Holdfast Bay Council joins the fight against oil and gas exploration in the Great Australian Bight
HOLDFAST Bay is joining the campaign against oil and gas exploration in the Great Australian Bight, amid concerns about its potential to devastate the marine environment.
HOLDFAST Bay is joining the campaign against oil and gas exploration in the Great Australian Bight, amid concerns about its potential to devastate the marine environment.
The council will write to the authority that regulates offshore petroleum activity, to call for a moratorium on the practice.
Cr Lynda Yates led the council’s move to lobby the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) for the change, saying any potential oil spill would badly affect tourism along the coastline, potentially including in Holdfast Bay.
She told last week’s meeting “the world is turning away from oil, gas and coal” to tackle climate change, and Australia should do the same.
“If we don’t want lots of offshore islands to sink, we should not be looking for new sources of oil and gas,” Cr Yates said.
Cr Yates said Kangaroo Island, Victor Harbor and Yankalilla councils had already written to NOPSEMA declaring their concern about oil exploration, as other companies flagged their interest in taking up licences dropped by BP.
Multinational energy corporation Chevron is planning to begin drilling wells in the Bight next year.
Cr Mikki Bouchee said while some thought drilling in the Bight was “not a local government issue”, the council had a responsibility to protect the coastline.
“There’s no point living in a fishbowl – we have to do everything we possibly can to protect our waters,” she said.
Cr Samuel Charlick said it was hypocritical to oppose drilling in the Bight but turn a blind eye to it elsewhere.
“I personally like oil because it gives me transport, plastics and everything else it brings,” he said.
“If we want it to be affordable, we need to be able to produce it.”
The council voted 6-5 to write to NOPSEMA.
Kangaroo Island mayor Peter Clements said his own colleagues had been voicing their concern about oil and gas exploration for years.
“Our community doesn’t have a position suggesting that there should be no oil drilling in the Bight, but the safety bar for such activity has got to demonstrate that there’ll never be an incident – effectively, that’s saying that we don’t want drilling,” he said.
Mr Clements said his council wanted measures in place to protect the environment, including an effective containment dome close by.
At the moment, he said, the nearest one was in Singapore.
“It could take weeks and even months to get it into position,” he said.
A spokesman for the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority said any potential moratorium was “a policy matter for government”.
“NOPSEMA is not involved in government policy decisions pertaining to whether fossil fuels should be exploited, the selection or release of areas for petroleum exploration and development or in the granting of petroleum titles,” he said.
“Chevron must go through a structured and robust regulatory process to demonstrate ... how they will manage the impacts and risks of their activity to levels that are acceptable and reduced to as low as reasonably practicable in order to protect the environment.”
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