State must crack down on Chevron’s toxic soil use in WA, say advocates

The WA government’s new move to crack down on Chevron’s chemical controls in the state’s north-west goes nowhere near far enough, say environmental advocates.

At Barrow Island, off the Pilbara coast, threatened species cohabit with the US gas giant’s Gorgon export project.

Barrow Island inhabitants include small kangaroos, big perentie lizards, turtles and many native fauna species eradicated from the mainland.Credit: Bloomberg

The Department of Water and Environment Regulation has known about Chevron’s use of soil containing toxic ‘forever chemical’ PFAS there for five years but has only now moved to address it.

The Conservation Council of WA has appealed the department’s move to place new licence restrictions on the project, saying it must stop Chevron using the stockpiled soil.

They say the new controls only retrospectively measure contamination rather than prevent it, impose no penalty on Chevron for polluting the island, don’t ask it to clean up and don’t ask it to measure any impacts on marine life.

The new controls allow Chevron to continue using the soil with a better testing regime, and allow it to dispose of contaminated water to deep wells despite “significant” risks to rare species living in the aquifer beneath the plant.

The company has since 2010 kept a stockpile of crushed and blended material from first the construction of Gorgon, adding to it over the years following various works on the site, which now measures 243,000 cubic metres, which CCWA estimates equals more than 7300 standard shipping containers, or 97 Olympic swimming pools.

In 2020 Chevron notified the department water mixed with PFAS-containing firefighting foam had entered the environment via stormwater drainage.

In 2021 it first tested the soil stockpile and identified PFAS.

In 2022 Chevron tested and detected PFAS in gas plant bores after it again entered the environment via stormwater drainage.

There appeared to be a leak in the liner of a holding pond, which Chevron then addressed.

The Gorgon Project at Barrow Island.Credit: Photographer: Lisa Maree Williams/Bloomberg

But it again in 2024 advised the department of low levels of PFAS, as well as mercury, in stormwater drains discharged to the land.

Throughout these investigations it continued to use the material as fill to complete works at seven locations on the island.

Testing of the soil stockpile detected PFAS compound PFOS in 15 per cent of samples. All concentrations significantly exceeded the guideline deemed to provide 99 per cent protection of water-dwelling species.

A Chevron spokesman said given its historical use in firefighting foam, management of PFAS was a challenge that many organisations, companies and governments were dealing with.

The Department of Water and Environment Regulation has only now amended Chevron’s licence to address the situation.

Its report considered the soil stockpile “one likely source” of the water contamination.

It orders Chevron to submit a new environmental protection plan and waste management plan, and says federal controls should be reviewed given the “high risk” of impacts to the federally listed protected species in play.

It is still assessing the site as a potential official contaminated site after beginning this process in 2022.

“That groundwater supports subterranean fauna of high conservation significance … if PFOS leaches into the groundwater, it could cause significant habitat degradation, adversely affecting stygofauna health and potentially proving toxic,” the regulator wrote, adding that the likelihood of this was “probable”.

A flatback turtle hatchling on a WA beach.

“The consequence of PFAS contamination of groundwater … is major due to the known leachability of the stockpiled soil, conservation significance of the subterranean fauna, Barrow Island being classed a Class A nature reserve and the persistence of PFAS within the environment.”

It said there were currently no barriers to prevent infiltration, stormwater runoff from the stockpile was leaching PFAS and polluting the drainage system and environment.

The regulator’s report said the volume of material and isolated location of Barrow Island made removal “impracticable.” Neither the department nor Chevron answered questions about whether removal had been investigated or costed.

They also considered there was a high risk that there were currently unknown and uncontrolled sources of PFAS in uninvestigated areas on the premises.

“It is crucial to identify all areas where potentially PFAS-containing soil has been utilised on the premises,” the department’s officer wrote.

The new conditions require Chevron to prepare new management and control plans by May 24, to test the stockpiled soil before using it or moving it, to maintain a register to document the origin, destination and volume of all soil and fill materials to trace their movement “ensuring accountability and providing an audit trail that can be referred to in the event of any future contamination concerns.”

Various other conditions for testing and management of water were also recommended.

It acknowledged that the new conditions imposed did “not decrease the current risk PFAS poses to [wildlife]” but were aimed at “reducing or managing the ongoing risks”.

The Conservation Council of WA has lodged an appeal against the new conditions.

It says they focus on monitoring and reporting, not prevention or clean-up action, and the stockpiled soil should not be used for activities around the island.

It says there is an increasing body of research demonstrating PFAS can impact numerous aspects of wild creatures’ health, especially concerning given its ability to accumulate in bodies and increase in concentration as it moves up the food chain, a major route of exposure for turtles.

“It can be maternally transferred to eggs at levels which are detrimental to birds,” policy and research manager Dr Kelly Duckworth said.

“There are mounting concerns about the risks of immunosuppression, developmental toxicity, and reduced hatching rates.

“Chevron ought to have known that use of PFAS contaminated soils elsewhere on the island would result in the spread of contamination, potentially causing serious environmental harm.”

CCWA says the “obvious” control for the risk contaminated water poses to the aquifer and its stygofauna is to stop allowing Chevron to inject it into deep wells that could fail.

It wants the use of the stockpile to immediately cease, further controls to address further leachate from it, for its eventual removal from the island, for clean-up activities, and for Chevron to fund a PFAS turtle impact monitoring program.

“Chevron is in a privileged position to be operating its facility from this Class A Reserve,” Duckworth said.

A DWER spokesperson said the Office of the Appeals Convenor was investigating the appeal and would report to the minister for environment for a decision, and that it would be inappropriate to comment on it during that process.

A Chevron Australia spokesperson said the company took its obligations seriously and was committed to environmental stewardship on Barrow Island.

He said it had rigorous processes in place and operated under stringent environmental conditions.

“As part of our comprehensive environmental monitoring program, PFAS was detected at extremely low levels … [testing] has consistently found PFAS levels below human health and ecological guideline values … despite the very low risk, further monitoring of the stockpile is being undertaken and additional control measures that can be put in place are being explored.”

The Environmental Protection Authority has been investigating the adequacy of other government conditions imposed on Gorgon since this masthead revealed quarantine breaches and turtle-affecting beach erosion in 2023. An EPA spokesperson has now confirmed the outcome of the first inquiry into these matters is expected to be published this month.

DWER’s spokesperson said their own investigation into the coastal erosion was complete and Chevron had committed to a voluntary mitigation strategy including the redistribution of sand on Terminal Beach. The department was reviewing regular submissions from Chevron on the progress, as well as Chevron’s quarantine notifications, and continued “to liaise with Chevron on several quarantine matters.”

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