Beware the Trojan Horse

Serious disturbing information has been brought to Redhand’s attention. It has been said that the Department of State Development Director General Anne Nolan’s partner is employed by Woodside to oversee their security arrangements in Broome. If this is true then there needs to be some very serious questions asked of Ms Nolan both by the public, the media and within the state parliament itself.

Prior to the Christmas break there was a lot of activity in Country, with Woodside’s contracted mercenary security force called Hostile Environmental Services http://www.hostile1.com/Operations/tabid/55/Default.aspx running around country intimidating locals and visitors alike.

People who just happen to be out on family fishing or reefing trips, out collecting the local seasonal bush fruits, or just out for a weekend drive have been accosted by members of this company. (Only the rain has managed to stop them). There have been letters to the editor of the local newspaper complaining about their intimidation tactics on the locals. It has been reported that this company has chased individuals across Buckley’s Plains, entered into people’s camps without welcome, staked out prominent campaign leader’s streets, blocked access tracks, followed and filmed locals who are just out enjoying their weekends and their coastal lifestyles with family and friends. For all intent and purpose it appears that this Company is compiling dossiers on people.

Apparently, a number of personnel employed by Hostile Environmental Services have worked in Afghanistan for highly dubious private security firms. What does Woodside think they are playing at? Do they really think that by bringing this calibre of heavy security troupe into our town, into our community that it will stop or silence our very strong cohesive and consolidated community into submission? Woodside and for that matter the Department of State Development must understand that a very bright national and international spotlight is currently beamed squarely over the James Price Point issue and that nothing will go amiss! Facebook, Twitter and privately operated blogs like Hands Off Country will ensure the information and visual flow.

People of the Dampier Peninsular and Broome communities will not be stood over, bullied or bribed into this project. We will continue to champion our collective opposition to this proposed CO2 pumping, emission poisoning refineries, water hungry and totally social destructive enterprise. Can the Joint Ventures Partners ( BHP, Shell, BP and Chevron) honestly afford their brands to be associated with Woodside, a company prepared to use these types of strong arm and ominous tactics on community?

Just because Woodside wants to prove to the world, that they can be a stand alone company, that they are one of the big boys, let it be made very clear now, that it will not be at the expense of our iconic Broome, our peninsula communities, lifestyle, clean environment, our sense of place, our sustainability, or our cultural and heritage values.

The moment there is any movement to push this unwanted C02 generating, benzene pumping and fresh water draining LNG project into Country, whether it’s to build access tracks, take soil samples or undertake any form of drilling, it will not be the so called mad blackfellows or violent hippies that Woodside’s current middle management talk about who will be out protecting country, it will be the grandmothers of our community, with their grandchildren, it will be community women, young mothers and our children who will be standing up in front, to protect Country and our children’s future. And how will the Woodside’s senior management deal with “the old ladies and babies” who will never surrender?

What the State Government, Woodside and all the Joint Venture Partners need to really comprehend and appreciate is that these ever growing local, national and international campaigns to Save James Price Point will be as historical as Nookanbah, as challenging as The Franklin and as persistent as the Whale Wars.

BP, Governments Downplay Public Health Risk From Oil and Dispersants whilst Broome hosts oil spill response training

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/riki-ott/the-big-lie-bp-government_b_638369.html

William Rea, MD, who founded the Environmental Health Center-Dallas, treated a number of sick Exxon Valdez cleanup workers. He once told me, "When you have sick people and sick animals, and they are sick because of the same chemical, that's the strongest evidence possible that that chemical is a problem."

It's not just skin rashes and blisters. At community forums, I commonly hear from adults and children with persistent coughs, stuffy sinuses, headaches, burning eyes, sore throats, ear bleeds, and fatigue. These symptoms are consistent across the four Gulf states that I have visited. Further, the symptoms of respiratory problems, central nervous system distress, and skin irritation are consistent with overexposure to crude oil through the two primary routes of exposure: inhalation and skin contact.

Most distressing to me are stories about sick children. "Dose plus host makes the poison," I learned in toxicology. A small child is at risk of breathing a higher dose of contaminants per body weight than an adult. Children, pregnant women, people with compromised or stressed immune systems like cancer survivors and asthma sufferers, and African Americans are more at risk from oil and chemical exposure - the latter because they are prone to sickle cell anemia and 2-butoxyethanol can cause, or worsen, blood disorders.

Public officials have failed to sound an alarm about the public health threat because three federal agencies - DHHS, EPA, and OSHA - cannot find any unsafe levels of oil in air or water. Perhaps the federal air and water standards are not stringent enough to protect the public from oil pollution. Our federal laws are outdated and do not protect us from the toxic threat from oil - now widely recognized in the scientific and medical community.

BP is still in the dark ages on oil toxicity. BP officials stress that, by the time oil gets to shore, it is "weathered" and missing the highly volatile compounds like the carcinogenic benzene, among others. BP fails to mention the threat from dispersed oil, ultrafine particles (PAHs), and chemical dispersants, which include industrial solvents and proprietary compounds, many hazardous to humans.

If oil was so nontoxic, then why are the spill response workers giving hazardous waste training? Our federal government should stop pretending that everything is okay. What isn't safe for workers isn't safe for the general public either.
On the 1st of July is was reported by the local Kimberley ABC that a pecial training sessions are to be held in Broome to help ensure local authorities know how to respond in the event of an oil spill.

The Department of Transport's oil spill response team will host three days of training this week at Broome Port for port workers, government officers and members of the private sector. Appropriately,participants will be taught how to quickly assess spills that reach the coast and how to use equipment, such as containment booms, to limit their spread.

Coordinator Matt Verney says the team is able to draw on its experiences with last year's Montara oil spill."All the training is an opportunity to get the latest information and try out new equipment, and also put in place the lessons learnt from other incidents, so we're best prepared next time we do have an incident," he said.

Redhand would like to suggest that Matt Verney reads the article in full at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/riki-ott/the-big-lie-bp-government_b_638369.html and if at all possible visit the Gulf of Mexico and offer them his expertise because they sure could use it. The fact of the matter is once oil flows death follows, economic, environmental and social structures disintegrates.