The Wilderness Society answers the Great Australian Bight oil drilling questions

On Saturday, The Advertiser quizzed Norwegian oil company Equinor about its controversial plans to undertake exploratory oil drilling in the Great Australian Bight. Today, The Wilderness Society answers its own questions about the future of The Bight.

Whale man major event for web

On Saturday, The Advertiser published a Q&A with Norwegian oil company Equinor about its controversial plans to undertake exploratory oil drilling in the Great Australian Bight.

Today the Sunday Mail is publishing a Q and A with Peter Owen, the South Australian director of conservation group The Wilderness Society, which is a member of the Australian Bight Alliance.

He answers the essential questions.

SATURDAY: Equinor answers The Great Australian Bight questions

1. If Equinor’s exploration reveals significant oil reserves, what type of environmental restrictions should be in place?

A significant oil find that leads to the industrialisation of our Great Australian Bight for oil production would spell the end of this magnificent marine wilderness area. Although exploration drilling (as proposed by Equinor) is the riskiest for oil spills, turning The Bight into an oilfield could mean almost constant impacts to the marine ecosystem — various noise and pollution impacts from multiple point sources all at once — and in the middle of a globally significant whale nursery!

The cumulative impacts could never be sufficiently managed to prevent a fundamental change to this unique marine environment. Many wells and many operators would further increase the risks of catastrophic oil spills. Notto mention the impact on climate change.

The last thing we need to be doing right now is expanding the fossil fuel industry; we need to stop rapid climate change. Some places on Earth are just not appropriate to drill — and the Great Australian Bight whale nursery is definitely one of them. We need to permanently ban oil exploration and production in The Bight.

2. South Australia’s economy has lagged behind much of the country in recent decades — wouldn’t this be a good way to help drive the economy and jobs?

Equinor is a world leader in renewable technology, which could provide significantly more jobs and make SA the powerhouse of Australia. Why is Equinor imposing risky oil drilling plans on us when it has the technology to make Australia a renewable energy leader?

These jobs would be real, and be delivered relatively quickly. They would not be based on contributing to global emissions driving dangerous climate change. They would not be based on putting our marine life and the 10,000 current jobs in the tourism and fishing industries at risk.

3. We have offshore oil drilling in other parts of Australia — Bass Strait and Western Australia, for example — why has the opposition to Bight drilling been so strong?

The Fight for The Bight has captured people’s hearts and minds. Coastal communities in southern Australia cherish and rely on this pristine marine environment we are privileged enough to have on our doorstep.

We realise we are its protectors and last line of defence. Add to that, people everywhere know in their gut that climate change is upon us and we haven’t been doing what’s needed to protect our planet and our children. People know more fossil fuels just isn’t an option if we are to have any chance of a liveable climate into the future.

Australia’s major offshore oilfields in Bass Strait and the North-West Shelf are mostly in shallow waters less than 150m deep. Ultra-deepwater drilling is a relatively new, high-risk operation carried out mostly off the coast of Brazil and in the Gulf of Mexico, where it caused the world’s biggest oil spill accident, BP’s Deepwater Horizon tragedy in 2010, when 800 million litres of oil spewed into the gulf for 87 days. The Great Australian Bight waters are deeper, more treacherous and more remote than the Gulf of Mexico. Equinor wants to drill at 2250m depth, 750 metres deeper than where the Deepwater Horizon sank.

There is no established offshore oil and gas industry in South Australia to deal with a disaster that could hit the coast. More than 6800 boats were involved in the Gulf clean- up but the South Australian Oyster Growers Association says that SA and neighbouring states probably have only 20 vessels that could operate safely in the waters where Equinor plans to drill.

4. Do you acknowledge the need to find new oil and gas reserves in South Australia and Australia?

We not only don’t need more fossil fuels, we simply can’t afford to keep finding, trading and burning them. Australia is now considered the worst country in the world for action on climate, due to our gigantic fossil fuel export industry. Tragically, we are a leader in the export of climate change and extreme weather. We have no right to be so greedy, so irresponsible. We have a global responsibility to protect the Great Australian Bightand to help ensure a liveable climate for our children.

5. Equinor has said it won’t push through public opposition — do you have any idea how they would gauge the level of opposition and do you think those opposed to drilling are in the majority?

The Fight for The Bight is now one of the biggest environmental protests Australia has ever seen and is gaining traction around the world. How much opposition does Equinor want? People across southern Australia have been making their views clear for years.

Equinor had to have seen the opposition to its predecessor BP’s plans, opposition which is now growing exponentially. It beggars belief that a brand like Equinor would have taken BP’s discarded leases on when BP responsibly withdrew its Bight drilling plans.

To date, 15 local government councils have passed resolutions raising serious concern, something that is unheard of. Equinor needs to take note.

6. The map of potential spills that shows oils stretching from WA all the to northern NSW is alarming, but Equinor and their supporters say that this map is a composite of several worst-case scenarios and very unlikely to occur. Are green groups stirring up fear by disseminating that map?

The maps circulating show where impacts can occur depending on ocean and atmospheric conditions. Should you not show a map of where an oil spill could hit?

Surely the people having such risks imposed upon them deserve to know. If the oil industry don’t like the maps, then perhaps they should drop their plans to drill in the deep, treacherous and remote waters of the Great Australian Bight. There may be other places in the world where the size of the area that could be impacted would be smaller — places that have don’t have extreme conditions like our Bight.

When the Wilderness Society released our map of the oil spill modelling we commissioned because oil companies would not release theirs, we took pains to say that the map showed which areas could be at risk, depending on the volatile currents of The Bight. We even showed the probability of a spill impacting the Australian coast.

7. If there was a spill, how would the topography and coastline of The Bight impact any potential clean up effort?

The Bight’s rugged coastline and treacherous waters would make a clean-up literally impossible. BP admitted in their initial drilling application that booms would be completely ineffective on the coast of Kangaroo Island and other areas.

The Bunda Cliffs of the Nullarbor that face The Bight whale nursery are the longest line of sea cliffs in the world. The bottom of the 60-metre-high cliffs are completely inaccessible from the land.

There is no established offshore oil and gas industry in South Australia to deal with a disaster that could hit our coast. More than 6800 boats were involved in trying to clean up the Gulf of Mexico disaster in 2010.

The South Australian Oyster Growers Association says that SA and neighbouring states probably have only 20 vessels that could operate safely in the waters where Equinor plans to drill.

8. Recently large areas of The Bight have been turned over to marine parks in

order to protect marine life, including the iconic southern right whales. Is there some hypocrisy in on one hand acknowledging that The Bight is an area worth preserving, then on the other allowing oil exploration and drilling?

It’s completely irresponsible to allow oil drilling in a pristine marine environment, let alone within the Great Australian Bight Marine Reserve. Any risk, any at all, of an oil spill near our globally significant marine sanctuaries, set aside to protect endangered animals and a whale nursery, is totally unacceptable.

The Great Australian Bight is a unique wilderness environment, with 85 per cent of its marine species found only in these waters. This means an oil spill disaster could be an extinction event.

The Bight is a haven for 36 species of whales and dolphins, including the world’s most important nursery for the southern right whale.

9. Both BP and Chevron have walked away from plans to drill in The Bight — why has Equinor stuck with their plan?

Equinor appear to be showing a complete disregard for the Australian community’s wishes. Are they oblivious to the 15 local government councils, environment groups, Traditional Owners and the unprecedented size of community opposition? This is a question for Equinor.

10. In the event of a spill, what is your understanding of how long that leaking well would take to be capped?

It took 87 days to stop the Deepwater Horizon well that spewed 800 million litres of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Clearly, they didn’t think it would take that long. Any statements made by an oil company as to how quickly they can successfully cap a well should be taken with more than a grain of salt. History shows things can and do go wrong. The Great Australian Bight waters are deeper, more treacherous and more remote than the Gulf of Mexico. Equinor wants to drill at 2250ms depth, 750m deeper than where the Deepwater Horizon sank in 2010. It could take longer, we simply don’t know.

Ultra-deepwater drilling is a relatively new, high-risk operation carried out mostly off the coast of Brazil and in the Gulf of Mexico, and we saw what happened there.

11. Is seismic testing a concern, and why?

Seismic testing is deadly for marine life and can impact all levels of the food chain from the very base, from killing zooplankton more than a kilometre away, to deafening whales. It can kill scallops and impacts the immune systems of lobsters.

Seismic testing can have a massive impact on whales and other marine life, with the deafening noise of sonic cannons being able to penetrate hundreds of kilometres into

the seabed in thousands of metres of water and carrying on for months on end. It has led to hearing loss in whales, which sometimes can’t hear each other above the extreme noise, and subsequent strandings.

12. With renewables becoming more popular and more accessible, do we actually need to mine for more oil?

No, and we certainly don’t need to be carrying out risky deep sea oil drilling in the Great Australian Bight whale nursery. This is the height of irresponsibility.

13. Do you think oil drilling will tarnish SA’s clean and green reputation?

Without a doubt. South Australia’s clean and green reputation is priceless and something that we must protect. Our tourism and fishing industries contribute well over $1 billion annually to our economy and employ more than 10,000 full time people.

Equinor’s proposal places all of this at risk for the sake of predominantly off shore oil jobs (and not many at that) and off shore profits.

14. What would actually happen to any oil mined in The Bight given that it is unlikely that it would be refined in Australia?

It would be sold overseas to the highest bidder and ultimately burnt, adding to the greenhouse gases that are radically changing our climate. Australia is experiencing the devastating impacts of extreme weather events right now. We must stop the expansion of the fossil fuel (coal, oil and gas) industry immediately to have any chance of providing our children with a liveable climate.

This has nothing to do with energy security as some would have us believe.

15. Given the number of drills and rigs world wide, including in some of the most sensitive areas, how do you assess the environmental performance of these operations.

Australia’s major offshore oilfields in Bass Strait and the North-West Shelf are mostly in shallow waters less than 150 metres deep.

Ultra-deepwater drilling is a relatively new, high-risk operation carried out mostly off the coast of Brazil and in the Gulf of Mexico, where it caused the world’s biggest oil spill accident, BP’s Deepwater Horizon tragedy in 2010, when 800 million litres of oil spewed into the gulf for 87 days. The Great Australian Bight waters are deeper, more treacherous and more remote thanthe Gulf of Mexico. Equinor wants to drill at 2250m depth, 750m deeper than where the Deepwater Horizon sank.

16. Groups like the Wilderness Society and Greenpeace are sometimes accused of opposition for opposition’s sake — is there any level of oil exploration and drilling in The Bight that you would be comfortable with?

I can assure you we don’t do this work for fun. Globally, we are now on the verge of ecosystem collapse, animals and plants are going extinct. We are facing extreme weather events that are creating chaos. We need to act. In this critical context there is no level of exploration or drilling in The Bight that we, or anyone else, should be comfortable with. It is the height of irresponsibility. We can’t allow a pristine marine environment (our food bowl) and a liveable climate to be put at risk.

17. How do you believe the issue will play out in the federal sphere. What do you want to see from both the prime minister and opposition leader.

It’s time the Coalition and the Labor Party started listening to and representing the interests of the Australian people.

They both need to follow the lead of the 15 local government councils, the Greens, the Centre Alliance and other key independents and stand up for our Bight and a liveable climate. They both need to get serious about climate change and bring an end to the disturbing influence of the fossil fuel industry inside their ranks. No political party can claim to have a serious climate policy if it won’t rule out the further expansion of coal, oil and gas.

We need a commitment to permanently protect the Great Australian Bight from the fossil fuel industry.

18. Adani, the Murray, climate change and The Bight — are we seeing a change in consciousness in Australia regarding environmental issues?

It’s hard for anyone to ignore the environmental crisis in Australia right now. The Great Barrier Reef and the Murray Darling Basin are dying. The country is ravaged by drought, bushfires and extreme weather events. Our forests are being destroyed and a horrifying number of our unique native animals and plants are threatened with extinction across the country.

The status quo is no longer viable, change is happening quickly. Australian’s expect Government’s to act responsibly, in our and our children’s interests. We have a global responsibility to stop the expansion of the fossil fuel industry. We need new environment laws that work and an independent watchdog to enforce those laws before it is too late.