Catalyst: Next on Catalyst - ABC TV Science

Catalyst: Next on Catalyst - ABC TV Science:
(04/10/2012)

Dinotracks_Kimberley Dinosaurs

Kimberley Dinosaurs

Mark Horstman hunts for dinosaurs in the Kimberley to see fossil footprints never revealed before. But just as science begins to appreciate their significance, the integrity of these diverse trackways are threatened by a massive industrial development. NEW SCIENTIST - Crecaceous Coastline 4 August 2012 No 2876

IF YOU stand on the clifftop at James Price Point in Western Australia and look out over the rocky foreshore, you will see a landscape that has been practically undisturbed since the early Cretaceous. The sandstone is pockmarked by oval pools 1.5 metres long - the fossilised footprints of herds of giant dinosaurs. The 130-million-year-old footprints are dotted down 200 kilometres of shoreline on the Dampier peninsula. But palaeontologists say the small section found at James Price Point is particularly significant, and are dismayed that this is precisely where one of the world's largest plants for liquefied natural gas is to be built. Last month, Western Australia's Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) recommended that the state's environment minister approve a project to build a 25-square-kilometre facility on James Price Point to liquefy and export gas from the offshore Browse basin (see map above).

Concert for the Kimberley | Fed Square

Concert for the Kimberley | Fed Square

Published on Sep 27, 2012 by Paul Bell Natures Organics teams up with Save the Kimberley to help raise awareness of the campaign against the industrialisation of the Kimberley.

Gas refineries do blow up.

Around 10:45 (local time) on September 18, there was a loud explosion in the refinery TAMPS (belonging to Petroleos Mexicanos-PEMEX), located in the southwest of the city of Reynosa, in the state Tamaulipas, Mexico. 26 workers have died as a result of the virulent explosion and subsequent fire that devastated part of the plant. Another 46 employees were injured in varying degrees.

Let us hope the days of the cargo cult are over

Let us hope the days of the cargo cult are over:
The story of Gunns is a parable of corporate hubris. You can, as they did, corrupt the polity, cow the media, poison public life and seek to persecute those who disagree with you. You can rape the land, exterminate protected species, exploit your workers and you can even poison your neighbours. But the naked pursuit of greed at all costs will in the end destroy your public legitimacy and thus ensure your doom. Gunns was a rogue corporation and its death was a chronicle long ago foretold. The sadness is in the legacy they leave to Tasmania—the immense damage to its people, its wildlands, and its economy.

Dred the Dredging

http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/3593812.htm

Gladstone has been an industrial port for several decades now. And there's evidence from other ports in the world that marine life can get sick if the heavy metals and mud are stirred up from the sea floor of harbours like this. So here's the question - could all the dredging that's going on here to expand the port cause disease in fish and crabs?

One one side of Port Curtis, a deeper channel is being dug for six new terminals to load giant ships with coal seam gas. The dredged mud is pumped behind a bund wall to reclaim more than 200 hectares of land for the Gladstone Ports Corporation. The rest of the mud is dumped outside the harbour, into the Coral Sea. Fish veterinarian, Dr Matt Landos believes marine life is being contaminated.

Dredge volumes proposed at James Price Point had to be revised from 21 million cubic metres to 34 million cubic metres of material, with dredging activities estimated to be an ongoing battle for years because some of the largest tides in the world are experienced at James Price Point.

The Premier called it an unremarkable piece of coastline.

Mr Barnett said "the James Price Point site was "literally a pinprick"  in the Kimberley, on land that
wasn't spectacular coastline.

COLIN BARNETT: "It’s a it’s a pretty piece of, ah, beach, but when I use the word unremarkable, uh, I’m making the point that this is not the spectacular Kimberley coast that you see in picture postcards". 

Gas hub appeals reviewer wraps up meetings - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Gas hub appeals reviewer wraps up meetings - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation):

"The dredging program was a concern. The impact on marine fauna had a significant level of concern," he said.

"I suppose the thing that concerns me as much as anything is the vine thickets that will be impacted by the development. They were all significant concerns with the appellants."

Dr Green says the Broome meetings made him aware of issues and information he was not previously aware of.

Woodside Petroleum Limited : Western Australian Government Confines Browse Gas Processing To James Price Point | 4-Traders

Woodside Petroleum Limited : Western Australian Government Confines Browse Gas Processing To James Price Point | 4-Traders:

The site, north of Broome, faces opposition from environmental groups and some traditional land owners, while some analysts have suggested it would be cheaper to pipe gas from the offshore Browse fields hundreds of kilometres south to existing processing facilities at Karratha.

"Legislation to ensure the Browse LNG Precinct is the only site for processing Browse Basin gas on the Kimberley coast was today introduced into State Parliament," the Western Australian Government said in a statement.

The Bill Number is 308 and was introduced and first and second read in today.

               

The purpose of the Bill is to ratify, and authorise the implementation of, an agreement between the State, the Native Title Party (for and on behalf of the Native Title Claim Group in relation to the Native Title Claim), as each is defined in the agreement, and the Kimberley Land Council Aboriginal Corporation, relating to the establishment of a liquefied natural gas precinct in the vicinity of James Price Point in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, and for incidental and other purposes. If it is a State Agreement then the content of the agreement cannot be amended or even broadly debated as all we will be dealing with is agreeing in both houses to the agreement.

Get excited people! This will be one awesome gig to protect the Kimberley.

"Concert for the Kimberley" featuring two of Australia's most celebrated musical icons – John Butler Trio and Clare Bowditch will perform at a free open-air concert in Melbourne’s Federation Square on Friday, October 5, from 6pm to 9pm.

With messages from Missy Higgins and an address from Bob Brown, this is shaping up to

be a night to remember. Spread the word! Tell your friends! See you there!

The concert will also be broadcast live around the world at www.concertforthekimberley.com.au

"Concert for the Kimberley"
Who: John Butler Trio and Clare Bowditch
Where: Federation Square, Melbourne
When: Friday, October 5, 6-9pm
How much: FREE (donations welcome for the Protect the Kimberley campaign)

Carmen Lawrence on the social cost of mining - Sunday Extra - ABC Radio National (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Carmen Lawrence on the social cost of mining - Sunday Extra - ABC Radio National (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Around 60 per cent of Australian mining takes place on or next to Aboriginal land.

That can be a source of economic benefit and employment for Aboriginal people, but mining can also bring calamitous destruction of land and heritage.

We asked Carmen Lawrence how we can balance a resources-led economy with respect for the world's most ancient living culture?

I have the great privilege of chairing the Heritage Council, so I’m learning as I go, but I think it’s clear that we’re often asking Aboriginal people to trade off their heritage for economic benefits and employment, often benefits that they should enjoy without having to destroy their own heritage, and I think that’s what’s happened in the Kimberley around the gas hub.  But, you know, at the base, we really don’t fully understand, I think, the significance.  We should, because Aboriginal people have been telling us for long enough that this really matters to them, that they don’t divide their lives up into little bits and pieces, that these are all interconnected, the language, the law, the place, it’s connected with their traditional owners, their ancestors, but with, you know, contemporary livelihoods and senses of themselves.  And it’s no accident, I think, that people who seek to destroy cultures, destroy heritage first and foremost.  I’m not saying now, that that’s systematically intended, but it certainly was part of the original story of indigenous disposition and the stolen generation, that was an explicit attempt to remove culture from Aboriginal people".

"

The Dinosaurs of Broome 22 27 Australian Age of Dinosaurs Jan 2012

Massive gas projects hang all hopes on price

Massive gas projects hang all hopes on price:
PUBLISHED: 17 Sep 2012 18:08:06 | UPDATED: 18 Sep 2012 00:01:37
LNG projects on Curtis Island, near Gladstone in Queensland, are expected to come online in 2015.

Alexandra Cain

Three liquefied natural gas plants are under construction in Queensland to meet expected high demand from Asia. It is hoped they will profit from an increase in the gas price. The costs of extraction are expected to increase as thousands of wells are drilled. There is a lull in the negotiation of long-term contracts.

This is the REALITY of an LNG Greenfield ...

Do you want this at James Price Point?

The once lovely Curtis Island on the barrier reef. And this is just the start. Hello gas station pumping our gas to China. Bye bye pristine waters from run off and pollution from passing ships, bye bye dugongs, wildlife and fragile coral ecosystems from dredging and silty sludge for miles up the coast. This is so disgraceful. I'm so bloody angry.

Amanda Shoebridge's Photo

 WRITE TODAY: to the Joint Venture Partners, letters, email address, postal address, all found here at the link: https://www.facebook.com/notes/protect-the-kimberley/campaign-target-5-joint-venture-partners-email-today-/487196287966270

 

Doubt aired over Indigenous heritage laws - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Doubt aired over Indigenous heritage laws - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): The chairman of the National Native Title Council, Nolan Hunter, says that sends a clear message about where native title land stands in the mining sector.

"If there is a legislative framework that requires protection of Aboriginal heritage sites and it isn't enforced, what is the signal that sends about what people may hope to expect from getting proper heritage protection?" he said.

"It just means that the priority or the undervaluing of heritage in Western Australia is of a lesser interest compared to the broader interests of the community and ... it's not very appropriate given the State Government is currently reviewing the Aboriginal Heritage Act."

Project X @ woodside compound at James Price Point

 Project X @ woodside compound at James Price Point

For more pictures follow the link

(3) Facebook

Premier says mining will sustain the economy - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 Barnett said "My state has been variously described as a dig it up, ship it out economy. Not true. The scale, the technology and the science that goes into mining is world leading, absolutely world leading.

"Other people think that we're just China's quarry, no, that's not true, and others think we're just bogans and billionaires. Well, if we are, we know what we're doing, just leave us alone."

Brown fights to save whales from reach of gas plant

Ben Cubby,Environment Editor

Sea Shepherd at James Price Point

Brown fights to save whales from reach of gas plant:

Ben Cubby,Environment Editor ''We have our place, the whales deserve to have theirs,'' he says simply. The gas factory plan calls for a lengthy breakwater that would cut through a whale migration route that leads to what is thought to be the world's largest nursery for humpback calves.

"We were in the inflatable boat, about two kilometres off the point, and a baby whale calf came up right in front of us and let out a great, melodious sigh" (This moment was captured, from the cliffs of Walmandan (James Price Point) by Dave Smith

Brown says of his recent voyage to the gas factory site aboard a Sea Shepherd vessel.

''Then, further along, another calf came up out of the ocean and splashed back in, and it was followed by its mother, which sent up a huge fountain of water beside us.

That's going to be with me for the rest of my life.''

2012-09-13 QWON Involvment of DIA Deputy Director General

Heritage Fight - A film by Eugenie Dumont

Heritage Fight - A film by Eugenie Dumont

Lack of gas costs Woodside - The West Australian

Lack of gas costs Woodside - The West Australian:

Woodside Petroleum's failure to discover enough gas for a second train at its Pluto operation could add $1 billion to the flagship asset's expansion cost because of the need to build extra LNG tanks.

The fallout from the exploration failure, which has instead forced the company to focus on striking a supply deal with rivals owning gas fields in the Carnarvon Basin, comes as Woodside looks for savings of its expansion plan by chopping the new train size from 4.3 million tonnes a year to 3mtpa.

BUGGER OFF BARNETT

The Opposition Leader Mark McGowan says the Premier has overseen a series of failings on the issue. "You have threatened commercial interests, you have threatened Indigenous people, you have torn the community of Broome apart," he said. "You have had an environmental process which has been an outrageous corruption of what was the intended process when the EPA was set up." THE BROOME COMMUNITY CONTINUES TO TELL THE PREMIER "TO BUGGER OFF"

"Probably the largest jellyfish bloom on earth."

Broome's quivering red sea - The West Australian:

Blooms were then rare until 2000, when the jellyfish appeared in "unbelievable numbers" , creating a "red band" from Rottnest all the way to up to Derby:

Thousands of big, quivering red jellyfish created a spectacle on Cable Beach yesterday.
Marine scientist James Brown, of Cygnet Bay, arrived with his sons about 6.15am to find the jellyfish, which had washed up overnight.
"They were very fresh, being pushed up by little swells that were rolling in," Mr Brown said.
Mr Brown, who set up the Kimberley Marine Research Institute at his Cygnet Bay pearl farm with fellow scientist Ali McCarthy, felt it important to record the phenomenon for further research.
He said globally, such blooms were of great interest to researchers, who were examining possible links between the blooms and effects of climate change.

Adele Carles (Indep): "

To add insult to this whole wound, we now find out that the government is paying only lip service to the actual appeals process at the very end of the process. Minister Marmion has recently announced the appointment of Dr Roy Green as an appeals committee. This is quite bizarre to my mind—“committee” is plural. It seems quite bizarre that an appeals committee of one is deemed an appropriate process when we know there is an unprecedented 244 appeals to be heard by this so-called committee. I therefore call on this government to appoint a proper appeals committee of at least two or more persons in accordance with section 108(1) of the Environmental Protection Act to give the appeals committee at least the perception of legitimacy in the eyes of the public at this stage. I also believe that Dr Green may be too close to the EPA process. He has held prior roles as deputy chair of the EPA and chairman of the EPA review committee. To conclude, I would say that there is a strong sense of disbelief over what has taken place—the debacle of this process—and it really beggars belief that the government would appoint a one-man band at the very end of the day to tick off on such a controversial proposal.

After the consultation, Dr Green will prepare a report for consideration by Mr Marmion which will not be made public until the Minister has determined the appeals. Than, undergo further assessment by the Federal Department of Environment and Minister Tony Burke before this proposed project and it's flawed corrupt process is final slayed to rest in the pile of other bad ideas of Barnet's, like his canal.

Motion against Government's handling of gas hub - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Motion against Government's handling of gas hub - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): The State Opposition has moved a motion in Parliament condemning the Government's handling of the proposed Kimberley gas hub.

Labor has accused the government of having disregard for the Indigenous cultural sensitivities of the area at James Price Point.

It has also criticised the environmental assessment process after the decision to recommend the project's approval was made by the chairman of the Environmental Protection Authority alone.

The Opposition Leader Mark McGowan says the Premier has overseen a series of failings on the issue.

"You have threatened commercial interests, you have threatened Indigenous people, you have torn the community of Broome apart," he said.

"You have had an environmental process which has been an outrageous corruption of what was the intended process when the EPA was set up."

Claims WA government ignored own advice on indigenous cultural heritage - Bush Telegraph - ABC Rural (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Claims WA government ignored own advice on indigenous cultural heritage - Bush Telegraph - ABC Rural (Australian Broadcasting Corporation):
The WA government knew of the threat to culturally significant areas at James Price Point but supports the development anyway, according to lawyers for the Goolarabooloo.

Andrew Chalk who is representing the Goolarabooloo and native title claimant, Joseph Roe, claim Woodside wrote to the WA government asking them to withdraw a letter which stated there are areas of cultural significance.

Studies by the Aboriginal Cultural Material Committee (ACMC) conducted in 1991 showed evidence of indigenous heritage sites at James Price Point.

WA minister for Indigenous Affairs and Energy, Peter Collier declined our invitation to speak on Bush Telegraph, as did Woodside petroleum.

Traditional owners told to dismantle signs - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Traditional owners of land earmarked for the controversial James Price Point gas hub have been ordered to take down signs they have put up. Traditional owners told to dismantle signs - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Geoffrey Cousins slams James Price Point gas dealing as 'corrupt' | The Australian

Geoffrey Cousins slams James Price Point gas dealing as 'corrupt' | The Australian:
by: GRAHAM LLOYD
From: The Australian
September 10, 2012 12:00AM

DEALINGS between Woodside and the West Australian government over the $40 billion James Price Point gas hub should be investigated by a royal commission, businessman Geoffrey Cousins said yesterday.

Mr Cousins said, in his view, the relationship smacked of "corruption" similar to dealings between Gunns and the Tasmanian government for a pulp mill in that state.

Greens challenge Woodside project process | Herald Sun

Two protesters scale rigs at gas hub site - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Two protesters scale rigs at gas hub site - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation):

Police have arrived at Woodside's work site north of Broome where two protesters have scaled drill rigs.

The man and woman are protesting against the building of a $30 billion LNG processing precinct at the site.

They are sitting on platforms about seven metres high.

We will sail into victory as the No Gas Campagain at James Price Point gathers speed.

Sea Shepherd to protect Kimberley Whales from Woodside Gas Hub at Walmadan (James Price Point) Raw footage of Bob Brown addressing a Sydney rally on Sunday 2 September

Colourful contest for the seat of Kimberley - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Colourful contest for the seat of Kimberley - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Kimberley heritage sold out by 'conspiracy of deceit' | The Australian

Kimberley heritage sold out by 'conspiracy of deceit' | The Australian:
The lawyers have demanded Woodside be prosecuted for criminal acts of damage but their requests have fallen on deaf ears. An application for emergency protection has sat on the desk of federal Environment Minister Tony Burke for more than 12 months.

Since the company bulldozers first went in, under the protection of state police, a 12-month statute of limitations on prosecution for the initial alleged breaches of the Aboriginal Heritage Act has expired, without the State's investigation of the alleged breaches reaching a conclusion.

James Price Point is not another Hindmarsh Island, where accounts of secret Aboriginal business surfaced late in the day to derail a proposed development.

Documents prove that heritage values at James Price Point were identified long before the gas hub was first mooted.

Woodside In Country, trashing the Song C…

October 10, 2011
http://youtu.be/npL2CIoJL4s
 

Gas giant Woodside silences advice on songlines | The Australian

Gas giant Woodside silences advice on songlines | The Australian:

WOODSIDE wrote to the West Australian government at least twice last year asking it to withdraw written advice about the possible existence of significant Aboriginal sites in areas disturbed by its proposed $40 billion James Price Point gas hub.

Any damage to the sites integral to an important Aboriginal men's song cycle could leave the resources giant and its directors liable for criminal prosecution under the state's Aboriginal Heritage Act.

A government spokesman confirmed that the Barnett government succumbed to Woodside's wishes and withdrew the letters.

Uploaded by handsoffcountry on May 21, 2011

Nearly two years ago Redhand put up a video about the ancient Middens that could be found between James Price Point and Quondong. Yesterday, Redhand return to these sites, only to find total desecration of our Cultural Sites that are of national heritage and international importance.

additional videos clearly showing Woodside total disregard to Aboriginal Heritage

11th May 2011 James Price Point.wmv

May 12, 2011

http://youtu.be/EgrZhPWpQ5U

14th May 20011 Woodside ripping up frag…

May 14, 2011

http://youtu.be/CXpj4cJow9g

May 24, 2011

http://youtu.be/1N7ABY93uY0

June 6, 2011

http://youtu.be/3M0uNwX-snQ 

Hands Off Country

This image was projected on Broome water tower as part of Project X. It is not Photoshopped.
Stay tuned for more visual treats from Project X as we keep sending the message loud and clear that we will never give up.

Aboriginal blow to gas hub deal - The West Australian

Aboriginal blow to gas hub deal - The West Australian: The lead Aboriginal organisation in talks with the State Government over the proposed $40 billion gas hub at James Price Point near Broome has appealed against the Environmental Protection Authority's approval of the project.

It says the project threatened to leave Aboriginal people in the Kimberley worse off.

The Kimberley Land Council said the EPA's report was "virtually silent" on the project's social and cultural effects and traditional owners could be forced to withdraw their support.

KLC chief executive Nolan Hunter denied the EPA was unable to address the effects under its remit, saying the strategic assessment agreement signed by the State and Federal governments in 2008 made it a requirement for approval.