BY CAMERON POUSTIE
PERTH — In one of the most disappointing environmental decisions of recent years, the state government has given in-principle support to the construction of a 300-hectare gas processing facility on Barrow Island, a nationally significant A-class nature reserve.
State cabinet announced its decision on September 8, bowing to massive pressure from US multinational ChevronTexaco (acting on behalf of the Gorgon Joint Venture), which argued that the viability of the $11 billion project rested solely on its capacity to build facilities on an island that is home to 24 species and subspecies of terrestrial fauna found nowhere else in the world. ChevronTexaco's claims have not been supported by publicly available information.
Conservation Council co-ordinator Rachel Siewert said "proposing to put this development on Barrow Island flies in the face of clear opposition from both the Environmental Protection Authority and the Conservation Commission."
"Those key environmental authorities said that the thousands of personnel required to build this plant represented an unacceptable and unprecedented quarantine risk."
Amazingly, ChevronTexaco has claimed that its oil exploitation has actually improved the condition of the environment on Barrow Island, but the Council said the impact of drilling had not been independently studied.
"In any event, the proposed facility will increase the risk of invasion by weeds or pests by a factor of six", Siewert said. "Indeed, the EPA and Conservation Commission have described the risk of invasion as 'virtually certain'."
"Given that a quarantine breach as simple as a pair of black rats could devastate the island's ecosystems, this in-principle decision is totally unacceptable."
The council said that parts of Barrow Island provided a snapshot of how many parts of the Australian mainland were before European invasion.
The Gorgon project must yet obtain a host of environmental approvals. To counter those processes, the council has launched its "Rescue Barrow Island" campaign, producing leaflets and large, bright bumper stickers to help raise the profile of the island. More information can be obtained from <http://www.rescuebarrowisland.org.au>.
From Green Left Weekly, September 17, 2003.
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