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Norwegian energy company Equinor wants to carry out an exploratory oil and gas drilling program in the Great Australian Bight. On 19th February 2019 Equinor released their draft Environmental Plan for this program. Until March 20th 2019, public comments on the draft EP can be submitted online to the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA).
The Bight is one of the most remote, pristine and unique marine environments in the world. It’s home to dozens of unique species, including the southern right whale. Drilling for oil in the region would potentially be catastrophic for this ecosystem. Exploitation of any oil reserves found would completely blow Australia’s carbon budget as established by our commitment to the Paris Agreement.
This page has some links to more information about the proposed drilling and the campaign to fight it. I’m also sharing the comments I submitted to NOPSEMA in the hope they will be useful to anyone else making a comment.
Make your submission to NOPSEMA by 20th March
Something is better than nothing.
Please take the time to write something before the 20th of March – it doesn’t have to be perfect, it doesn’t have to be lengthy, please just write something because that is so much better than writing nothing at all. We need to have every possible voice heard. Clearly state your objections and if you can, reference any sources of information that support your position.
More information
Equinor
This is the short version of Equinor’s report on how they will manage environmental risks of offshore drilling. This is the document the public is being asked to comment on.
Example of submission
https://medium.com/@josiemcelvogue/equinor-and-the-great-australian-bight-77a4b112e9b9
Campaign Resources and Scientific Info
https://www.fightforthebight.org.au/
https://www.instagram.com/fightforthebight/
Submission to NOPSEMA
Do you have any comments on the identification and description of environmental features?
The unique values of the marine ecosystem are adequately identified. However the report fails to adequately place the role of the ecosystem and the impact of petroleum development in the Bight within the broader context of climate change and Australia’s commitment to the Paris Agreement.
Do you have any comments on the identification and evaluation of environmental impacts and environmental risks?
Marine ecosystem
Equinor’s report notes that the exploratory drilling would take place in a zone that is traversed by marine mammals, including the southern right whale, and also sharks. They claim that the dilling will not disrupt the migration of this unique sea life. However according to the most recent scientific research, we do not know exactly what routes the southern right whale uses to travel to its breeding grounds [1]. There is also mounting evidence that noise pollution in the oceans can have significant health and behavioural effects on whales [2]. In this case, it is better to apply the cautionary principle and not to disrupt the environment of this unique species that is still recovering from near extinction as a result of hunting in previous centuries.
Marine geology
The Great Australian Bight is a uniquely remote region with rugged geology. BP has already pulled out of oil exploration in the Bight due to the challenges of the weather and geography of the region [3]. Equinor cannot reasonably claim that their experience drilling in other parts of the world is sufficient to guarantee drilling can be conducted safely in the Bight [3]. Further, past data on weather patterns in the Bight will not be an adequate guide to future conditions as climate change has an increasing impact on prevailing winds and ocean currents [4, 5]. Given these conditions, the risk of a spill is too great and outweighs any potential economic benefits.
Climate change
There are also climate change impacts that will flow from the extraction of oil from the Bight. These are insufficiently addressed in Equinor’s report. A recent report from the IPCC found that the world will need to keep to 1.5°C of warming to avoid severe effects of climate change, for example to preserve any of the Great Barrier Reef. The report also found that humans have only 12 years left to take action to limit warming to this level [6]. 1.5°C of warming represents the most ambitious end of the Paris Agreement targets.
Equinor’s credentials on a transition to clean energy sources are extremely weak. Their investment in unproven carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology and goal of 15-20% investment in renewables by 2030 does not reflect the kind of commitment that is required to meet the Paris Agreement targets. According to the IPCC, carbon pollution would have to be cut by 45% by 2030 – compared with a 20% cut under the 2°C pathway – and come down to zero by 2050, compared with 2075 for 2°C [6]. Exploitation of petroleum resources in the Bight would completely blow Australia’s carbon budget as established by its commitment to the Paris Agreement [7].
Looking beyond Australia, on a worldwide scale it is known since 2015 that 33% of known, proven oil reserves worldwide need to be left in the ground to limit warming to 2°C. We should not be looking to expand the pool of known resources [8].
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[1] Offshore migratory movement of southern right whales: informing critical conservation and management
needs, http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/260941/Southern_Right_Whale_Movement_Report.pdf
[2] Noise from offshore oil and gas surveys can affect whales up to 3km away, https://theconversation.com/noise-from-offshore-oil-and-gas-surveys-can-affect-whales-up-to-3km-away-82646
[3] Documents shed light on BP’s failures in the Great Australian Bight, https://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/04/05/documents-shed-light-bps-failures-great-australian-bight/
[4] Climate change under enhanced greenhouse conditions in South Australia, http://www.cmar.csiro.au/e-print/open/suppiahr_2006a.pdf
[5] Modelled seabed response to possible climate change scenarios over the next 50 years in the Australian Southwest, https://publications.csiro.au/rpr/download?pid=procite:078aa5a8-ffaf-4e7b-9e1a-a6571c2d45fa&dsid=DS1
[6] Special Report: Global Warming of 1.5 ºC, https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/
[7] Implications of oil extraction from the Great Australian Bight for Paris Agreement long-term goal, https://climateanalytics.org/media/ca_bp_great_australian_bight_final.pdf
[8] Leave fossil fuels buried to prevent climate change, study urges, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/07/much-worlds-fossil-fuel-reserve-must-stay-buried-prevent-climate-change-study-says
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Do you have any comments on the management of environmental impacts and environmental risks?
Marine ecosystem
Equinor does not adequately address the management of environmental impacts outside of the risk of a spill. These risks include noise pollution, smothering from seabed disturbance and drill cuttings disposal, chemical pollution and discharge of drilling fluids, accidental discharge and leakage of oil, and increased cetacean strikes [9]. The costs of adequately monitoring these impacts, if they are monitored at all, are likely to be borne by the Australian people.
Oil spills
Equinor’s plan to manage a catastrophic oil spill is inadequate. It would take 15 days for the capping stack to seal off a spill to arrive from Singapore, and by Equinor’s prediction 102 days to bring a spill completely under control. This would cause catastrophic damage to the marine ecosystem and the tourism and fishing industries that depend on it. Again the true costs of this environmental destruction are an unpriced externality that will be borne by the Australian people and not by Equinor.
Climate change
In addition to the contribution to a warming world that oil extraction in the Bight would make, climate change itself will increase the risk of severe weather events, as noted above. Equinor does not account for this. These exacerbated climate effects are unpriced externalities not addressed in the report.
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[9] Danger in our seas: The unacceptable risks of oil exploration and production in the Great Australian Bight, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59ae83b846c3c480db41ac90/t/5a2f60bc8165f5f9bf69d8ba/1513054479836/Senate+enquiry+for+Oil+and+Gas+Exploration+and+Production+-+The+Wilderness+Society+Submission
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Do you have any other comments?
Cultural heritage
Drilling for oil in the Bight poses a significant risk for the coastal communities that rely on this unique ecosystem. At least fifteen local councils in South Australia and Victoria have expressed their opposition to drilling [10]. The marine ecosystem of the Bight supports a uniquely Australian coastal culture and drilling poses risks to that cultural heritage.
The Great Australian Bight is an Indigenous cultural domain, and of enormous value to its Traditional Owners, including the Mirning nation, who retain living cultural, spiritual, social, and economic connections to their homelands within the region on land and sea. Mirning elders have expressed opposition to drilling in the Bight [11].
Economic risks
There are thriving tourism and fishing industries that are significant employers and sources of revenue for both Victoria and South Australia. The fishing industry of South Australia is worth more than $500 million [12], with tourism along the coastline contributing over $1 billion annually to the Australian economy [13]. The potential economic benefits of job creation and tax revenues are not great enough to offset the risks posed to existing industries in the event of a spill. As noted above, the climate change impacts of oil extraction in the Bight would also contribute to negative effects on tourism elsewhere in Australia, for example to the Great Barrier Reef.
Further, most of Equinor’s projected 1,361 jobs created in the event of full-scale drilling will be in construction and therefore temporary, in contrast to jobs created in renewable energy such as solar, which are ongoing. Australia added 3,680 jobs in renewable energy in the financial year 2016-2017 alone, and South Australia saw a 110% increase in jobs in the sector in the same period [14]. Exploration for oil in the Bight undermines South Australia’s leading role in Australia’s green energy transition.
Equinor’s proposal states that petroleum development in the Bight could add $5.9 billion to Australia’s GDP. However this assumes a “business as usual” scenario. As the effects of climate change become more visible around the world and China and the United States move to meet their commitments to the Paris Agreement, Australia could be left with nowhere to export the oil to. In addition, the sum of $5.9 billion pales in comparison to the projected cost to Australia of $126 billion per year if the Paris target of 2°C warming is not met [15].
Summary
In short, oil development in the Bight is not in Australia’s environmental, economic, or cultural interest. I ask that Equinor be refused permission to carry out oil drilling in the Great Australian Bight, and that all offshore leases for oil exploration and exploitation in the Great Australian Bight be revoked.
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[10] Fifteen local councils in SA and Vic now oppose oil drilling in the Great Australian Bight, https://www.victorharbortimes.com.au/story/5870418/councils-oppose-oil-drill/
[11] Mirning Whale Law Bunna Lawrie Calls To Stop Oil Drilling, https://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/aboriginal/en/audiotrack/mirning-whale-law-bunna-lawrie-calls-stop-oil-drilling
[12] Australian fisheries and aquaculture statistics 2016 (Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences 2017)
[13] Regional Tourism Profiles (South Australian Tourism Commission 2018)
[14] 4631.0 - Employment in Renewable Energy Activities, Australia, 2016-17 https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4631.0
[15] The Effects of Climate Change on GDP by Country and the Global Economic Gains From Complying With the Paris Climate Accord, https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2018EF000922
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