The Kimberley's Commonwealth Marine Parks

Opinion Piece: Richard Costin, Broome

Tony Burke’s announcement of the establishment of a comprehensive network of Commonwealth Marine Parks around the Australian coast should help to still international criticism over the establishment of industrial ports in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, and limit the destruction of sensitive marine areas by industrial demersal trawling around the coast. 

The Great Barrier Reef has become the focal point of his plan with huge areas of the Coral Sea to be protected by a new Commonwealth Marine National Park. The scale of the proposed park in Queensland has captured the attention of the nation, and should provide real protection for the area by excluding the oil and gas industry and demersal trawling fleets.

On the other side of the country, in the resource rich waters of the Pilbara and Kimberley coast, a completely different story is unfolding. The proposed Commonwealth Marine Parks in this area may soon become the new greenwash for the offshore oil and gas industry.

Under the new proposal, around 255,000km2 of the Pilbara and Kimberley coast are to be protected by a series of marine national parks and multiple use zones. These areas have also become the new frontier for the multi-billion dollar oil and gas industry.

Clear contradictions have emerged where the oil and gas industry will be allowed to operate in approximately 95% of these marine parks.

According to the guidelines set out in the northwest Bioregional Plan, one of the key objectives of the marine park is to take a precautionary approach to protecting the conservation values of these reserves which should also have the capacity to mitigate identified threats to these values. A careful examination of the zoning and IUCN classifications for the proposed parks highlights these contradictions. The IUCN ll category, Marine National Parks, is designed to provide the highest level of protection for the conservation values in the region and does not allow for oil and gas exploration and development. Multiple use zones, IUCN Vl, allow for a range of existing activities to continue within the reserve, but will exclude activities that carry a high risk to the conservation values of the marine parks.

So should heavy industrial oil and gas development be considered as a high or low risk activity? The growing list of oil spill disasters around the world such as Montara, in the Kimberley, and the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico clearly demonstrate that these are high risk activities.

Every Australian is fully aware of the dangers posed by the offshore oil and gas industry, so why should Tony Burke by confused by what constitutes a high or low risk activity? The proposal to allow oil and gas exploration and development in the new Commonwealth Marine Parks in the Kimberley and Pilbara, should be questioned. The assurances of the Federal Resource minister Martin Ferguson and the oil and gas industry that these activities are safe, have a hollow ring to them. There is no way they can guarantee that there will not be another major oil spill on the Kimberley coast.

The oil and gas industry is ramping up its activities in Kimberley waters and is now pressuring the Federal government to streamline the approvals process. Under the zoning conditions for the multiple use zones, petroleum exploration and development areas that have been released before the declaration of the marine reserves will be allowed to continue operations. This applies to most of the proposed commonwealth marine reserves in the Pilbara and Kimberley.

If new legislation is enacted that guarantees access for the oil and gas industry to Commonwealth Marine Parks, as a condition of the zoning, this may provide a rubber stamp that removes the requirement for each operation to be carefully scrutinized under the EPBC Act.

Despite this development cloud hanging over the Kimberley coast, there are a number of bright spots on the horizon. The proposed Kimberley Marine National Park, which covers an area of around 7905 km2, which when combined with the new whale conservation area in the Camden Sound Marine Park, will increase the area of protection for migrating Humpback whales to around 15% of their Kimberley calving grounds. However, this marine park does not extend south along the Dampier Peninsula to Broome which is one of the main congregation area for migrating Humpback whales. The iconic Broome coastal region will have no protection and may be left open for the establishment of the James Price Point industrial precinct.

The proposed Kimberley Marine Park will be the only reserve to exclude both demersal trawling and oil and gas development. This represents around 3% of the proposed commonwealth Pilbara and Kimberley Marine Reserves. The rest will be open for oil and gas exploration and development.

Many questions need to be asked. Are the environmental standards that apply to the offshore oil and gas industry rigorous enough to protect the australian coast from major pollution? How will the management of the parks be funded? Will these management costs become part of the mining offset package to boost the environmental credentials of the oil and gas companies that operate in these marine parks or will they be independently funded and managed by the Australian people? Will the new marine/industrial parks in the Pilbara and the Kimberley protect the unique conservation values in the regions, or will they serve the interests of the offshore oil and gas industry? Are these developments good for Australia?

Tony Burke has a wonderful opportunity to put in place some real protection for the Australian coast. Let’s hope he has the courage to deliver world class marine parks for the Australian people.

Rowley Shoals exploration leases spark fears

AAP, The West Australian

April 11, 2012, 11:46 am

UPDATE 12.20pm: One of the world’s healthiest marine environments will be threatened by a major oil and gas drilling program just 10km off WA’s pristine Rowley Shoals, conservationists say.

Woodside Petroleum and Shell will start a combined $350 million exploration program next year.

The work will include seismic surveys and test drilling just outside state and federal marine parks protecting the three atolls that make up the Rowley Shoals, 300km off the Kimberley coast.

Woodside was awarded three exploration leases by the Federal Government in November, covering more than 10,000 square kilometres of ocean just west of the Rowley Shoals.

However, three more leases are up for tender that will totally enclose the reef system, leaving a buffer zone of just three nautical miles (about 5.5km) around each atoll.

Woodside would not say whether it was bidding for the new leases, which close on Thursday, but confirmed drilling operations for its existing offshore permits.

“Each well we drill is subject to rigorous environmental risk assessments and planning,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Well-integrity and safety is our highest priority.”

However, WWF WA director Paul Gamblin said even a modest spill or blowout so close to the reef system would be disastrous.

“It’s not so long since we had the Montara oil spill which is not too far away,” he said.

“Even something much smaller than the Montara spill right next to a coral reef would be devastating.”

Mr Gamblin said the atolls were among the healthiest in the world due to their remote location and rich biodiversity.

While the northern Mermaid Reef is protected by the Commonwealth, the southern Clerke and Imperieuse reefs are state marine parks.

“Lying on the very edge of Australia’s continental shelf, they are regarded as the most perfect examples of shelf-edge atolls in Australian waters,” WA’s Department of Environment and Conservation describes them on its website.

WA Environment Minister Bill Marmion told ABC Radio on Wednesday that Canberra’s decision to open the area up to oil and gas was “outside our control”.

“The Commonwealth have made the call on this and I would hope that because they’ve made the call they’d analyse the situation properly and make sure there’s no chance of oil spills,” he said.

Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke said his office had provided advice to the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism highlighting “key ecological features, such as the Rowley Shoals”.

“All proposals referred to the department are assessed on a case-by-case basis, and are subject to a rigorous and transparent assessment process, including an opportunity for public comment,“ Mr Burke said in a statement.

Mr Gamblin said the decision to release more oil and gas acreage was at odds with the federal government’s pledge to establish a network of marine sanctuaries around the nation.

“The Rowley Shoals, Kimberly coast, Ningaloo, Margaret River, the areas off the Great Australian Bight - all of these areas are coming under increasing pressure from the oil and gas industry at a time when the federal government is supposed to be creating marine parks,” he said.

“At a time when most of the world’s coral reefs are under enormous threat or been significantly damaged, the Rowley Shoals stand out there as one of the last hopes the world has for protecting an outstanding, diverse and pristine coral reef system.”

Oil drills close on 'pristine' reef at WA's Rowley Shoals

ANDREW BURRELL 

From:

The Australian 

April 11, 2012 12:00AM

OIL giants Woodside Petroleum and Shell are about to launch a $350 million drilling campaign within 10km of the Rowley Shoals, a premier diving spot off the Kimberley coast that the West Australian government says is "one of the most pristine marine areas in the world".

The move puts Woodside and Shell on a fresh collision course with environmental groups, which say exploring for oil and gas so close to the coral atolls is fraught with danger because of the risks of an oil spill and the threat posed to marine life during seismic surveys.

Divers and green groups say the Rowley Shoals, 300km off the coast, rival the Great Barrier Reef for their spectacular coral and marine life but few Australians are aware of them because of their remote location.

The offshore drilling campaign comes as the federal government prepares to release another three exploration permits that are even closer to the Rowley Shoals Marine Park.

The Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism last year invited the petroleum industry to bid for the new permits in federal waters. It said the Rowley sub-basin, which has waters up to 5000m deep, was "under-explored" and potentially prospective for oil and gas.

The rapid increase in exploration activity in the area comes after Shell last year overcame opposition from green groups to start drilling for oil and gas about 50km from the edge of Western Australia's World Heritage listed Ningaloo Reef.Bids for the three latest exploration blocks close tomorrow.

Woodside is also engaged in a battle with environmentalists who are opposed to its plans to build a $35 billion gas plant at James Price Point on the Kimberley coast.

There is heightened sensitivity about safety in the the oil and gas industry after the disastrous Montara oil spill off Western Australia's coast in 2009 and BP's Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

WWF's director in WA, Paul Gamblin, said he was extremely concerned that the Gillard government was releasing acreage in environmentally sensitive areas at an accelerated pace.

"The Rowley Shoals is a very clear example of what should be a no-go area for the oil and gas industry," Mr Gamblin said.

"Instead of that, we are seeing the government use the acreage release program, which has no public comment opportunity and no environmental assessment, to roll out the opportunity for industry to undertake exploration activity and production. It starts a process that is pretty much unstoppable."

Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke said last night that his department had provided advice to the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism, "highlighting the matters of national environmental significance that occur within or in the vicinity of the proposed releases".

"This included identification of key ecological features such as the Rowley Shoals," Mr Burke said.

"Whilst acreages have been released by DRET, under the EPBC Act any person (or company) proposing to take an action that is likely to have a significant impact on a matter of national environmental significance must refer their proposal to the department to establish whether further assessment and approval is required before it can proceed.

"All proposals referred to the department are assessed on a case-by-case basis, and are subject to a rigorous and transparent assessment process, including an opportunity for public comment."

The federal government said last year that Woodside and Shell would spend about $350 million searching for oil and gas in three exploration areas known as W10-3, W10-4 and W10-5. Each permit is about 3590sq km.

The companies are operating in a joint venture, with Woodside holding 55 per cent.

It is understood the Woodside-Shell venture plans to start exploring in the permit areas this month.

A spokeswoman for Woodside declined to comment on whether the company would bid for the three additional blocks being offered near the Rowley Shoals.

But she said Woodside had a long history of successfully conducting offshore drilling in Western Australia. "All our drilling activities are undertaken in accordance with legislative requirements and meet the requirements of good industry practice," she said. "Each well we drill is subject to rigorous environmental risk assessments and planning to develop an environmental plan which is approved by the regulator before drilling commences.

"A two-barrier standard applies to all Woodside-operated drilling operations, which ensures there are at least two tested barriers in place at any time to prevent reservoir fluids flowing to the external environment."

Experienced diver and underwater cinematographer Richard Todd said the Rowley Shoals rivalled the Great Barrier Reef and Ningaloo Reef for the diversity of coral, abundance of fish and water visibility. "It's a world-class diving destination," he said.

Mr Todd, who has worked around the world for the past 15 years, said he was opposed to any oil exploration near the shoals. "It's ludicrous -- it's bordering on insanity, really," he said.

The Rowley Shoals Marine Park, which encompasses the two southernmost atolls, is managed by the West Australian Department of Environment and Conservation. The northernmost Mermaid Reef is administered by the federal government and is part of a marine nature reserve.

None of the drilling will take place in these areas, but will come within about 10km of the 4km exclusion zone surrounding the atolls. The DEC says 233 species of coral and 688 species of fish inhabit the shoals.

"Today the shoals rank among the most remote and pristine marine areas in the world," the department says on its website.

"Lying on the very edge of Australia's continental shelf, they are regarded as the most perfect examples of shelf atolls in Australian waters."

The DEC declined to comment yesterday.

Tony Burke: man in the hot seat

BY:GRAHAM LLOYD, ENVIRONMENT EDITOR 

• From:The Australian 
• February 04, 2012 12:00AM

Seen here in the west Kimberley, Environment Minister Tony Burke could be caught between a rock and a hard place with some of his pending decisions. Picture: Vanessa Hunter Source: The Australian

SWIRLING around the remote islands of King Sound on the Buccaneer Archipelago, powerful 12m tides create the Kimberley coastline's horizontal waterfalls, dotting the waters with perilous whirlpools that can sink the foolhardy and the unprepared.

Navigated properly, the currents provide an ocean jet stream that has been used for generations to help speed travellers towards their chosen destination.

The region is a favourite place for federal Environment Minister Tony Burke, who last year declared the west Kimberley a National Heritage area. He has shed blood on the Mayala people's sacred ground trekking barefoot over the rocky islands that help create the raging tidal flows.

The Kimberley coast, with its mix of natural beauty, indigenous aspiration, mineral riches and latent danger, is a fitting metaphor for the challenges facing Burke as a series of long-running conservation campaigns comes to a head this year, while the nation's mining boom continues to build.

Two significant reforms started under the Howard government - the Murray-Darling Basin plan and protection of commonwealth waters covering an area bigger than the continent - will reach their conclusion before mid-year.

A new peace appears to be within reach to stop logging in Tasmania's old-growth forests, widely regarded as the Middle East conflict of Australia's conservation politics. Success or failure will be known by June.

Alarm from the Paris-based World Heritage Committee has supercharged demands for action to safeguard the Great Barrier Reef from increased shipping.

And Burke has declared his intention to follow up the west Kimberley national heritage listing with a World Heritage nomination for Cape York by February next year.

"It is potentially an historic agenda for the nation," says Australian Conservation Foundation chief executive Don Henry. "We have a coincidence of major issues all coming into a decision-making frame this year."

In addition, Burke is at the centre of a political storm over the potential impact of coal-seam gas production on underground water supplies. And he has provoked a possible High Court state's rights challenge from Victoria with his ban this week on summer cattle grazing in the alpine ranges.

Burke is confident the next 12 months will be his time of delivery. It will, he hopes, provide an environmental legacy for the nation and a personal legacy for his time in the environment portfolio. But some fear he has too much on his plate.

"It is a big program and this stuff is getting more complex, not less," national campaign director for the Wilderness Society Lyndon Schneiders says.

"The worst outcome would be trying to reform a little bit of everything and failing on everything, rather than delivering on three or four big issues."

Burke insists the core principles remain constant.

"It is effectively the same question," he says. "How can you make sure any developments are sustainable, sensitive to the environment and are not something we are going to look back on in 20 years' time and say, 'Why did we do that?' "

But a lot has changed since the Hawke government surfed to power 30 years ago promising to stop the Gordon below Franklin Dam in Tasmania, and later to protect Kakadu from mining.

The bruising politics of climate change has been allowed to dominate the environment debate. And the success of the Greens has left Labor split between competing for the support of city elites and returning to its more jobs-focused, working-class roots.

Labor still wears an environmental coat but its core message these days is jobs and economic development. The party can point to its support for the expansion of Olympic Dam, the world's largest uranium mine, to illustrate how much the Labor brand has moved on and highlight the gulf that exists between it and its quasi-coalition Greens partner.

So, on the broad suite of environmental issues coming to fruition this year, Burke's ability to hold his ground in cabinet has yet to be fully tested.

Some conflicts are already apparent. The Wilderness Society did Burke no favours this week when it injected the issue of wild rivers and a call for emergency National Heritage Listing of Cape York into the first week of the Queensland election campaign.

Burke has been engaged in sensitive talks with pro-development indigenous groups on the cape for months in a bid to negotiate a deal on heritage listing later this year. The "alarmed" response from cape development groups to the call was predictable.

"This is an appalling attempt by the Wilderness Society not only to show that they have a total disregard for the aspirations of the Cape York people, but it is one where they are determined to keep Cape York people in poverty," said Cape York Sustainable Futures, which represents indigenous mining and cattle interests.

Burke has made it known that he is sensitive to indigenous development aspirations.

"Where you have traditional owners who love the country and want to develop it, it puts a different complexion on it," he says.

But this is not a uniform view among environment groups.

"There is a whole bunch of people across the broad Left who struggle with the same issue and I understand that," Schneiders says.

"But you can wrap yourself up into a world of pain by having two standards. At the end of the day a bulldozer is a bulldozer and it doesn't really matter who is profiting from it."

Henry is on the same page.

"If there is traditional owner consent we need to be respectful of that," he says. "But the minister is still duty bound to sit down and make a decision about how a development affects the national interest of all Australians in relation to the environment of that particular site or area."

Nowhere is this issue more divisive than in Broome, where groups and families - black and white - have been split over Woodside Petroleum's plans to develop itsliquefied natural gas facilities and James Price Point. With a heritage listing in place, Burke has a direct stake in deciding whether the James Price Point project can proceed.

The project has the support of the Kimberley Land Council, but still may fail on commercial grounds with Woodside seeking to sell down its interest in the Browse Basin offshore gas field.

If it does not proceed, Burke says he will feel most for the indigenous groups who had given consent in exchange for a substantial royalty deal.

Such sentiments fuel doubts about the value of Labor's heritage agenda.

"Burke has delivered on the listing but we haven't seen what happens when he has to go head-to-head with Martin Ferguson in his own cabinet over large-scale resource extraction in the Kimberley," Schneiders says.

The Murray-Darling Basin plan has yet to officially hit Burke's desk, and given the process so far it will be a difficult job to bring it to a civilised conclusion.

In the end, Burke may decide to nominate a range of options for how water will be split between agriculture and the environment. Environmental flows would increase subject to the completion of specified capital works programs.

In Tasmania, there are signs the promise of peace is starting to fracture, with Greens leader Bob Brown encouraging protesters back into the forest and loggers threatening to walk away.

"The jury is still out," Schneiders says. "We will have a much better picture if Burke has managed to pull off a miracle in Tasmania in six months' time."

The same is true with offshore bioregional mapping of commonwealth waters, where Burke has elected to declare all protected zones around the nation at the same time later this year.

There are more immediate concerns over the threat that increased shipping poses to the Great Barrier Reef. Expansion of Gladstone Harbour to enable an east-coast LNG export hub is only the start of a projected shipping boom, with new ports and port expansions slated along the Queensland coastline.

"It is the right time to sit back and have a look at the development pressures and their impacts on the Great Barrier Reef as a whole," Henry says. "If you just look at individual proposals, whether it is gas industrialisation at Gladstone or proposals for a coal mine or a coal port, we might miss the big picture impact of them all put together."

Burke says this is already in place. And he is determined to extend his powers to consider shipping numbers, speed and where they wait offshore.

"I won't be approving anything unless I am satisfied that the reef is being appropriately protected," he says. "As a general principle I fail to see how you can you can have an expansion of any port where vessels will be going through a World Heritage area without those shipping movements being significant to any approval."

Few people doubt Burke's good intentions. But Henry says time is running out.

"As the mining boom picks up, we are probably finding we have less time to find solutions than we thought," Henry says. "It is the right time to make decisions."

Mining Boom Takes Its Toll on Australian Wilderness

Holly Alsop
London based writer and Science Editor
The Huffington Post

Pristine regions of Australia are under threat as mining companies push to expand, once again creating uproar from environmentalists. The area now under fire is theCape York Peninsula in far North Queensland, a region well-known for its vast, untouched wilderness and a popular tourist destination among travellers.

Prominent environment group, The Wilderness Societyhas lodged an application for an emergency heritage listing to be placed on the region in a bid to slow mining permit approval. The Cape York Peninsula has been under threat from destructive expansion for years as a result of its rich resources and the discovery of bauxite, coal, kaolin and sand which have made the region a premier target for mining corporations. There are now six new mining permits under application for the peninsula and there is growing concern about the future of the environment.

The Wilderness Society is urging the federal government to take action as the new mines would result in the destruction of over 45,000 hectares of native forest and grassland.

Despite the lobby group's attempt to gain emergency heritage listing, Australia's Environment Minister Tony Burke claims the title is rare and even if it is approved there is little that can be done to shut down mining in the region altogether. Concerns from Queensland residents however are prevalent with a moratorium being passed in January this year that prevents coal seam gas mining in other parts of the state. The boom in mining in Australia has increased significantly over the years with an unprecedented level of development in the Cape York Peninsula.

The new permit applications are merely an addition to the numerous mines under construction throughout the resource-rich nation. Regardless of attempts to be environmentally conscious, and with aims to protect the unique flora and fauna, the Australian economy relies heavily on mining productivity. There is no denying that governments are torn between the immediate profitability of mining and the long-term benefits of investing in eco-tourism. In 2010 the Western Australian government proposed the development of a new marine park in Camden Sound, a premier humpback whale calving ground and resource rich coastline. The guidelines in the proposal however, still allowed the transfer of machinery and tankers through the park along with extensive deep-sea drilling resulting in massive financial gain but huge environmental loss.

The Wilderness Society have been consistent in their use of lobbying tactics to enforce protection for Australia's unique environment yet with legislation differing across state governments it is difficult to predict the future of the Cape York Peninsula in the North and Camden Sound in the West.