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The massive Australian oil spill you’ve probably never heard of
The Montara blowout is considered one of Australia’s worst environmental disasters. A whale and her calf in the Great Australian Bight. The Montara blowout is considered one of Australia’s worst environmental disasters and it should serve as a warning to those who think drilling in the Bight is a risk worth taking. In 2009, 220km…
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Seismic blasting reprieve welcome, but the whales of the Great Australian Bight won’t be safe until drilling is permanently banned
SYDNEY, Aug 21, 2019 – Greenpeace welcomes the decision by marine geophysics company PGS to suspend seismic blasting in the whale sanctuary of the Great Australian Bight but warns the only way to ensure the long term health of the region is for every drilling licence in the Bight to be cancelled.This morning PGS told…
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Ten years on from one of Australia’s worst oil spills all the conditions remain in place for a repeat
SYDNEY, Aug 21, 2019 – Ten years ago today the Montara well blowout caused more than 23 million litres of oil to poison the waters of the Timor Sea, and yet the hands-off inspection regime that led to the disaster remains in place as Norwegian oil giant Equinor plans to drill in the Great Australian…
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Proposed Great Australian Bight audit fails on multiple fronts
SYDNEY, 2 July 2019. The Federal Government has decided that the adequacy of regulation surrounding offshore drilling will be ‘out of scope’ of an audit to be carried out on Norwegian oil giant Equinor’s plans to drill for oil in the Great Australian Bight, a document released yesterday revealed. The audit of the National Offshore…
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Greenpeace response to NOPSEMA Equinor Environmental plan decision point
In response to the news that NOPSEMA have tonight requested further information from Norwegian mining company regarding it’s plans for drilling in the Great Australian Bight within a sixty day timeframe, Jamie Hanson, Greenpeace Australia Pacific Deputy Program Director & Head of Campaigns, said:SYDNEY, June 27: NOPSEMA have today sent Equinor’s Environmental Plan back to…
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ExxonMobil given the OK to drill Australia’s deepest-ever offshore oil & gas well
SYDNEY, 19 June 2019: ExxonMobil has been granted environmental approval this week to drill Australia’s deepest-ever oil and gas well in a move slammed by Greenpeace Australia Pacific. The Sculpin well will be drilled in the Bass Strait to a depth of 2300 metres, and will be even deeper than Equinor’s controversial Stromlo-1 well proposed…
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Risk to our beaches is simply not worth it
A paddle out event in Tasmania this weekend has helped to focus the local communities attention on the threats to the states beaches from an oil spill. Drone footage of Bunda Cliffs in the Great Australian Bight. The Bight is a pristine stretch of ocean off the southern coastal fringe of Western Australia, South Australia…
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Bight expert report: ‘overconfidence precedes catastrophic failure’
Sydney, May 22, 2019: Sydney Environment Institute’s submission on Equinor’s Environmental Plan raises significant concerns that need urgent consideration by oil industry regulator NOPSEMA and the government, said Greenpeace Australia Pacific. The submission, authored by some of Australia’s leading petroleum industry experts, highlights an inadequate level of detail in Equinor’s plans to both prevent oil spills…
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Greenpeace welcomes ALP’s ‘moratorium’ on drilling in the Bight
SYDNEY, May 16, 2019: Greenpeace Australia Pacific has today welcomed the Labor Party’s new commitment that a Shorten Labor government would block Equinor’s oil drilling approval from proceeding in the Great Australian Bight until an independent scientific study into the impacts of an oil spill is completed.The independent study will be commissioned by the Federal…
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An Open Letter from the Ocean Elders
The Bight is an extraordinary marine environment: Will you protect it from dangerous oil drilling? A group of Ocean Elders including Richard Branson, Jane Goodall, Gerry Lopez, and Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan, as well as three Australian Nobel Laureates have today written to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten…