Outrage At Plan To Hunt For Oil Off Barrier Reef
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday January 18, 2001
A Perth company wants to explore for oil just 50 kilometres from the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.
The proposal, posted on the Federal Government's Environment Australia Web site in late December, has outraged environmental groups who have called on the Federal Government to immediately issue a statement saying it will not go ahead.
The TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company has put an application to the Government asking to explore an area between the Lihou Reef and Marion Reef off Townsville from May.
The Australian Conservation Foundation will write to the Prime Minister, Mr Howard, asking him to put a stop to the idea.
``We'd be urging [Environment Minister] Senator Hill to immediately reject the seismic program and for the Government to give a very firm and unequivocal commitment that no oil exploration is going to be allowed near the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area," the ACF's chief executive, Mr Don Henry, said yesterday.
Mr Henry said it was unacceptable to consider that oil rigs could spring up just 50 kilometres from the reef in the middle of cyclone country.
He also said air blasting would affect whales in the area.
The exploration, termed a ``seismic survey", will ``provide data used to evaluate the petroleum prospectivity of the area", according to the company's submission to the Government.
It will use an air gun fired from a ship to explore and map geology. Under this process air is released under water and the resultant sound waves are used to survey the area.
The submission says: ``The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area will not suffer deleterious impacts associated with the routine operations of the seismic survey. The 50 kilometre buffer zone is conservative and adequately protects the sensitive resources of the Great Barrier Reef and continental shelf areas."
It says green turtles likely to nest on beaches of the Lihou Reef will be well away from the survey area. It admits there are threatened species in the area, including great white sharks and humpback whales, but says they are in low numbers.
``The survey is expected to take 50 days and is anticipated to commence in May, 2001, contingent on suitable weather conditions," the submission says.
A spokeswoman for Senator Hill said last night that Environment Australia would advise the minister on the proposal by the end of the month. After that he would decide if there was a ``trigger" operated under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act, under which he could call a halt to the project if he wished.
A spokesman from TGS-NOPEC said last night the survey would be in deep water (500 metres to two kilometres) and the company was holding talks with State and Federal governments. It wanted to do the work because of Australian Geological Survey Organisation data from 1996 which showed there was a possibility of oil there.
``Australia's oil self-sufficiency will decline rapidly over the next few years and we believe the Townsville Trough represents the only major opportunity for significant new oil discoveries," he said.
© 2001 Sydney Morning Herald
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