Saturday, December 1, 2012

A Derived Proposal, Designed to Deceive

The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) announced on their website on Wednesday 28 November that Woodside had sent them plans to build gas refineries, port and other infrastructure at James Price Point.
Woodside has requested these plans be considered a ‘derived proposal’ claiming that the work comes under the ‘Strategic Assessment’ that the State Minister for the Environment, Bill Marmion, has recently approved.

If the EPA agree that the work can be considered a ‘derived proposal’ then no more environmental assessment will be required. Only seven days is provided for public comment on this request

Minister Marmion has removed the emissions requirements from the Browse development proposal, claiming that to include them would not be complementary to the Federal carbon pricing mechanism. However one of the requirements of a ‘derived proposal’ is to “demonstrate best contemporary practice (as defined in EPA Guidance Statement No. 55) for all construction and operational impacts (for example atmospheric emissions, marine emissions and noise)”. 

“The Browse LNG precinct has the capacity to add up to 41 MTPA CO2-e to Australia’s emissions profile, as much as 52 percent of WA’s total emissions, with no abatement plan, which would deem it non-compliant with the requirements for a ‘derived proposal’ by the EPA’s own standards

8 comments:

  1. Great work once again.The result from this and the Chevron blowout announcement will be very interesting.

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  2. The dispersant chemicals BP used in response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster may have made oil sink deeper and faster into the beaches of the U.S. Gulf Coast, scientists have claimed.

    A new paper warns toxic components of light crude may even have penetrated as far as groundwater supplies because of the chemicals.

    After the 2010 blowout at the Macondo Prospect, BP released about 2.6million gallons of dispersant chemicals to deal with the huge quantities of crude oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico.

    ..............

    For microscopic animals living in the Gulf of Mexico, even worse than the toxic oil released during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster may be the very oil dispersants used to clean it up, a new study finds.

    More than 2 million gallons (7.5 million liters) of oil dispersants called Corexit 9527A and 9500A were dumped into the gulf in an effort to prevent oil from reaching shore and to help it degrade more quickly.

    However, when oil and Corexit are combined, the mixture becomes up to 52 times more toxic than oil alone, according to a study published online this week in the journal Environmental Pollution.

    ................

    Scientists at the Autonomous University of Aguascalientes in Mexico and the Georgia Institute of Technology now say Corexit 9500A is far more harmful than previously thought to a key dweller of those sub-surface depths.

    They studied the effect of oil, of Corexit 9500A, and of various mixtures of both on five species of rotifer from the genus brachionus. The rotifers are a core element at the base of the Gulf Coast food chain, where they're eaten by crabs, shrimp and small fish.

    "What remains to be determined is whether the benefits of dispersing the oil by using Corexit are outweighed by the substantial increase in toxicity of the mixture," said study co-author Terry Snell, chair of Georgia Tech's biology school. "Perhaps we should allow the oil to naturally disperse. It might take longer, but it would have less toxic impact on marine ecosystems."

    The new study emerged as three BP managers were in court this week for arraignment on criminal charges related to the disaster. A fourth worker, a former BP engineer, also faces charges.

    In all, the British Petroleum oil leak was the largest offshore petroleum spill in U.S. history, sending 4.9 million barrels (584 million litres) of crude into the Gulf of Mexico.

    .......................................

    Kathleen Eisbrenner, Pangea LNG's chief executive officer, said, "We expect there to be several successful LNG export projects on the Texas Coast in the coming years because of the large new natural gas reserves in North America. Exporting LNG will help stabilize U.S. natural gas prices, sustain drilling and production jobs in South Texas, and stimulate investment in developing additional gas reserves."

    The South Texas project is the second LNG liquefaction project being developed by Pangea LNG companies. Levant LNG Marketing, a Pangea subsidiary, completed an extensive pre-FEED (preliminary front end engineering design), is finalizing commercial agreements and will start FEED engineering shortly on the Tamar Project which will export LNG from the Tamar and Dalit fields in the Eastern Mediterranean, 60 miles offshore from Israel. That facility will be a permanently moored offshore floating natural gas liquefaction vessel with onboard LNG storage. The self-contained operation will be the first floating LNG export project in the Mediterranean basin. A final investment decision on the Tamar Project is expected by the second half of 2013.

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    Replies
    1. http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/344-208/11417-horrific-injuries-linked-to-bp-dispersant-corexit

      http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/04/microbes-arent-eating-oil-gulf-beaches-thanks-corexit-dispersant

      The Surfrider Foundation has released its preliminary "State of the Beach" study for the Gulf of Mexico from BP's ongoing Deepwater Horizon disaster.

      Sadly, things aren't getting cleaner faster, according to their results. The Corexit that BP used to "disperse" the oil now appears to be making it tougher for microbes to digest the oil. I wrote about this problem in depth in "The BP Cover-Up."

      Worse, the toxins in this unholy mix of Corexit and crude actually penetrate wet skin faster than dry skin (photos above)—the author describes it as the equivalent of a built-in accelerant—though you'd never know it unless you happened to look under fluorescent light in the 370nm spectrum. The stuff can't be wiped off. It's absorbed into the skin.

      And it isn't going away. Other findings from monitoring sites between Waveland, Mississippi, and Cape San Blas, Florida over the past two years:
      1.The use of Corexit is inhibiting the microbial degradation of hydrocarbons in the crude oil and has enabled concentrations of the organic pollutants known as PAH to stay above levels considered carcinogenic by the NIH and OSHA.
      2.26 of 32 sampling sites in Florida and Alabama had PAH concentrations exceeding safe limits.
      3.Only three locations were found free of PAH contamination.
      4.Carcinogenic PAH compounds from the toxic tar are concentrating in surface layers of the beach and from there leaching into lower layers of beach sediment. This could potentially lead to contamination of groundwater sources.

      The full Surfrider Foundation report by James H. "Rip" Kirby III, of the University of South Florida is open-access online here.

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    2. AUSTRALIA,INDONESIA,PEOPLE SMUGGLING,MONTARA AND COREXIT.
      ..

      http://humanrights.gov.au/ageassessment/submissions/Greg%20Hogan%20(Submission%2024).pdf


      According to Australia’s AMSA (2009), based on the audit of empty containers postincident,
      the subsequent clean-up made use of large quantities of dispersants, including
      chemicals COREXIT EC9500 (@17,000L) and EC9527A (@27,720L). COREXIT is
      noted by its manufacturers to be more toxic to marine life, but less toxic to life along the
      shore and animals at the surface because the dispersant allows the oil to stay submerged
      below the surface of the water. This effect of remaining submerged is alleged to have
      destroyed fishing and seaweed grounds near Roti. An Australian barrister visited Roti
      in March 2010 and gathered affidavits from local villagers to that effect.

      ....

      http://www.ret.gov.au/Department/Documents/MIR/11_West_Timor_Care_Foundation.pdf

      (COREXIT 18 MENTIONS)

      b) The use of dispersants, in particular, Corexit EC9500 and Corexit EC9527A
      Corexit was widely used during the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill and subsequent spills. The dispersant was later linked to widespread long lasting health impacts in people from surrounding areas, including respiratory, nervous system, liver, kidney and blood disorders.11
      In the case of the Montara Blowout, the dispersants used were Tergo R‐40, Shell VDC, Corexit EC9500, Corexit EC9527A, Ardrox 6120, Slickgone LTSW Slickgone NS. We believe it is most significant to point out that Corexit EC9500 and Corexit EC9527A are banned in the United Kingdom. Extensive studies of Corexit EC9500 and Corexit EC9527A were carried out and examined by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO)12 in the United Kingdom and failed the requisite Rocky Shore Test.13The Rocky Shore Test assures that a dispersant does not cause a “significant deleterious ecological change,” primarily along the shore line regions. Thus, both Corexit EC9500 and Corexit EC9527A were removed, and remain removed, from the list of approved products for use in any circumstances in the United Kingdom, from 21st January 1998.14 Despite these historical precedents, Australia, through the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), chose to use dispersants, including Corexit 9500 and Corexit 9527 in the case of the Montara Blowout.

      ...............

      THESE FILES DETAIL HOW THE SEAWEED AND FISHING INDUSTIES THAT SUSTAINED THESE COMMUNITIES HAVE BEEN DESTROYED AND HAVE LED TO BOATS AND PEOPLE TAKING TO PEOPLE SMUGGLING TO EARN A LIVING.

      ....................

      http://beforeitsnews.com/gulf-oil-spill/2010/11/australia-corexit-ec9500-and-corexit-ec9527a-used-activists-claim-8-deaths-fish-kills-linked-to-the-dispersants-248637.html


      Activists have said dispersants were highly toxic and eight people dead and as many as 30 ill.

      The director of the West Timor Care Foundation, Ferdi Tanoni, (YTPB).


      A hearing between the Australian Senate and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority had made aware that dispersants used on the spill were some of "the world’s most dangerous chemicals."

      AMSA acknowledged using 184,113 liters of chemicals dispersants, including Corexit, a fetal toxin that breaks down blood cells and causes blood and kidney disorders.

      .....................

      http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/11/25/nt-the-montara-oil-spill-and-the-regulatory-dog-that-didnt-bark/?wpmp_switcher=mobile

      Borthwick is scathing of the NT DoR’s administration of its regulatory responsibilities and the NT government’s submissions in open hearings that the NT DoR adopted followed “contemporary regulatory practice” — finding instead that the NT DoR’s regulatory regime was totally inadequate, being little more than a “tick and flick” exercise. Borthwick found that the NT DoR did not have the appropriate expertise or sufficient understanding of its regulatory responsibility to have ever uncovered PTTEPAA’s poor practice.

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    3. Re this story : Kathleen Eisbrenner, Pangea LNG's chief executive officer - is finalizing commercial agreements and will start FEED engineering shortly on the Tamar Project which will export LNG from the Tamar and Dalit fields in the Eastern Mediterranean, 60 miles offshore from Israel.

      .............

      There has just been a vote in the UN recognising Palestine as a non-member observer state.

      There was a row between Gillard and Carr over the vote.Australia abstained.

      It hasn't been noted but odds on it will be,sooner or later...Woodside and some US oil and gas companies are involved in the Eastern Med with the vast gas fields there.

      And guess what?No surprise really...some of these fields are in waters that would belong to a future State of Palestine.

      So odds on Israel while not too fussed about the small strip of desert these poor people would call home,are really after what lies beneath the sea off its shore.

      Maybe thats why Coleman met with Netanyahu,to give him tips on how Woodside and the Australian gov swindled the East Timorese out of their true rights over Sunrise by renegging on the International Treaty on Maritime Borders.In other words - "How to screw over minority groups in your neighbourhood."

      The Woodside story continues.

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    4. Veteran singer and United Nations Messenger of Peace Stevie Wonder has cancelled a planned performance for the Friends of the Israel Defence Forces after several organisations asked him not to perform.

      The soul singer, 62, was scheduled to sing at a December 6 fundraising gala in Los Angeles hosted by the Friends of the Israel Defence Forces (FIDF), an organisation set up to help those serving in the Israel Defence Forces and families of fallen soldiers.

      "Given the current and very delicate situation in the Middle East, and with a heart that has always cried out for world unity, I will not be performing at the FIDF Gala," Wonder said in a statement.

      Wonder said he would make contributions to organisations that support Israeli and Palestinian children with disabilities.

      ..............

      Just one day after a landmark UN vote recognising Palestine as a non-member observer state, Israel has moved to authorise the construction of 3,000 new homes in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

      The move, which has drawn widespread criticism, including from Australia and stalwart Israel ally the United States, is seen as punishment for the United Nations General Assembly vote.

      A US State Department official says both the vote and the settlement expansion are counterproductive to reaching a peace settlement and a two-state solution.

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  3. Once again Carol Martin and Barnett should apologise to the Kimberley people they foul mouthed over their cursed plan for JPP.

    They should have told Mick Sutherland and his boss to "go check the headstones."

    We can only hope these images do not wind up as entertainment at this years Police Xmas party.

    ..

    DETECTIVES were due in Broome late yesterday to investigate the death of an Aboriginal woman in custody in the early hours of yesterday.

    The 44-year-old woman was from a remote indigenous community in the Kimberley, but lived periodically in Broome. Her death was not considered to have been a suicide, The Weekend Australian was told.

    Detectives from the Western Australia Police internal affairs unit will interview officers who were working in the lock-up when the woman died and will prepare a report for the coroner.

    One Broome resident told The Weekend Australian there were an unusually high number of people from remote communities living rough in Broome in recent weeks.

    Two years ago, state coroner Alastair Hope was critical of Broome police and hospital staff in his findings about the death of a 24-year-old Aboriginal man found seriously ill in the same lock-up. That man was from the remote community of Balgo and had been in a vicious fight on the night he was arrested twice.


    The inquest heard that the man who for cultural reasons was referred to only by his second name, Njana was treated for his injuries at the local hospital after his first arrest, but left the hospital against medical advice and was found drunk and rearrested.

    A police officer found Njana bleeding and unwell in his cell the next day. He was flown to hospital in Perth, but died two days later.

    .........

    IT WOULD ALSO BE FAIR TO SAY THE HOSTEL COULD HAVE BEEN BUILT IN BROOME HAD THE WILL BEEN THERE TO DO SO.

    So much for our "multi cultural" community.
    It is being destroyed by these racist developers and their new found buddies the so called "coconuts".

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  4. Loved the put up, can make me feel bad about how normal ours is. I’d be interested to see the CTR/Conversion rates from some of them.

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