Oil spills spell disaster for our natural assets

As the Gulf of Mexico oil spill finally comes to a stop in the US, here in Australia we are still coping with issues arising from our own oil and gas rig disaster off the pristine Kimberley Coast last year.

The Commission of Inquiry's report on the spill was handed to Resources Minister Martin Ferguson on June 18, but has not yet been made public. 

Both these disasters highlight problems associated with the petroleum industry's operations in sensitive marine environments.

Four hundred miles out in space, NASA's Aqua satellite has taken pictures of the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico caused by the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. The center of the oil slick is about even with the mouth of the Mississippi River, April 2010.

These 'accidents' are really just negligence

In both disasters the cement used in the drilling failed. Cementing for both wells was provided by the same US company - Halliburton.

Despite a 15-year history of failure, (this method was implicated in 46% of ‘blowouts’ in the US),  no international standard regulating the cementing process exists.

In Australia’s rig disaster, the pressure containment cap didn't meet the company's own safety standards, and a second pressure containment cap was left off.

'Cleanups' are not so clean

There is no 'cleanup' technology that will free the environment of oil. Although dispersants break up the surface slick, removing it from view, these strong chemicals are toxic to some marine organisms.

‘Cleanups’ are costly and largely unsuccessful, as the inhabitants along the US' Mississippi Delta are now discovering.

Valuable ecosystems

Economists value natural ecosystems for the goods and services they provide, as well as their employment and economic productivity using minimum asset value.

The Mississippi River Delta ecosystems provide at least $US12 - 47 billion in benefits to people every year and has an economic asset value of between $US330 billion to $US1.3 trillion (3.5% discount rate - see report).

Yet to be valued as an economic asset, the Kimberley has one of the most pristine, intact coastlines in the world and is a world-class, national natural asset.  

Dugong Bay, Kimberley coast

Conservation groups calling for change

The Wilderness Society is renewing its call (from last August) to the Federal Government to declare a moratorium on further approvals and expansion of the oil and gas industry in the Kimberley region until plans to establish marine sanctuaries across the North-west marine region are finalised and implemented.

On 8 June 2010, 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 deep water ocean sites and the polar regions.

Don’t let the government and international oil companies industrialise our Kimberley coast - email Julia Gillard today to ask her to stop the LNG gas hub at James Price Point and protect the Kimberley.

TAKE ACTION

Please email Prime Minister Julia Gillard to send a strong message about development of the petroleum industry off our pristine Kimberley coast.

Example letter:

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Dear Ms Gillard,

The two recent oil rig spills in the Gulf of Mexico and Timor Sea demonstrate that the petroleum industry cannot adequately prevent, and then address, oil spills in time to prevent ecological disasters.  The damage caused to the economic and ecological value of our natural assets is unacceptable.

The Kimberley coast marine environment is internationally recognised as one of the last great unspoiled regions in the world. Currently, less than 1% is protected in marine sanctuaries.

In the 1970s Australia said no to oil and gas mining on the Great Barrier Reef, and now it has excellent marine protection, attracting millions of people and dollars to the Queensland coast. The Kimberley, too, is an extraordinary marine environment and deserves similar significant protection.

I ask your Government to:

1. Declare a moratorium on expansion of the oil and gas industry until plans to establish marine sanctuaries across the North West Marine Bio-region are finalised and implemented

2. Create large, science-based, marine sanctuaries as part of the current North-West Marine Bio-regional planning process, and;

3. Rule out any LNG industrial site on the Kimberley coast

Yours sincerely,

[Your name here]

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