Banning oil & gas in sensitive areas is now a global call

Joint Media Release
The Wilderness Society WA Inc and Environs Kimberley
June 9th, 2010

On World Oceans Day, the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) called for a global ban on all oil and gas development in sensitive areas, including deepwater ocean sites and the polar regions - due to the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

This supports The Wilderness Society and Environs Kimberley’s call for a moratorium on all oil and gas development in the Kimberley, following Australia’s largest platform oil spill from the Montara rig in the Timor Sea, last August.

“These lessons learnt globally, must be applied at a local scale. We need to protect our unique marine life from oil and gas development”, said Jill StJohn, Marine Coordinator for The Wilderness Society.

Yet, Minister Ferguson released new areas for oil exploration off the Kimberley coast, last month. The Rowley Sub-Basin leases are side by side the only marine protected area in the Kimberley, diving mecca, The Rowley Shoals.

“Clearly the latest technology for oil and gas cannot protect our sensitive marine areas, the only thing that can keep them safe is not to have oil and gas there in the first place ” said Environs Kimberley Director Martin Pritchard.

“Woodside are undertaking seismic testing for oil and gas 40km from Broome right now and at the same time pregnant Humpback’s are arriving in their Kimberley birthing grounds and nurseries. Oil and gas exploration uses extremely loud noises that can harm whales and we’ve called on Woodside to cease testing.”

The Kimberley coast is internationally significant because it hasn’t been impacted by development and it has incredible natural values that are incompatible with polluting industries like oil and gas .”

“Oil spills can never really be ‘cleaned up’ and clearly stopping oil spills once they have occurred has been shown to take months”  said Jill StJohn, Marine coordinator for The Wilderness Society.

In a statement from the ruling body of the world’s oldest and largest conservation organization, IUCN says, “the rising demand for energy is leading us into more difficult environments, increasing the risk of costly accidents with a price that is too high both for human livelihoods and the natural systems which support them”.