Archive for July, 2012
Appeals committee appointed for Browse
Ministerial Media Statements
Environment Minister Bill Marmion has appointed Dr Roy Green to investigate more than 200 appeals received regarding the Environmental Protection Authority’s report on the Browse Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Precinct at James Price Point.
Grandmothers fined over Broome gas protest
The Australian
TWO Broome grandmothers who chained themselves inside a van to protest Woodside Petroleum’s proposed $30 billion Kimberley gas hub have been fined $500 each and given spent convictions.
Broome residents Julie Weguelin, 62, and Ali Batten, 65, had been charged with obstructing a carriageway, obstructing police and breaching a move-on notice, following their arrest on May 18.
Urgent: It’s time to write to save James Price Point
The Environmental protection Authority released a report on the 16th July that said gas refineries could go ahead 50km north of Broome. This decision is open to appeal till 11.59pm on Monday, July 30, 2012. For more information on how to appeal please go here:
Guide to writing an appeal on EPA Report 1444
Why I’m proud to be an ‘anarchist’ in the Kimberley
The Australian
GEOFF COUSINS
IN the Weekend Australian, Woodside and National Australia Bank chairman Michael Chaney labelled me an “anarchist.”
I had not expected this high praise from Michael, since I am a strident opponent of Woodside’s planned massive gas hub in the Kimberley – a project that could be easily be located viably at several less sensitive sites, according to ardent green groups such as JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch and other financial analysts.
But to be in the same category as Nelson Mandela, Andre Breton, Leo Tolstoy, JRR Tolkien, Noam Chomsky, Jack Mundey and Germaine Greer is something I had never dared to hope for.
However, when I read further and discovered that Chaney appears to label anyone who questions or protests against any decision by a governmental authority as anarchists, I realised that his somewhat incomplete knowledge of the meaning of the word had praised me beyond my true worth.
The stimulus for Chaney’s outburst appears to be a piece I wrote in The Global Mail that canvassed the various environmental and indigenous issues surrounding this project and the history of the failure of the WA government and Woodside in all of these.
Geoffrey Cousins returns fire at Michael Chaney over ‘anarchist’ tag
The Australian
ANDREW BURRELL
TELSTRA director and green activist Geoffrey Cousins has hit back at Woodside Petroleum chairman Michael Chaney’s description of him as an “anarchist” and has attacked the company’s treatment of Aboriginal people.
Chaney lashes out at ‘anarchist’ Cousins
The Australian
ANDREW BURRELL
WOODSIDE Petroleum chairman Michael Chaney has lashed out at opponents of the planned $35 billion Browse liquefied natural gas plant in Western Australia’s Kimberley, labelling Telstra director Geoffrey Cousins and other activists as “anarchists” who did not respect the legal process.
In his strongest attack yet on the campaign to foil the project, Mr Chaney said Woodside and its Browse partners were following all the correct procedures and the development would be approved next year if it was viable and met all environmental requirements.
THE KIMBERLEY: THE RIGHT THING OR KA-CHING?
The Global Mail
By Geoffrey Cousins
Woodside Petroleum’s plan to build a $40 billon gas hub in the Kimberley was approved this week, controversially, by the Western Australia Environmental Protection Authority. Now awaiting state and federal approval, the project still faces anxious partners, legal challenges, and a stepped-up environmentalists’ campaign. Here, one of the project’s most trenchant opponents offers an inside view — and a way out
Alternatives ignored in WA gas hub
ABC
Wade Freeman
Credit: Ben Collins (ABC Local)
Peacefully sitting here atop the blood red pindan cliff in a Kimberley sunset at James Price Point, it’s hard to contemplate the WA State Government’s plans for this unique region. James Price Point, or Walmadany in the traditional Goolarabooloo language, has always been a favourite getaway spot for Broome locals and tourists alike. It’s a place I’m pleased to call my home.
Sea Shepherd to take on Woodside
The Age
Andrew Darby
Sea Shepherd conservationists are to mount an Australian mainland campaign for the first time, against the $35 billion Browse gas hub project.
The activists will this week set off in their flagship, Steve Irwin, to draw attention to potential impacts on humpback whales of the giant project near Broome, Western Australia.
In alliance with the former Greens leader, Bob Brown, and local Aboriginal people, the activists will steam from Melbourne to the Kimberley coast – the main breeding ground for the booming West Australian humpback population.
Green groups flag challenge to Woodside approval
The West Australian
David Weber, ABC
Woodside has welcomed environmental approval for a massive gas hub in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
The state’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has decided the $40 billion dollar gas hub north of Broome can go ahead.
The approval came with strict conditions, including a need to protect whales from oil spills or dredging.
The process has proved controversial, with four of the five board members assessing the proposal being removed because of conflicts of interest.