A simple thing you can do to help protect the Kimberley right now!
We need your urgent help to send a strong message to Premier Colin Barnett to protect the Kimberley; come along to the community Rally for the Kimberley on Nov 28.
The Kimberley region is internationally recognised for its unspoilt marine and coastal environments including islands, coral reefs, mangroves, rainforests, rangelands and rivers. Industrial developments like the gas hub threaten these marine, coastal and inland areas.
“One of our priorities is protection of the Kimberley which I think is WA’s greatest responsibility environmentally.”[Premier Colin Barnett quoted in The West Australian, 4 September 2010]
The Kimberley also has outstanding cultural values as a result of over 50,000 years of indigenous settlement. At least 36 local languages are spoken, and indigenous people in many areas retain significant environmental knowledge and land management skills.
The region’s ruggedness and isolation have protected it to some extent from human impact and as a result has outstanding natural values. But the unspoilt wilderness is currently under threat from large scale industrial development.
The Kimberley under threat
At the same time as the Kimberley’s extraordinary natural values are beginning to be recognised, its mineral resources are also attracting attention. Development proposals include two large LNG plants to process gas from the Browse Basin; two bauxite mines, coal mines, uranium mine, two ports and an alumina refinery; a zinc mine and smelter; and an iron ore mine on an island.
Each of these projects alone would have significant local environmental and social impacts, but together they add up to an industrialisation of the Kimberley that could destroy its natural values and have a severe impact on its society and economy.
A recent study of the natural values of northern Australia observed, the intact nature of the North provides a basis for much of the economic activity and the general quality of life for residents of the area. Most of the major industries – tourism, pastoralism, Indigenous economies – rely on productive, functioning and healthy natural ecosystems. This intact nature is currently at risk.
The most immediate threat at present is from the exploitation of the huge Browse Basin gas field. Recoverable reserves in the Browse Basin are estimated at more than 50 trillion cubic feet, or more than a third of Australia’s known offshore gas reserves. At present Woodside and Inpex are both in the advanced stages of planning LNG plants, Karoon Gas/ConocoPhillips and Shell are planning exploration drilling, and a number of other companies have exploration permits in the Browse Basin.
Exploitation of this gas field will bring with it major environmental impacts including:
Drilling in sensitive marine environments
Dredging and blasting of coral reefs and other sensitive marine environments for pipeline construction and construction of new ports
Offshore facilities with emissions including produced formation water (containing hydrocarbons and heavy metals), flared gas, and sewage from a workforce of hundreds
Over 10 million tonnes per annum of greenhouse gas emissions from the Inpex and Woodside LNG projects alone, representing 2% of Australia’s current estimated emissions
A huge increase in shipping movements potentially interfering with the migration and breeding of humpback whales and other marine life, and risking the introduction of marine invasive species
Lights at both offshore and onshore facilities affecting sea turtles