Expression of Concern at Proposal to Construct Gas-Processing Hub at James Price Point, on the coast of the Dampier Peninsula, in the Kimberley Region

17-25 September 2009
This document expresses concern at the recently-announced proposal to exploit natural petroleum gas resources of the Browse Basin by installing a pipe-line and gas-processing hub on the coast of the Dampier Peninsula, Western Australia.




This expression of concern is directed to the State Government of Western Australia, the Federal Government of Australia, and all or any of their corporate industrial partners who may be engaged in exploiting mineral resources of the Browse Basin.

Signatories to this document are professional scientists with special research interests in geological and biological evidence relating to the discipline of Vertebrate Palaeontology (the study of extinct vertebrate animals) and, more specifically, in terrestrial ecosystems of the Mesozoic Era (the 'Age of Dinosaurs'). These shared concerns are expressions of personal opinion and should not be interpreted as the views of any particular organizations or professional bodies.


Recently the State Government of Western Australia announced a well-advanced proposal to exploit natural gas resources of the Browse Basin by installing a pipe-line and gas-processing plant in the region of James Price Point, on the western coast of the Dampier Peninsula. The announcement provoked widespread and serious concern because Dampier Land is the western part of the Kimberley region, recognized internationally as one of the last five great wilderness areas remaining on this planet.* The first geological survey of the Dampier region was undertaken as recently as 1947, and much of the Kimberley remains unexplored to this day. Recent ecological investigations (2007-09) reported "amazing" diversity of animals and "countless" new and hitherto unknown species of plants.* In addition the Kimberley coastline was described as "spectacular and fragile". It seems singularly inappropriate to site major industrial developments in such a pristine environment, especially as its natural resources still await scientific investigation.

The proposal for a gas-processing hub mentioned merely that there were reports of dinosaur tracks in the area. In fact, the Dampier coast has provided practically the entire fossil record of dinosaurs in the western half of the Australian continent (the exceptions being a few small fragments of bone). Coastal exposures of the Broome Sandstone between Broome and Cape Leveque yield unique and richly informative insights into terrestrial ecosystems of Early Cretaceous age (approximately 132 million years old) and have been the focus of ongoing scientific research since 1991. The ancient Cretaceous landscapes were buried intact, and today those fossil landscapes are being exhumed by coastal erosion, revealing the original topography, with soils, leaf-litter and plants such cycads and ferns still in their original position of growth. The sites also contain evidence of invertebrate animals and crocodiles, but the most impressive fossils are the tracks of dinosaurs, some of them in densely-packed profusion. There are at least 15 different types of dinosaur tracks, representing every major group of the Dinosauria.† Some types are extremely rare, even unique; others represent dinosaurs that ranked among the largest yet known to science. Today one may walk across those ancient landscapes, following the tracks of dinosaurs as they meandered between the clumps of vegetation more than 130 million years ago. Few sites on Earth afford such opportunities to explore ancient terrestrial ecosystems in such complete and undisturbed condition.

The dino-saurian track-sites of the Dampier coast are rare and precious resources, with no parallel in other parts of Australia. They deserve to be protected, rather than jeopardised by industrial developments. Some of the most important sites happen to be situated in the central western sector of the Dampier coast - where they face the greatest risk of damage or degradation if industrial development is allowed to proceed in the region of James Price Point.

The proposed development should not be envisaged as an inconspicuous pipe-line. It entails the establishment of an exclusion zone (no go area) along the coast, the construction of a jetty (perhaps 2-3 km), an industrial precinct occupying 2,500 hectares of land and 1,000 hectares of sea, an extensive series of chemical processing plants and a factory to utilise by-products in the manufacture of agricultural fertiliser. The transit of heavy traffic (hundreds of trucks per day) will require the construction of the first sealed roads, and there must also be facilities to accommodate the labour-force and support staff. Then, with gas on tap, it may become economically feasible to commence bauxite mining and to build an aluminium smelter.

The proposal to site these industrial developments at James Price Point is manifestly the 'quick, cheap and easy' option. Other options exist, such as a pipe-line north-eastwards to Darwin, where the requisite infrastructure is already planned in order to exploit petroleum resources of the Timor Sea. Another option is a pipe-line south-eastwards to the Pilbara mining and industrial region. A third option is processing at the wellhead - loading the gas straight into tankers - which might be appropriate as most of it (>80%) is destined for export anyway. We urge decision-makers at all stages - federal, state and corporate - to adopt one of these (or similar) options, thus preserving the integrity of the Kimberley and its wealth of natural and scientific treasures.
______________________________________________________________

*:Taggart, D. 2009. Pristine, precious and threatened. Zoo Times (Royal Zoological Society of South Australia), March 2009: 14-15.
† Thulborn, T. 2009. Dinosaur Tracks of the Broome Sandstone, Dampier Peninsula, Western Australia - interim review. A report prepared for the Kimberley National Heritage Assessment, Natural & Indigenous Heritage Branch, Australian Federal Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage & the Arts. November 2009, 25 pp.

Dr Tony Thulborn.
19 November 2009

Vincent Angus, Northern Tradition Law Boss

Vincent Angus, a Northern Tradition Law Boss speaking about how Kimberley Land Council staff refused himself and the other Law Bosses entry into the Goolarabooloo /Jabirr Jabirr Claimant Meeting, last Wednesday.

Eventually, the Law Bosses took their place in the meeting, only to have the Kimberley Land Council initiate a vote by a show of hands to have them removed. They stayed.

Jabirr Jabirr clan group voted to remove themselves from the original Goolarabooloo / Jabirr Jabirr Native Title Claim

Today the Jabirr Jabirr clan group voted to remove themselves from the original Goolarabooloo / Jabirr Jabirr Native Title Claim and splinter off. Following is a series of footage taken over the day, throughout the meeting, until I was asked to leave.



The Goolarabooloo claimant group application still sits in the Native Title Tribunal. Today, the real Traditional Owners for this Country in question, the Ngumbarl people (the quite ones) stood side by side with Goolarabooloo, in respect for each other position and their inherent legacies.



This meeting highlighted to me the division that this proposed LNG precinct is doing to the Indigenous communities on the Dampier Peninsula. Law Bosses from as far north as Bardi country traveled to Broome to speak and support Joseph Roe. But still, no respect was shown to them in regards to how decisions are made in regards to law & culture and the proper way in which decisions are made for country.

This video shows a lawyer addressing the gathering and asking "if they were happy if the Senior Law Men see and observe the process and sit in on the meeting?". Then the people were asked if they were happy to have the meeting filmed by anyone else?, except Kimberley Land Council ! and a show of hands were called for. Only a few raised their hands but Red Handed decided to leave because they did not want their presents, to distract from the real business.



Following the lunch break, the Jabirr Jabirr people decided to splinter off and left the meeting only to gather in the lawn in front of the Cable Beach Club, (interestingly to note that the shade tents had already been erected and were waiting) leaving the Goolarabooloo people at the conference venue.

Even when Red handed remained at a respectful distance, security were still instructed to stop me filming.



Upon their return, to the larger group, representatives from the splintering Jabirr Jabirr clan group informed the Northern Law Bosses, the Goolarabooloo custodians , the Jabirr Jabirr supporters and the rightful Traditional Owners for the Country in question, the Ngumbarl people that they had voted to splinter away from the original joint Native Title Claim and submit their own whole new claim. At this point, Kerrianne Cox, spokeswomen for the Ngumbarl people stated that they also have made the decision to stand strong and unite along alongside the Goolarabooloo Custodians and also submit a Claim.

Please note that the final section of this footage was filmed by a young Goolarabooloo women and not Red handed.

Will the rightfull people please stand Up.

If nothing else, it is hoped that today's meeting will finally bring the truth out, not only about KLC's questionable tactics to railroad the Cultural Law Bosses but the real Traditional Owners the Ngumbarl people will finally stand up and take their rightfull place at the table.

Like many Indigenous people the Ngumbal people suffered greatly when they were removed from their Country and taken to Beagle Bay as the stolen generations. It was because of this that Paddy Roe, Joseph Roe grandfather, from Goolarabooloo was given both the law and custodianship for this particular Country and for the last eighty years have look after the country, the law and the Songline. The Djaberadjabera mob who's language is Jabirr Jabirr have no cultural rights over this country and they will need to move back to their country which is north of Coulomb Point and travels north to Beagle Bay.

Court documents show the group's spokesman, Joseph Roe, a Cultural Law Boss and head of the Goolarabooloo with signatures from over 200 members lodged a Federal Court writ on Thursday, challenging the validity of the process.

Mr Roe says he will be assembling the entire native title claimant group tomorrow to convince them the court action is needed.

"I need to talk to my mob firstly, and other people, to let them know what's really going on."They have to hear it from me before it goes on anywhere yet."

Extract from Hansard
[COUNCIL - Thursday, 22 October 2009]
p8488b-8495a

Hon Ken Baston; Hon Robin Chapple; Hon Norman Moore

When it comes to the Browse Basin gas development, as I say, the Northern Development Taskforce had been meeting and having lengthy discussions with the traditional owners, the KLC and others who are not party to the KLC. There seems to be some idea that the KLC represents all Indigenous claimants; that is not the case. The KLC represents a large majority of claimants right across the Kimberley, but it is interesting to note that the KLC does not represent the traditional owner from that area, Mr Joe Roe. Joe Roe is a former member of the KLC and has made a number of statements recently. Probably the most important one was in The Weekend Australian of Saturday, 3 October 2009. In an article by Nicolas Perpitch, Mr Roe, as the cultural representative of the area, was asked whether he would support the development at James Price Point. The article states —

He says he voted no as part of his responsibilities to protect the cultural “songline” from north of the Dampier Peninsula to James Price Point and south to Bidyadanga. “I don’t think you’ve got to give up one part of the area to save the Kimberley. I want to keep my culture and heritage alive, not destroy it,” …

Roe says it’s up to the federal and state governments to support health, education and other basics, and these shouldn’t be dependent on a land deal.

Albert Wiggan meets Colin Barnett Beagle Bay

Wiggan says Premier didn't listen
By Vanessa Mills

http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2010/03/25/2856249.htm?site=kimberley

During the recent tour of the Dampier Peninsula, Premier Colin Barnett faced some opposition from several members of the Beagle Bay community. The Premier of Western Australia, Colin Barnett recently visited the Dampier Peninsula. ABC Kimberley Mornings spoke with him during the visit.

After this conversation, the Premier visited the Beagle Bay community.
A few days after, we spoke to prominent member of the community Albert Wiggan who says the meeting wasn't a satisfactory arrangement.
He says the residents felt they were not listened to and big issues for the community were avoided, including new funding arrangements and governance.

The following footage and text was provided by Eyes On Country.



Contrary to recently released media reports that Colin Barnett’s visit to Beagle Bay Community was a success, his fleeting visit may well have been a “feel good” sight seeing trip to him but the peoples of the Community, which also included those from outlying smaller communities that see Beagle Bay as their essential services hub, were left with the usual hollow feeling that accompanies a visit by government- no outcomes, no solutions and that once again their voices fell on deaf ears.
The general feeling after the gathering was that this was a trip for Colin to feel good about visiting those that he wishes to impose his Gas Hub Vision on, this was confirmed by his admission that in his eyes the Hub would go ahead regardless of how people felt and another subtle media relations campaign to claim that ”they cant say I haven’t talked with the people”. In plain speak-“ A way of covering your behind.”

The Community was made to wait over 2 hours from the scheduled start time in searing heat under the tin roof that is the Women’s Centre (which of course was made spick and span by the fabulous volunteers that run the group).The gathering was introduced by Neil Marshall (DIA) (although some mistakenly took him to be the Premiers Personal Body guard by the domineering manner in which he conducted himself). He apologised for the delayed start.

Nyul Nyul Elder Mr Steven Victor welcomed the Premier and guests to Country.

Approximately only 3 speakers were given time to ask questions and raise important issues before Mr Neil Marshall literally jumped from his chair and declared that question time was over, lunch was ready and people may only now mingle with the Premier. Everyone was completely surprised and many rushed to the Premier to continue raising issues, with Mr Marshall in close attendance.

The issues that were raised by the 3 speakers started with questioning the Premier on the major concerns of housing, health, education and employment. The next main issue was that despite previous meetings and decisions nothing had been done in ten years to address a Safe House for children, and the dilapidated Store and Women’s Centre. He was also questioned as to what he felt was a “real” job for Aboriginal people. The third issue raised was deep concern about the KLC process in relation to the proposed Gas Hub and how grass roots people still felt completely left out of the picture and that there did not seem to be any transparency to the process.

The main jist of Barnetts responses to these issues was that the Gas Hub would supply a flow of money to address these issues and he even elaborated on the design of the Hub saying that for example, that the beach at JPP would be left untouched as there was plans to build the pipes over the top of the beach.(maybe we wont need the sun umbrella anymore, the shade of the pipes should be great on a hot day at JPP).Really, the answers skirted around the real questions and led back to him doing his duty by meeting with people.

During mingle time Barnett, Gail Mc Gowan and Ken Baston (Member for Mining and Pastoral Region) were asked who scrutinises the KLC, such was the concern that things are not transparent yet they all were unable to answer this question. Mr Baston said he would find out and let people know. Stay tuned.

Not long after “mingle “ time and lunch(prepared by the wonderful Vanessa and staff from the Store and the wonderful Denise from the Bakery.) local man Albert Wiggan called for quiet and addressed the Premier and the gathering.Following is the passionate speech challenging the Premier on all levels to come to a new understanding of relationship on these issues.

Values People hold for their Broome Community

A few months ago there was the perception that community opinion was evenly divided over the proposed Kimberley LNG Precinct development at Walmadan (James Price Point). Now after some time on the streets in the CBD Chinatown and shopping centres there appears to have been an enormous shift of community opinion. A shift in attitude and support away from the development, this is after a gradual release of information into the public arena.

The Premier’s constant reference to James Price Point going ahead has only added to the community’s mistrust of the Government's process. Where is the integrity, probity, community engagement, community discourse and permission given? How can we trust that stakeholder meetings, potential forums, future reports and public review periods will be of any value, when he tells us it’s a done deal?

Redhand asks. ‘What are the three things that you value most about Broome?’

Overwhelmingly, the values of community, lifestyle, multiculturalism, beaches, fishing, fresh air and clean environment top the values reported. Now people are realising that these precious values are the very things that will be eroded away, even destroyed. There is a rising disquiet and call to action to tell the Government to include us in the process. Allow us to issue the social licence to operate this proposal which will dominate the landscape and destroy Broome’s lifestyle and community. The Broome community is committed to ensuring it’s not going to happen. The State Government's rhetoric isn’t working. People of Broome are realising that a handful of jobs is not worth the destruction of Broome’s community values and the total upheaval to their way of life. The Broome Community will not roll over on this.
YOUR VALUES welcomed in comments.
Hands off country.

Following is a social impact statement about life in the Industrial Pilbara of Western Australia

Submitted: Tuesday, Mar 03, 2009 at 01:17
Flywest replied:
Rents is a killer if you don't have your accoms provided.
The beachfront house we had in Pt samson used to rent out for $2K a week. Karratha prices aren't much better. Karratha has OK shopping and Hospitals etc.

Works easy to find - when we were there within the last 12 months, EVERY business in the LIA had "staff wanted" signs posted out front. Heres the problem

Even if you made sandwiches at the lunch shop in the LIA and they paid you 2K a week(which they won't/can't), your rent on a grass square in the Cvan park to put up a tent was about $600 a week. Add in fuel near 2 ucks a liter and food at 2 times the cost of Perth supermarkets and you couldn;t afford to live.

Same with a tradesman.Say he needs to make, $1K a week to provide / run his work ute and tools and maintenance etc, then he needs say $1500 a week for a SMALL 3drm house....thats $2.5 K a week before he gets any takehome pay - as an employer you HAVE to pay $4 or $5 a week to be able to get anyone to work and stay!

There’s heaps and heaps of work - its just that unless you have a parent that owns a house there and cheap rent - you can't make any cash there.... Some of the businesses have houses they bought 20 years ago that they use as part of the job package to be able to attract tradesmen at a wage they can afford. Anyone like refrigeration mechanics and diesel fitters etc - can find MORE work than you can poke a stick at - its just that unless you charge out at $1K a DAY - you can't survive up there, because things are so expensive. Which employers gonna pay you $5K a week (250K a year) to work up there?

NONE!
That’s why EVERY business in the LIA has staff wanted signs and can't get or keep staff! That’s WHY all the mining companies prefer to fly their workers in out rather than accommodate them. Staff are so short, the mining companies are chartering jets from the airport to Brisbane and back once a week on Tuesdays to try and get workers outta Queensland - the sparky who rewired our fuse board, was from Brisbane I kid you not. 2 days work $5K

The mining companies charter jets to fly Port Headland to Karratha and back every day so their staff can get the few available accoms in Pt Headland and work in Karratha, its cheaper than building staff accoms in Karratha.

A plumbing job that cost me $270 in parts and took me 2 hours was quoted at $2.7K by the local plumbers. NOTHING in Karratha involving a tradesman costs under a grand - in fact unless you pay em a grand they won't even come and quote - thats what their time is worth to them. We waited over 3 months for a refrigeration guy to come back and finish a air con job - and he never showed, in the end I bought a part myself off the internet had it posted and fixed it myself.

There simply are very very few eligible young women in the Karratha area, compared to the numbers of randy young fly in fly out guys and permanent workers. Those that are there get hassled so much it’s a REAL problem in the community.

Sand flies are the killer in the heat & 44 is a good day, 48 is HOT! The heat takes it's toll - lots of the big supply wholesale businesses are in big warehouses (steel) with limited if any air con... In summer - the staff when you walk in for service have that dehydrated / disinterested / don't want to be here/ don't want to service you, look on their face and you can hardly blame them, it is oppressive humid heat in the monsoon season is the ONLY way to describe it. Quite simply if you don't have job on offer paying at least 300 - 350 K a year - then your wasting your time even thinking about going there.

Karratha is not all it is cracked up to be if you don't have high wage fly in fly out company accoms etc. Look at all the Shire of Roebourne (Karratha Offices) vacancies advertised in every Saturdays west! They offer salaries packages around 100K including state govt housing - and can't get or keep staff! That’s just my and my family’s opinion tho - we still have some close friends who live there, and have for years and love it.

It depends a LOT on what you expect and want outta the place.

Cheers

Serious social and psychological ramifications are currently being experienced within our small community of Broome

“Conditions will help make sure the Gas Precinct does not have any bad effects on land, sea country, on the lives of people or on their cultural heritage. They will also make sure that Traditional Owners and other affected Indigenous people can obtain benefits from the development of the Precinct”. KLC Newsletter Jan-Feb 2010

Who is advising the Kimberley Land Council? Are they are just: outright lazy in their research, lack life experience or world exposure, or totally ignorant to the real world in which we all live or are they just fraudulent in the quality of information they translate to their membership. After all, sustainability (good business sense) means running with the global environment - Earth Inc. - like a corporation: with depreciation, amortization and maintenance accounts. In other words, keeping the asset whole, rather than undermining the natural capital.
Does KLC’s membership really appreciate the horrendous social and environmental ramifications of the LNG industries if the proposed precinct is built at James Price Point?

We are in a period of time, in human history, when communities are in search of new and sustaining relationships with the planet because the world’s environmental problems are currently threatening the very existence of all life-forms. This is the ideology that Indigenous people all over the world have been trying to inform Non-indigenous people since their first contacts. Now, just when Non-indigenous people are starting to fully appreciate what the first (original) people were warning us all about and the fact that their calamitous predictions are now coming to fruition. It seems so incongruous that their social and cultural values have been so corrupted and infiltrated with imposed values that they now accept that everything that is happening as unavoidable.

Serious social and psychological ramifications are currently being experienced within our small community of Broome even as the final decision on the proposal is months away.


The magnitude of destruction within the LNG industrial processes is so great that we must initiate a radical rethinking of the myth of progress and of humanity's role in the evolutionary process. Indeed, we should ask ourselves: Is community and its very essence of human participation and collectiveness also a vulnerable species on our endangered planet?

It’s not just about Country anymore, it’s about the planet and everyone’s human rights to live and work in a healthy environment and keep it that way for the future generations. We are lucky enough to live in a democracy; we all need to exercise our rights to speak for our home, community and the planet. In less democratic societies, people don’t get the right to object to multinational corporations bullying and if you do question, they just kill you, this is fact. So, we have the globalizational obligations to ensure that when we can question and speak for the countless of millions of people who suffer and live in the aftermaths and dregs of multinational corporation greed, all over the world. We have to challenge this mentality of profit before people, here and now because we can.

Corporations have to prove to us that they are good corporate citizens and the communities on the Dampier peninsular and the Broome Community have the legal and ethical entitlements to issue the Social Licence to Operate. It should not be up to the Broome community to convince the State government, Woodside or the joint ventures that our community is really worth saving from the socially destroying heavy industrialisation impacts. Broome does not have the capacity or the social will to service an industrial conglomerate for the next 99 years. The corporations should be convincing us as a community that they are and have been good corporate citizens and clearly illustrate to us how they achieved this. What really is their track record in mitigating their management plans, who, where, how and when have these plans been monitored or reported on?

The ecological and social crisis of the late 20th century displays a profound alienation from Country / nature and indeed from matter itself. Country had become largely identified as matter which can be manipulated and is seen as a resource to be exploited used rather than the source of life itself.

Maybe, it’s because we live on a island or are so spoiled because we live in one of three least human impacted places in world or maybe its because Kimberley people are almost completely alienated from the rest of the world that we really do not comprehend the facts that our planet is struggling against: unprecedented assaults that include environmental pollution, destruction of entire ecosystems, the aesthetic degradation of nature, human overpopulation, resource depletion, industrial growth, technological manipulation, and, now emerging as the most pressing and desperate of all problems, abrupt massive species extinction - and in cases of recently discovered ones.

Two thirds of the planet’s environments are totally compromised. We are killing country, community, culture and our world. Our feelings of alienation in the modern period have extended beyond the human community and its patterns of material exchanges to our interaction with country itself. Especially in technologically sophisticated urban societies, we have become removed from that recognition of our dependence on nature – when we no longer see the earth as sacred or understand our connection to it, we are really lost!

Pilbara people of Western Australia exposed to unacceptable levels of emissions & cocktails of Photochemicals.

When is the deadly truth going to be made public as to why Woodside, Joint Ventures (Use It or Lose It Excusers) and the WA government are pushing for a new LNG green-field site, at Walmadan, (James Price Point) for the processing of LNG.
Why don’t they pipe it to the Pilbara where heavy industries and the infrastructure already exist?” Over and over again, these questions have been asked and we have never received an honest answer.

We have been told that it's economic, it's political (State or Federal royalties argument) or it's technically impossible. The real reason is the Air quality (air shed) and air pollution that is currently being experienced in the Pilbara.
Source the emission of benzene in the Pilbara, Western Australia. ... to 50 ppm from 1 January 2006, www.environment.gov.au/soe/2006/publications/.../air-quality.html

The truth of the matter is the Pilbara has far exceeded their National Pollutant Inventory with their many sea, land and air emissions. The additional processing activities associated with the Browse Basin would push the emission levels off the richter scale.

Source the emission of benzene in the Pilbara, Western Australia. ... to 50 ppm from 1 January 2006, www.environment.gov.au/soe/2006/publications/.../air-quality.html

Woodside Energy Ltd ( Karratha Onshore Gas Treatment Plant, VIA KARRATHA WA ) n-Hexane High – 100 Ethylbenzene Toluene (methylbenzene) High - 100] Cyclohexane High – 100 Total Volatile Organic Compounds High – 100

Woodside Energy Ltd ( King Bay Supply Base, Dampier WA ) Total Volatile Organic Compounds [Low - 1] ??????

http://www.npi.gov.au/data/overview/reports/wa-facility-all.html. This website has limited access and their links very weak.

Benzene is a dangerous, poisonous substance, and research shows that it can be harmful to us as well as to animals, plants, and the environment. Oil and gas extraction is the largest industrial source of benzene in Australia. These industries all produce, use and handle benzene which quickly evaporate into the air and can be carried over long distances. If it is released into soil it can break down quickly and contaminate groundwater. No research has been undertaken on how these emissions would react to our beautiful mists that form over our coastal strip in the dry season. Emissions have a history of attaching themselves to water particles.

More information is available on the website www.npi.gov.au or from the National Environment (National Pollutant Inventory) Protection Measure 1998 (as varied) (available from www.ephc.gov.au).

Walmadan ( James Price Point) location is needed to spread the LNG industries’ land, sea and air based emissions around. The air quality at Walmadan is currently classified very high quality air. The prevailing winds through the six different seasons that we experience in the north would spread the emissions around the Dampier Peninsula, assisting the proponents to maintain conservative reported levels.

Why, does the government choose not to tell us these facts? Do the people living or working in the Pilbara really understand that they are being exposed to enormous levels of emissions that far exceed the national average and will cause real and serious health issues both for themselves and their children?
The truth will come out in a few years, and many Pilbara people will spend the rest of their short sick lives fighting for compensation. We see it happening all over the world, and usually when it is too late, when the precious resources have been exhausted or the victims start dying.

Walmadan's Coral Reefs and Marine Gardens

“We know more about the surface of Mars than we know about the Kimberley Marine Environment”. Turning the Tide, WA Marine Science Institute 2009.

On 9 February 2010 the Western Australian Marine Science Institution and the Australian Marine Sciences Association WA branch held the Marine science in Western Australia: Show and tell symposium. Over 230 researchers attended the Western Australian Maritime Museum at Fremantle.

WAMSI Chief Executive Officer Steve Blake said marine research was a vital prerequisite to answer questions about the survival of coral reefs, climate change, the future of marine species, food webs, fisheries, tsunamis, extinctions, warming temperatures and ocean acidification.

Speakers discussed the dazzling array of new corals being discovered in the Kimberley region, the presence of heavy metals, tsunami warning systems, ocean temperature and current speed forecasting, the impact of coastal developments, fisheries biology, social uses, dredging of ports, the discovery of new sponges, environmental pests (there are 55 known to impact WA waters), monitoring estuaries, and how particles and larvae are being distributed by the Leeuwin Current.



On the highest tide for Feb 2009, this photo video was filmed on the exact location for the proposed Jetty for the proposed Kimberley LNG and where the mascara of pipe – lines will be laid. One of the amazing things about the Kimberley tides is that there is no need to have access to a boat in order for people to experience the beauty and the biodiversity of the Kimberley coral reefs. On low tides people can view this marine wonderland by foot, by walking around these coral reef pools and ocean ponds.

It is reasonable to claim that there is little too no information about the distributions of perennial sea grass meadows and sponge gardens along the coastal strip from Walmandan - Kundandu and Murdudan.

There is very limited data on ephemeral sea grasses, and mangals, no data on other important benthic communities such as coral reefs, filter-feeders, stromatolites, subtidal reef platforms, beaches, rocky shore or intertidal shoreline reef. Although marine ecological communities are of high conservation value our understanding of their distributions is very limited.

The spatial scale of the existing marine benthic habitat at the proposed LNG location (this will require more study than a day visit to the site on neap tides, in October) needs to be mapped, in an adequate scale in order to provide a convincing argument that the following activities will have no detrimental effects to this marine environment:

• Explosive excavation during construction,
• 24/7 dredging shipping channel: sedimentation, siltation, turbidity & reduced water quality.
• Change to the chemistry local water with construction of breakwater.
• Changes to the bottom topography, composition and nutrient flow due to tidal scoring
• Major alterations of the alongshore current flow, with changes to the available food regimes

Not to mention:
Collected waste water, sewage, grey water, rainwater runoff from contaminated areas, machinery washdown water, brine from the desalination process, marine discharges, terrestrial wastes and discharges, noise and vibration, sediment deposition and turbidity, invasive marine species, vessel movements and massive changes to the coastline.

There is a great need to improve both our understanding of the distribution and diversity not only of this particular coral reef community but the Kimberley coral reef system in total. There is also a greater educational role needed to ensure that people are made aware of their existence and importance to the marine environment.

KLC Executive Director Wayne Bergmann has been quoted as saying “that the coral reef at James Price Point (Walmandam) is dead”.
Redhand would like to suggest he goes with his children for a walk, this coming Tuesday, on low tide, at James Price Point and see for himself, the dead reef, the dead fish, dead crabs, dead corals and the dead people fishing there.

Redhand is very thankfull to Murranji photography,Broome for their photos.

Legal challenge against the "farcical" process of the Kimberley Land Council

Mr Roe, whose Goolarabooloo community are claimants to the area around James Price Point, said Mr Bergman from Kimberley Land Council, was wrong to claim that a majority of the Jabir Jabir group supported the development. He vowed to stop the plant, blaming Mr Bergman for what he claims is bitter feuding over the issue within Kimberley communities. "My own family members are drawing lines between me and the gas plant and I blame the man who is supposed to be representing me,"

"This is not a bluff. I'm talking about my country, my culture, my heritage, my spirituality. "Generations before my grandfather had the body of knowledge to carry on the culture. "I was told to look after it in the best way I can and I will never let that (gas plant) happen.

"

Albert Wiggan; the voice of Indigenous Australia today, speaking about the future of his country and his people at the launch of the Murray Wilcox Kimberley at the Crossroad in Sydney last week. A father, proud and active in culture, a sound business man bilingual in matters of black and white fellah politics. This is a man of great integrity . Hear him!!

Unremarkable bit of coast line

It is partly to avoid consciousness of greed that we prefer to associate with those who are at least as greedy as we ourselves. Those who consume much less are a reproach.

I believe that the inadequacies of the Western Australia State government are hidden beneath a web of lies of half-truths, and by confusing the public through corrupting official statistics, hollow reports and talk of processes that are inherently fraudulent and biased. Through such measures, the whole of society finds itself dishonored and infantilised by its inability to talk straight.

We have come to expect dishonesty – of which this little lie was an example – at every level of society. The dishonesty is intellectual, moral and financial, and its root is self-interest conceived in the narrowest possible way. In our modern day, probity is seen as foolishness or, worse still, naivety. I believe this corrupts the entire fabric of our community and society. When dignity requires illegality, there must be something really rotten in the state.



Both Federal and state governments and all their authorities have been deceiving the Broome and the Dampier Peninsula communities for the last two years about the size, the location and the true social, economic and environmental damages and real costs associated with the proposed biggest LNG precinct in the world, at James Price Point (somewhere). And the culture of lies, the moral and financial, social and environmental corruption that this proposal has already cultivated, is inconceivable. It started at the top and it spreads downwards. If the state lies, cheats and collects money for services it fails to provide, why can't the average person on the street do the same thing?

I came to the conclusion that the purpose of the current WA government's propaganda on LNG is not to persuade or convince, nor to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponds to reality the better. When people remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity.
One’s standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect as it intended to.

Soon we shall all write in a decaffeinated language: We shall obediently repeat all the benign mantras such as: worlds best practice, comprehensive studies, rigorous investigations, not a tick the box exercise and some of the shorter versions like open dialogue, accountability, transparency, community consultation, reconciliation and of cause equality. Do we really prefer safety above freedom or are we already locked in a state of voluntary bondage?

One could claim that serving the occasional lie or half-truth is the very nature of politics, since human beings frequently prefer to hear pleasant lies over unpleasant truths. Perhaps, but it becomes a serious problem when such lies have become endemic, when every political statement and media report is steeped in them and when the very structure of society will collapse if these lies are not upheld. By then, reality has been reduced to a mirage, faithfully reproduced and projected by the servants of the state on a daily basis out into the public arena of deception.

At the end of the day, the cause matters less than the result: The WA state government’s lies are pushing our community into a direction that we as a community do not wish to travel.

How are we going to deal with this culture of lies and a hostile state? I don’t know. But the residents of Dampier Peninsula will have to find the answer to that question sooner than later.

The earth we abuse and the living things we kill will, in the end, take their revenge; for in exploiting their presence we are diminishing our future.

Tick the Box Exercise for James Price Point.

The Department of State Development is holding its second shopping centre display, this time at the Boulevarde Shopping Centre in Broome today, Friday with tomorrow morning proposed as well. It was a minimal display on one pin up board and with documents displayed on a table, attended by two representatives from the Department of State Development Gary Simmons ( Project Manager) and Andrea Jardine-Orr (Project Manager Social Impact Assessment). People asked why this ’consultation’/community information had not been properly advertised (date, time and place), it was not in the last Kimberley LNG Precinct Update in the Broome Advertiser published 10th December, and as far as Redhand can ascertain not in the Public Notices of the same paper on 17th December, nor the January 2010 editions, nor was it advertised on the Department’s website www.dsd.wa.gov.au . A pretty poor effort.

The display included large signs saying “have your say” but when asked the above simple questions as to why it wasn’t advertised, sadly the Project Manager for the Kimberley LNG Precinct project called for Police and Security when these questions were asked by more than just Redhand.
The display provided little to no information and the only take away information that was available were the Departments of State Development’s Facts sheets which are basically advertising materials that is selling the aspirations of the state. One copy of WVegetation and Flora Survey of James Price Point: Wet Season 2009 (PDF 4542kb), the James Price Point Terrestrial Fauna Survey: Wet Season 2009 (PDF 6655kb) Fishing Industry Impact Report (interesting to note that this particular Report is not available on the Department’s website) and a copy of the Strategic Assessment Document. However, what was really interesting was the documents that were not provided or displayed are as follows:

Browse LNG Precinct - Public Information Booklet
Browse LNG Precinct Appendix 2
Browse LNG Precinct Appendix 3
Draft Scope of Strategic Assessment as of 10 August 2009
Appendices to Draft Scope of Strategic Assessment
Tourism Impact Assessment – Kimberley Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Project
Social Impact Assessment - Scope and Profile (Vol 1)
Site Assessment for a Supply Base to Support the Browse Basin
Kimberley Projects Map
Kimberley Projects Map (including parks, reserves and local government and pastoral boundaries)
Browse Basin Distance to Processing Map
James Price Point Map


How not to do a Community Consultation by Department of State Development.

One shopper who saw the ‘have your say’ sign attended the display to find out what it was all about, also enquired about the project and when this was advertised. She also queried the Background on the Information Sheet and was promptly told to fuck off, twice. Part of her complaint reads:
“....I approached the stall and was in conversation with the lady on the stall, when a minor distraction occurred as a member of the Broome community was very upset that this so-called public consultation had not been advertised. In response, your public servant, Mr Symons was insistent that the opportunity to be consulted had been advertised in the local paper. Although a thorough reader of the paper I had not seen this advert, and have subsequently come home and checked and still can not find any advert for this consultation in the paper for January 21st or 28th. (unless it was in the entertainment section of the January 21st paper, although this is obviously inappropriate)
After Mr Symons conversation with - was over he attempted to brush off the incident by saying only 1-2% of people were against the project. I and another lady advised him that many more Broome residents than that were against the project. He then amended his statement to say that the project he was referring to was the Social Impact assessment. This was hardly convincing, and led me to believe that Mr Symons is not the neutral public servant that you would expect in a community consultation. .....”

Another couple querying why the information sheet questions didn’t include aspects about the impact on tourism and the impact on whales travelling to Pender Bay were also treated without due respect. These are concerned citizens with very valid questions.
Ok Redhand agrees, that this is a subject causing much concern and angst and that people are likely to become heated but this is not how public servants should be treating the general community who want information or who may perceive this development as a major threat to their community and lifestyle. One wonders how the Commissioner for Public Sector standards would address this?

All in all a pitiful display of information, no maps, no copies of the recently released flora, vegetation and fauna reports for people to take away and read and very little else to actually INFORM people.
Interestingly Redhand understands that SMS messages were sent out to people in Broome at around 4.oopm this afternoon inviting them to the display – a bit late or under pressure? See postscript.

An information sheet was provided for people to tick the box answers to questions, however the background on the Information Sheet didn’t make much sense ‘There development of LNG Precinct situated some 60 kilometres from Broome for onshore processing of Browse Basin gas’ This is inexcusable. A couple of lines were made available for people to make comments. Primarily this is a tick the box exercise, something the Federal Minister for the Environment promised it would not be.

Last night at the Annual Electors’ Meeting at the Shire of Broome a motion was unanimously passed that the Shire lobby the State Government to hold Public Information forums for all Broome people so that they know what’s going on. Pity the Deputy Shire President, Chris Mitchell doesn’t think it has anything to the do with the Shire of Broome, it’s our land, our community and our country.

It looks as though there is a determined effort by the Government to NOT TELL US what is going on. As well as the complete lack of public advertising or any real attempt to get this into the public domain, the Department of State Development was advised in writing at the end of last year that late January was a bad time of year to hold a Shopping Centre Community Consultation Forum/Display in Broome because it is the wet season. There is the risk of cyclones, bad weather and flight delays, dangerous road conditions and inaccessible roads to town for people in other parts of Broome. It is school holidays and there is the focus on preparations to return to school, move into new jobs and new houses; everyone knows that the last week in January, like the second week in December is when all the shift changeover happens contracts end and contracts start, a great percentage of whom are public servants, it is a big turnover of new people and it’s Cultural law practice time.
The Barnett State Government IS NOT LISTENING.
Postscript apparently a phone message to a landline not an sms.

Vine Thicket Bush Fruits of James Price Point

Red Hand has not blogged recently, deciding to sit quite, walk and enjoy Country and really feel, smell, see and taste the wet season, instead. Sitting on the edge of the Indian Ocean in the early evenings and watching the storm clouds gather, as lightning plays snakes and ladders across the sky are the planet’s inspirational performances that hearten resolve and shape courage. And that smell, the one that rises up from the earth as those very first rain drops hit the parched and thirsty land. Taste Country, by savoring the appreciation of all the bush fruits that are currently abundant, and found through out the Vine Thickets (Remnant Rainforests) at James Price Point. The wet season, is a wonderful time to be out in Country and in the heat of the day you can find cool shelters under the canopies of the vine thickets whilst you feast on all the fruits of the forest.

Please take the extra time needed to download.



There is an increasing emphasis worldwide on the preservation of habitats and conservation of the biodiversity of life on earth, yet unique natural environments like the Dampier Peninsula continue to be eroded and destroyed by human activities like the proposal to build the biggest 14 Trains LNG Precinct in the world. The Dampier Peninsula has a immense history of Indigenous settlement and a relatively recent one of European exploration and occupation. Its position straddling the arid areas of the south and the monsoonal tropics to the north has resulted in the development of the pindan soils and the unique vegetation that mantles them. The rich dune - associated vine thickets (remnant rain forests) of the Peninsular occur nowhere else in western Australia.

On the 27th Dec 2008 Colin Barnett, the West Australian Premier may also be steeling himself for new year hostility from environmental, Aboriginal and community groups. Barnett announced James Price Point as his choice for the site of a liquefied natural gas processing precinct.

"It is a flat, scrubby coastal strip 60km north of the tourist town of Broome"



The Vine Thicket within this area from Barred Creek northwards through Quondong to James Price Point, there is a significant belt of Vine Thickets noteable for there ever green trees Diospyros ferrea var. humilis, Mimusops elengi, Celtis philippensis, Melaleuca dealbata and, rarely, Parinari. Pittosporum moluccanum is restricted , on the mainland Kimberley, to coastal vine thickets in the James Price Point area of the Peninsula, and has been gazetted as "Declared Rare Flora.

Shrubs include citrus like Glycosmic species and the deciduous habrophyllus. All of these species are at their most southern end.

According to the WA’s Department of State Development Map, the LNG Main operations will be place directly over the most substantial community of remnant rainforest (vine thickets) within the area. They wish to tuck their operations in behind the Holocene sand dunes in order to shelter from the prevailing winds, however once they start their proposed vegetation/habitat clearing and excavation of the remnant rainforest, the Holocene sand dune with become highly unstable and will eventually blow away.

Kimberley oil leak disaster:

Go to http://www.montarainquiry.gov.au/submissions.html for interesting submissions to the oil spill inquiry.

PTTEP blames missing equipment for WA oil leak
David Weber Friday, January 15, 2010 08:19:00

Listen to MP3 of this story (minutes)
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2010/s2792893.htm

TANYA NOLAN: Environmental groups have renewed their call for a halt to the expansion of the offshore petroleum industry, after a company revealed the likely causes of a massive oil spill in the Timor Sea.

Oil leaked from the Montara Well Head Platform off Australia's north-west coast over a 10-week period last year.

In its submission to the Montara Commission of Inquiry, the company PTTEP Australasia, says a missing piece of equipment was among the causes of the spill.

Other submissions from environment, marine and industry groups are highly critical of the Federal Government's handling of the case.

http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/news/audio/am/201001/20100115-am07-oil-leak.mp3
PTTEP Australasia media release -
MONTARA H1 WELL PLUGGING OPERATIONS COMPLETED
By Jane Bardon and Jano Gibson

One of Australia's largest oil spills might have been prevented had the Northern Territory Government properly monitored offshore wells, the oil safety watchdog says.

The National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority says "a failure in the integrity" of the Montara well, off the north-west Australian coast, led to the spill of thousands of barrels of oil between August and November last year.

In its submission to the federal inquiry into the spill, NOPSA says it had responsibility for the safety of workers, but the Territory Government had responsibility for regulating the integrity of the well.

NOPSA says the Territory government agency responsible for the assessment of well integrity appeared not to be adequately resourced.

It says if NOPSA had been in control of regulation, the risk of a spill would have been far less likely.

"A more focussed and better resourced administration of the arrangements for regulating the integrity of wells would have significantly reduced the likelihood of occurrence of this uncontrolled hydrocarbon release."

However, the submission states that the Territory, and some other states, were reluctant to hand over that power to NOPSA, despite four independent reviews stating that that should be done.

"Some state and/or Northern Territory agencies have appeared reluctant to support changes to the legislation which would facilitate these arrangements.

"As a result, NOPSA presently has no regulatory mechanism to control the integrity of wells."

The authority also says allowing state and territory governments to regulate oil well integrity as well as earn oil and gas revenue is a conflict of interest.

The Territory Government says the Commonwealth provides it with sufficient funds to undertake its role in overseeing oil well integrity.

"The Northern Territory Government forwards all revenue received to the Commonwealth," it said in a statement.

"This issue is currently before the Independent Commissioner."

The federal Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson, says he will not pre-empt the outcome of the inquiry.

"The views expressed by NOPSA are its own," he said.

"NOPSA is one of a number of agencies making submissions to the Montara Inquiry.

"It is the role of the Commissioner to properly consider the merits of all submissions put before him."

The Northern Territory Environment Centre says states and territories should not be responsible for regulating the offshore oil and gas industry.

"This is a Commonwealth matter, it's in Commonwealth waters, it should be regulated by a Commonwealth department," the centre's Dr Stuart Blanch said.

"And, frankly, I think the Territory resources department probably does not have the resources or the expertise or the budget to trip around on a boat off the north coast of Australia, inspecting well platforms."

The Northern Territory Opposition's Dave Tollner says the oil spill highlights the inadequacy of the Territory Government's regulation procedures.

"This is a terrible indictment on the Northern Territory Government," he said.

"I mean here we've got a Government who spends a lot of time talking to people about our environment and how important it is to reduce pollution [and] all of a sudden we see a leak of this nature, something that NOPSA is saying could have been prevented."
Meanwhile, the operation to plug the Montara oil well is now complete, with the successful installation of a pressure cap, PTTEP Australasia says.

A cement plug was first set into the bottom of the well in November, and two mechanical plugs have now also been installed.

Comment: Environs Kimberley [mailto:envrkimb@wt.com.au]

While we are relieved the Montara well has finally been plugged, we are very concerned that the massive amount of oil that leaked into the Timor sea off the Kimberley coast will have an impact on sea life for years to come.

The government has yet to make it clear how they will make sure this type of disaster doesn’t happen again in an area that has extremely high natural values. The marine areas in the north west have a high diversity of cetaceans such as whales and dolphins and are a hotspot for sea snakes and turtles as well as a huge variety of fish and corals.

The only way to protect the pristine marine areas off the Kimberley coast is not have oil and gas there in the first place. This is what happened on the Great Barrier Reef decades ago and Kimberley coral reefs are of global significance and are just as important.

We need large sanctuaries that protect marine life from threats such as oil leaks otherwise it will no longer be a haven for sea life that is found nowhere else on earth.

Positive Visions of Victorious Conclusions,

To all who are Concerned;

The Broome community is seeking support to initiate and consolidate a national and international campaign to stop the proposed LNG development at James Price Point. We are grateful for those organisations and individuals who have actively contributed to opposing this proposed development. However, it is our considered opinion that a stronger, synchronsised collaboration between all environmental and human rights orgainisations needs to be immediately activated on a regional, national and international level.

We, the people of the Dampier Peninsular need all the major organisations to unite with each other and the locals to spearhead a national campaign, with a global focus to stop this development. Now is the time to work much more closely, share and pool our resources, skills, knowledge and energy, in order for us to build a campaign that is unyielding and determined in our anticipated outcomes. Strong participation from all sections of the global community is urgently needed to support the people on the ground and create an unbending approach that has a collective ambition: a Kimberley free from industrialisation!



Lurujarri Global Walk
• Traditional Custodians, Locals and regional Environmental group initiatives to be supported and encouraged by the larger national environmental and human rights’ organisations. The Lurujarri Global Walk, currently planned for June next year, needs to be supported by all national organisations and their entire membership in order to attract thousands of people from all corners of Australia and the world to ensure this is a history making walk of global significance. (This Global Walk will have its own Website in the coming week, so stay tuned for that address)

Direct Non-Violent Action Workshops
• To build our capacity as a movement to defend Country, we urgently need experienced assistance, skilled facilitators and knowledge on direct action techniques.


Community Education
• Greater access to education, resources, knowledge and information about the proposal, the social, economic and environmental ramifications and the pending damaging results. Public displays and forums are effective methods of educating the broader community and need to be ongoing. Websites and Blogs are another useful tool in reaching the populace. Membership drives in like minded organisations will also assist.

In a joint media release on the 4th of December, 2009, Environs Kimberley, Conservation Council WA and The Wilderness Society stated that if the Resources Minister Martin Ferguson will force industrial LNG development on the pristine Kimberley coast ahead of an environmental assessment it demonstrates reckless disregard for environmental laws, and opens the door for legal challenge. Is being challenged?

It is proving easy for the state government to keep us ill-informed and ill-advised about this proposed Kimberley LNG Precinct. As a small remote community, we are inexperienced to navigate through the potential aftermath. If the development is approved, Broome will battle against a juggernaut of avarice that will flood into our community, bringing with it a mentality and a social direction that is totally contradictory to how, we as a community wish to function.

We are asking organisations to appeal to their networks in entirety. The time frame on these actions is immediate. Please make this a matter of priority today and get this call for support out to your membership and networks.


With positive visions of victorious conclusions,

Pictures all taken approx 2km south of James Price Point, this morning

Attached are some pics from this morning.the 30th Dec 2009

Pictures taken from approx 2km south of Walmandam (James Price Point) and estimated rig to be max of 1km SW of me. Putting it in area the proposed jetty location.

Regards,R Hartvigsen
E: rod@murranji.com.au

Calculated feints, highlighted with theatrical performances

Traditional Owners and Law Custodians are threatening legal action to stop the proposed development of the biggest LNG precinct in the world, just north of Broome. Joe Roe, Goolarabooloo and Neil McKenzie from Jabirr Jabirr with representatives from Save the Kimberley traveled to Perth last week to meet with the Browse Basin joint venture partners.

The Kimberley Land Council (KLC) has been representing traditional owners in talks with Woodside and the WA Government over the proposed James Price Point LNG precinct. Over 200 TOs have signed a declaration claiming the KLC has no right to negotiate on their behalf.

Dissident traditional owner Neil McKenzie says he will do whatever it takes to stop the development. "There are a lot of issues that are of concern to us and we will challenge them in whatever way, if it's legally or whatever other challenge we can find we will use," he said.

Disgruntled at KLC, WA’s Department of State Development and Barnett’s modus operandi, the owners who are opposed met with Browse Basin joint venture partners to inform them that the propaganda continually alleged that this proposal is supported by the traditional people is totally misleading. (This issue is really about Land Rights vs Human Rights and I will elaborate of this topic in the New Year)

There have been several calculated feints, highlighted with theatrical performances like the reprehensible illegal signing of the Heads of Agreement at James Price Point. Genealogy for this Country is still sitting on the table.
How can anyone sign away anything, least of all negotiate a Indigenous Land Use Agreement, whilst the majority is still piecing together their blood connections to Country, dealing with all the regurgitated sorry business that is coming with it and trying to manage the knowledge of it all.



Apparently, all the joint venture partners were generally very surprised to hear that the majority of Indigenous people from this Country do not want this development. It was explained that many people have very strong heritage ties and cultural responsibilities for the maintenance, care and protection of Country.
In the coming New Year we will restate and action our commitment to saving James Price Point for the people and for the planet. We will continue to express our concerns about the highly questionable approval processes being employed and the current negotiations and social and environmental damages assessments that are currently being white washed for publication.

The state government is the proponent to this project; the state government decides which boxes to tick, the state government employs and pays the researchers and consultants to tick the boxes and the state government will approve all the ticks and will forward on, to get that one last big tick from the Minister Garrett.

Then we will all be ticked off

Cyclone Laurence is looking after Country

People of the Dampier Peninsula communities, in the north of Western Australia have grave concerns for their environment and their livelihoods and seek to keep the Kimberley and its coastline industry free. The Kimberley is one of the last great wildernesses in the world and many people within the region appreciate that they have moral and ethical obligations to ensure that this very small corner of the planet remains that way.

One accident, one tanker blown aground, one pipe that shoots a leak, a platform or two break their moorings, or LNG processing trains being picked up by category 5 cyclonic winds and tossed around like chop sticks could all be the reality of our changing climate. We do not what to tempt fate by opening the door to the proposal to build the biggest LNG precinct in the world on our community's doorstep, in our recreational backyard.

This Country, its landscapes and its coastal face has been shaped and sculptured into its present form by these natural events and this is a great part of its beauty. Man made industrialised zones are not as flexible or adaptable and have a tendency to blow away in the face of natural menaces.

This illustrative map shows how plausible these concern are.



There is a strong relationship between the depth of the snow that falls in the Himalayas and the amount of rainfall received in north Western Australia.

In late October the throughflow from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean, to the north west of Australia, slows, stops and may even reverse at times as the Indian Ocean Counter Current flows west to east into the Timor gap and "blocks" the throughflow.
This leads to a large raft of relatively still water to the immediate north west of Australia. This body of water begins to heat under the tropical sun.

As the sea surface temperature rises, evaporation increases and moist air from this region, thought to be the source of humidity and moisture, will eventually fall during the Australian monsoon (you only get monsoon systems where these static masses of water called warmpools form, not where the currents make the seas cool or cold).

During the wet season there are usually two or three major monsoon events. These events occur when the monsoon trough (a low pressure trough associated with intense rainfall) moves south over the landmass of north Western Australia.

The current level of oil and gas exploitative activities, the enormous increase in tanker and shipping movements and the thousands of kilometers of pipes that have been layered across the ocean’s floor during this insatiable seize of resources along the Western Australian coastline makes Cyclones a major concern for everyone.

Tropical Cyclone Laurence, Issued at 2:57 pm WST Saturday 19 December 2009. Refer to Tropical Cyclone Advice Number 65