwealth and WA State governments are trying to threaten and bully reluctant oil and gas companies, Traditional Owners and the local Broome community to accept the Kimberly gas hub proposal.

: Map showing the location of James Price Point in relation to Broome and the Browse basin

This Ministerial deadline seeks to pre-empt:

the State and Commonwealth environmental assessment process,
the Federal government’s own heritage and marine protection processes,
Indigenous consent processes
the oil companies internal decision making process.

As we have seen with the Tasmanian pulpmill fiasco, when government ministers intervene to pre-empt and fast-track decision making processes, every one loses – including big corporations!

We have recently seen the dangers of the oil and gas industry in the form of a 10 week oil spill disaster offshore from the Kimberley – once again mishandled by Mr Ferguson. We cannot afford to risk bringing this polluting industry onshore to the sensitive Kimberley coast.

Decisions are being made right now that will determine the fate of the Kimberley: a bright future of sustainable jobs in local industries such as tourism, well managed fisheries and Indigenous land management, or a future of large scale polluting industry employing a fly in fly out workforce with profits going to big oil and gas companies.

You can join the thousands of people who are saying ‘No Gas on the Kimberley Coast’. Environment groups, Indigenous people, businesses and locals are working together to protect the Kimberley.

Read more: More background on the 120 day deadline

: The recent West Atlas oil spill in the Kimberley was Australia’s worst rig-based oil spill and possibly our worst oil spill ever.

On the 2nd of December 2010 Mining and Resources Minister Martin Fergusson announced in a joint press release with WA Mines and Petroleum Minister Norman Moore that the retention leases for Browse basin gas fields would only be renewed if some unusual conditions were met. The clause in the renewal basically says that the companies must accept a new timetable governing development of the Browse Basin gas fields within 30 days, and agree to an onshore processing site within 120 days.

The WA Premier Colin Barnett followed this announcement the next day by announcing an exact site at James Price Point for this development. The Premier had previously threatened compulsory acquisition of the James Price Point site if Indigenous Traditional Owners did not agree to the imposition of an industrial site on their land.

These pre-emptive actions:

Ignore the alternative options which make better environmental sense
Pre-empt the statutory environmental assessment process, opening the door for legal challenges even if approvals are eventually granted
Disregard opposition from the local, Australian and international community
Discount the International significance of one of the worlds last great natural landscapes
Threaten the endangered species and habitats of the Kimberley, including the breeding and calving area for the world’s largest population of Humpback whales
Disrespect Indigenous Traditional Owners opposed to the proposal, who have recently signed a declaration setting out their concerns about the gas proposal
Compromise the long term environmental social and economic future of the Kimberley, instead focusing on short term gain for big companies.