May 2nd, 2012
Port dredging underestimated
The West Australian
Flip Prior
The Department of State Development has revised its estimates estimates of potential dredge spoil resulting from a proposed port at James Price Point upwards by 60 per cent in new information provided to the Environmental Protection Authority.
A confidential Federal Government review of the dredging which was unearthed about the same time had detailed serious concerns about the potential impact on the marine environment from toxins, including arsenic and zinc.
Dredge volumes had been revised from 21 million cubic metres to 34 million cubic metres of material, with dredging activities estimated to take 18 to 21 months.
May 2nd, 2012
Protest spectacle lights up Woodside AGM
The Sydney Morning Herald
Rania Spooner
Environmentalists have set up a Deal or no deal themed spectacle opposing the Browse Basin gas hub at James Price Point in Perth today as Woodside Petroleum prepares to address shareholders at its annual general meeting.
The AGM comes after an already busy week for the gas producer.
May 1st, 2012
Woodside stake sale throws plans for LNG plant into doubt
The Australiam
MATT CHAMBERS
WOODSIDE Petroleum has agreed to a $US2 billion sell-down of a 14.7 per cent stake in the giant Browse gas fields off the coast of Western Australia to its Japanese North West Shelf partners Mitsubishi and Mitsui, in a move that will throw further doubt on the likelihood of an LNG plant being built at James Price Point near Broome.
The sale will reduce operator Woodside’s stake in Browse from 46 per cent to 31.3 per cent.
April 25th, 2012
Oil to soon flow from WA’s Canning Basin
ABC
Resource company Buru Energy says it’s just a few weeks away from extracting its first barrel of oil from the Canning Basin in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
The Ungani field is located on Yakka Munga Station, east of Broome and the oil produced from there will be initially trucked to Perth and sold to BP.
April 24th, 2012
Buru Energy’s oil, gas and fracking in the Kimberley’s Canning Basin
ABC
Ben Collins
The Canning Basin covers a huge part of the South West Kimberley and is potentially equal in gas reserves to half of all WA’s off-shore gas fields. As Buru Energy prepares to start producing oil, ABC Kimberley takes a look at the complexity of issues around onshore petroleum in the region.
Covering some 530,000 square kilometres, the Canning Basin is the largest sedimentary basin in Western Australia extending almost to Port Hedland in the west and Fitzroy Crossing in the east. To the north is Derby and the Dampier Peninsular, and the Basin extends about a thousand kilometres south west of Broome. About a hundred thousand square kilometres of the Canning Basin is under the sea to the west of Broome.
April 23rd, 2012
Zero Carbon Project comes to the Kimberley
EK Media Release 20 April
100% renewable energy for the price of two coffees per week
The Zero Carbon Australia Project is coming to the Kimberley! There will be a presentation about the Project in Broome on April 30 — an event not to be missed.
Drawing on a wide array of scientific research, the Project sets out a ten-year plan for Australia to be powered by 100% renewable energy at a cost of just $8 per household per week.
Martin Pritchard, Executive Director of Environs Kimberley is enthusiastic, saying,
“This is an exciting event. It will tell us about viable, large-scale alternatives to fossil-fuel dependence, which will allow for economic development based on sustainable sources of energy.”
April 19th, 2012
Marine park plan for Kimberley
The West Australian
Bridget Lacy
The State Government has announced it will create new marine park in the Kimberley.
Premier Colin Barnett and Environment Minister Bill Marmion today said the Government would create Camden Sound Marine Park, about 300km north-east of Broome to help protect humpback whales.
“Camden Sound, covering nearly 7000 sqkm is the first of four new marine parks to be created under the $63 million Kimberley Science and Conservation Strategy,” Mr Barnett said.
April 13th, 2012
WA Premier rejects Browse Gas fears
The Sydney Morning Herald
Rania Spooner
An independent report warning of adverse social impacts to women in Aboriginal communities if the controversial Browse LNG is developed at James Price Point, has been rejected by West Australian Premier Colin Barnett.
Southern Cross adjunct associate professor Annie Holden found the social impact assessments authored by the Kimberley Land Council and the WA Government had omitted significant risk factors, in a peer review.
April 12th, 2012
WA Premier rejects Browse Gas fears
The West Australian
Flip Prior
An independent review of the State Government’s social impact assessment of the Browse liquefied natural gas precinct says the negative effects from having 6000 construction workers using Broome were “seriously underestimated”.
The confidential review was delivered in March 2011 for the Federal Department of Environment and released this week under Freedom of Information.
April 11th, 2012
McGowan walks the line on the Kimberley gas issue
ABC
Ben Collins
It’s the problem Labor wrestles with election after election: how to present an easily understood alternative to the Coalition. The Kimberley may be the furthest electorate from Perth, but it often presents issues central to West Australian state elections. The issue of processing liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the Kimberley is the big issue for the region and has been consistently growing in importance in state and federal politics.
There is no doubting Liberal leader and Premier, Colin Barnett’s position on Kimberley gas. He took what had been the former Labor Government’s initiative to establish a gas processing precinct in the Kimberley and made it his own by threatening and then instigating compulsory acquisition. Critics say that the Premier’s forceful approach has threatened the success of the project, but supporters of Kimberley gas processing can be in no doubt that Barnett keenly wants this project to proceed.