January 24th, 2012
Welcome to our website. Environs Kimberley (EK) is the only regional conservation group working on the ground in one of the world’s last wilderness areas. Our region’s natural habitats are facing unprecedented threats from too frequent fire, feral animals, weeds, broadscale land-clearing, dams and increasing industrialisation. Our mammals are disappearing.
Our innovative work with Indigenous Ranger Groups through the West Kimberley Nature Project is addressing some of these threats to rare and endangered Kimberley ecosystems (see here).
25,000km² of the Kimberley is being explored for coal, more than 120,000km² explored for shale gas (by the notorious method of ‘fracking’), more than 10,000km² for bauxite (Sydney’s urban area covers 1687km²). The region is also facing exploration for oil, iron ore, copper, diamonds, rare earths, lead, zinc and uranium.
James Price Point, 40km north of Broome on one of the world’s most pristine coastlines, is the proposed site for the largest gas processing plant in the world. If approved, it would open up the floodgates to industrialisation on a scale never seen before in northern Australia. (For more information go here)
We need your help to protect the Kimberley. You can contribute by becoming a member (click here) and taking an active role in our activities or, if you don’t have the time to take part, by making tax deductible monthly donations (click here). $30 a month goes a long way for us.
For latest news on the Kimberley see below
January 20th, 2012
Dampier Peninsula: Rare finches still breeding
Kimberley Page
A Gouldian finch – courtesy Wikimedia
Indigenous rangers have confirmed Gouldian Finches are still present and breeding on the Dampier Peninsula.
The rangers observed the birds while carrying out weed control on monsoon vine thickets.
“It’s exciting to be working with rangers and to find a breeding population of Gouldian finches utilising refuges such as monsoon vine thickets and un-burnt woodland. It shows how important it is to continue to care for land and improve fire management on the Dampier Peninsula,” said Louise Beames, Environs Kimberley Projects Coordinator.
January 20th, 2012
Kimberley partnership protects remnants of ancient rainforest
Science Network WA
Geoff Vivian
ECOLOGISTS are working with Indigenous rangers to develop assessment protocols for the health of monsoon vine thickets.
Project coordinator and Environs Kimberley’s Louise Beames says the thickets, which are a type of dry rainforest that once covered much of Northern and Central Australia, are under threat.
“Monsoon vine thicket plants depend on frugivorous (fruit-eating) birds and bats moving from one patch to the other to eat fruits and spread the seeds,” she says.
December 22nd, 2011
Woodside hit with Browse costs, doubts: report
Business Spectator
Woodside Petroleum Ltd is facing growing doubts about its plans to use the James Price Point location on the Kimberley coast for its Browse liquefied natural gas (LNG) project amid estimates the building cost could rise beyond $US40 billion and a move yesterday by Woodside’s partners in the project to avoid endorsing the choice of James Price Point, according to a report by the Australian Financial Review.
December 21st, 2011
Lowering the boom on WA’s biggest 2011 resources bust-ups
SMH
Rania Spooner
1. Shifting sands of the Browse Basin LNG hub
The future of a $35 billion liquefied natural gas hub – originally proposed to sit at James Price Point in the Kimberley – has been shifted so many times that it now looks set to be moved more than 1000 kilometres to Karratha.
December 21st, 2011
2011 scandals will stick for WA miners
WA Today
Rania Spooner
The scandal and delays that followed the decision to build a gas hub at James Price Point have damaged the reputations of Woodside and the WA Government, according to a specialist in public perception.
“Browse has become a national scandal,” said Katherine Teh-White, the managing director of corporate risk firm Futureye.
December 21st, 2011
NT eyes another major WA project
NT News
NIGEL ADLAM
THE decision by Woodside to put back its final investment decision on a $35 billion gas hub in Western Australia gives the Territory a chance of stealing the project.
Chief Minister Paul Henderson has asked the company to consider moving the hub to Darwin.
Woodside has delayed its investment decision by six months until the first half of 2013.
December 20th, 2011
$30bn gas hub hits funding delay
The Australian
AMANDA O’BRIEN
WOODSIDE’S plan to build a $30 billion gas processing plant in the remote Kimberley – which has been plagued by court battles and protests – ran into more strife yesterday when a final investment decision was delayed.
West Australian Premier Colin Barnett denied the project was in jeopardy as he talked up the benefits for local Aborigines.
December 20th, 2011
Woodside seeks year’s delay on Browse LNG project
The Australian
MATT CHAMBERS
WOODSIDE Petroleum has requested a year’s grace on the mid-2012 deadline for a final investment decision on the Browse liquefied natural gas project, in a potential blow to plans for an LNG plant at James Price Point, 60km north of Broome.
While chief executive Peter Coleman says Woodside remains committed to its investigations at the site, he says the company needs to closely watch the cost structure of the huge project when the tenders start coming in early next year.
December 20th, 2011
Gas hub delay good for WA: Barnett
The West Australian
DANIEL EMERSON and FLIP PRIOR
Premier Colin Barnett predicted yesterday the $30 billion gas processing precinct at James Price Point would go ahead despite Woodside Petroleum delaying its final investment decision for up to a year.
While environmentalists greeted the delay as “another nail in the coffin” of the project, Mr Barnett said it was common for such big projects to take time.