How long is a piece of string, how big is the hole in the bucket

PROPOSED BROWSE LNG PRECINCT, Walmadan (James Price Point)

All is quiet on the western front and the silence is almost deafening as some major spanners play their imperative and indispensable role in slowing down the whole process for the proposed development of a LNG precinct at Walmadan (James Price Point).

All the humbug happening with regards to all the Native Title business has in all reality stopped the final formulation and content of the Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA). The ILUA has to provide the formal legal consent required under the Native Title Act 1993 for the valid establishment of the proposed LNG precinct at Walmadan (James Price Point) and the valid grant of the titles by the state to project proponents.

How valid then is both the Heads of Agreement and the Heritage Protection Agreement signed by the State, Woodside and the KLC (Kimberley Land Council)?

Meanwhile, in the Legislative Council on Tuesday the 20th of this week the Hon Robin Chapple asked several questions to the Minister for Mines and Petroleum, Hon Norman Moore about the proposed LNG Precinct at James Price Point. Department of State Development
(File Notation Area 8589).

Robin Chapple
Q 1. What is the total area (land and sea) covered by area 8589 ‘Proposed LNG Precinct’?

Norman Moore
A 1. 466.91 square kilometers, which is 46,691 hectares.

Robin Chapple
Q 2. Is the land area covered by area 8589 ‘Proposed LNG Precinct’ approximately 258.2 square kilometres?

Hon Norman Moore
A 2. The land area covered by File Notation Area 8589 is 262.8147 square kilometers which is 26,281 hectares

This is a lot more area than the Premier Colin Barnett has led the public to believe. Barnett stated on the Oct. 15 2008 “the precinct would be built on about 1,000 hectares, which he said was a small amount of land “in an area twice the size of Victoria state.”

on Dec 19 2008 “a 10km strip of land at James Price Point offered a range of potential development”.

on the Dec, 23rd 2008 "a balance of factors, had led to the choice of James Price for the 1,000 to 2,000 hectare industrial estate.”

And on the Wed 15 April, “The precinct at James Price Point would occupy about 1,000 hectares. With accommodation, ancillary services and an appropriate land and sea buffer, the total area may be up to 3,500 hectares.”

On the 12 April, 2010 The Hon Martin Ferguson, Minister for Resources and Energy Minister for Tourism stated “James Price Point represents about 2000 hectares of the Kimberley. That is, in essence, 0.0005 per cent of the Kimberley land mass and if a gas hub actually goes ahead it'll have to meet all the appropriate environmental considerations required by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act”.

According to the Kimberley Social Impact Assessment Vol 1.
Scope and Profile July 2009, page 25
the precinct will be around 2000-2500 hectares of land and approximately 1000 hectares of sea will be required for port facilities. It is anticipated that each operator would occupy 500 hectares including key infrastructure separation buffers. Precinct land area will also include infrastructure corridors, laydown areas and possible heritage protection land areas totaling 500 to 1500 hectares.

On the Department of State development website states: The total land area of the precinct, will be about 2,000 to 2,500 hectares - just 0.2 per cent of the 1,400,000 hectare Dampier Peninsula.

In the Browse LNG Public Information Booklet states on page 8
The Precinct will comprise areas of exclusive and non-exclusive access.
The exclusion zone is proposed to contain:
an industrial precinct (fenced) being:
two industrial blocks with each block exclusively accommodating stand-alone facilities for the relevant proponent allocated to the block (total of approximately 1,000ha); and common user area (service corridors, lay down areas and internal buffer areas,
being a total of approximately 500 - 1,000ha); and
land (fenced) and waters of the port (area to be determined but likely to be approximately 1,000ha).
The non-exclusion zone (unfenced) is proposed to contain:
workers. accommodation (up to 200ha);
light industrial area (up to 200ha);
access roads; and a buffer zone around the exclusion zone (approximately 3,000ha).


Tourism Impact Assessment – Kimberley Liquefied Natural Gas Project 2009, page 21 states: The James Price Point area about 60km north of Broome covers about 25,000 hectares or 250 km2, itself only a small part of the 13,000 sq km Dampier Peninsula.

According to Kimberley Land Council’s Aboriginal Social Impact Assessment Fact Sheet # 1. the following areas would be set aside for the gas precinct:

• Processing plants: 1000 hectares
• Infrastructure and facilities 500 – 1000 hectares
• Land and water for port 1000 hectares
• Workers accommodation, light industrial area etc: 200 – 500 hectares.

This gives a total area of between 2700 – 3500 hectares, which would be fenced and another 3000 hectares for the Buffer Zone.

Browse Liquefied Natural Gas Precinct (BLNG) (notice the name change) – Infrastructure Assessment Study, 8th Feb 2010, page 6 under the Heading The BLNG Precinct Location states the BLNG precinct will cover an area between Coloumb Point and Quondong Beach, south of James Price Point. There is no mention of the size of the area within this document.

So it seems that no one knows precisely how big this precinct will be? And more importantly no one has any idea precisely where the Precinct will be located, so how can people make informed decisions?

And whilst on the subject, where is the Department of State Development’s BLNG document Project Description including Emissions, Discharges and Waste, released on Jan 2010 and why isn’t this document available on the DSD website?