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Nearly 84,000 people live in councils opposed to drilling for oil and gas in the Great Australian Bight.
Nearly 84,000 people live in councils opposed to drilling for oil and gas in the Great Australian Bight. Photograph: Mark Watson/AAP
Nearly 84,000 people live in councils opposed to drilling for oil and gas in the Great Australian Bight. Photograph: Mark Watson/AAP

More locals join push to stop oil drilling in Great Australian Bight

This article is more than 6 years old

Holdfast Bay council wants moratorium on oil and gas exploration in bight over fears of ‘devastating impacts’ of oil spill

Local opposition to plans by multinational oil companies to drill in the Great Australian Bight has ratcheted up a notch after Holdfast Bay council passed a motion calling on the regulator to stop all such activity – the largest of five councils in the South Australian region to voice concern.

The move almost doubles the number of people living in councils opposed to drilling in the bight, bringing it to nearly 84,000 people in total, with the representatives of the roughly 38,000 people in Holdfast Bay adding their voices to those of Kangaroo Island, Victor Harbor, Yankalilla and Yorke Peninsula.

The motion called on the council to write to the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (Nopsema) asking it to put a moratorium on oil and gas exploration in the Great Australian Bight.

It is the first council to voice opposition to the drilling after BP’s announcement it was withdrawing its plans, following widespread community opposition and repeated rejection of its environmental plans by the regulator.

But BP transferred its exploration permits to Norwegian company Statoil, which plans to begin drilling in 2018. Chevron also plans to drill for oil next year and the companies Santos, Murphy and Karoon also plan to drill for oil.

While the virtually pristine waters of the Great Australian Bight have been relatively unexplored for fossil fuels, BP has said the potential for oil in the region could rival the huge oil production provinces like the Gulf of Mexico.

The gulf has thousands of active oil platforms, and was home to the world’s worst oil spill in 2010 when BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig caused almost 500m litres of oil to leak over nearly 90 days.

The motion passed by the council with a slim majority of councillors asks Nopsema put “a moratorium on oil and gas exploration in the Great Australian Bight because of the minimal benefits to the city and its residents compared with the potential devastating impacts of an oil spill”.

It also referred the letter to the board of the Local Government Association for feedback.

Councillor Lynda Yates told the meeting: “Even if there was a small oil spill elsewhere on the coast, it would drastically reduce visitor numbers and this would have severe repercussions on the livelihoods of traders”.

“South Australia’s fishing and aquaculture production in 2010–11 was valued at $425.5m, with the region accounting for 97 per cent of production,” she said.

“The region’s tourist industry contributed to the economy a combined $1.2bn in 2013–14 and accounts for nearly 10,000 full-time-equivalent jobs. For local residents, our coastal way of life – swimming, fishing from the jetty and walking along the beach with our dogs – could be severely impacted for years.”

Yates told the Guardian it was not just an oil spill that worried her and members of the community, but also the impact of an oil industry in the bight.

“The extra boats in the area and the extra pollution from the fuel on the boats. The disturbance from the boats and all the rigs … I just think it’s a big risk and think we shouldn’t be doing it.”

Yates also said that developing new fossil fuel reserves was inconsistent with the aims of the Paris agreement to keep the global warming “well below 2C”, which Australia signed last year.

The five councils join the Greens and the Nick Xenophon Team in opposing the drilling.

The push against drilling in the Great Australian Bight has been led by the Wilderness Society. Its South Australian director, Peter Owen, applauded Holdfast Bay council’s move.

“Holdfast Bay council is standing up for its constituency in the face of the enormous risks clearly posed by all plans to drill in the deep and rough waters of the Great Australian Bight,” he said.

“The Great Australian Bight waters are deeper, more treacherous and more remote than the Gulf of Mexico … The bight’s pristine waters are a haven for 36 species of whales and dolphins, including the world’s most important nursery for the endangered southern right whale as well as many humpback, sperm, blue and beak whales.

“It’s also Australia’s most important sea lion nursery and supports seals, orcas, giant cuttlefish and some of Australia’s most important fisheries.

“The Great Australian Bight is a completely inappropriate place to open up a new offshore oil and gas precinct, especially as we hurtle towards catastrophic climate change.”

The chief executive of the oil and gas industry body Appea, Malcolm Roberts, said any activity in the Bight would only proceed under the highest environmental standards and after regulatory approvals.

“With proper regulatory oversight, there is no reason a safe, sustainable offshore petroleum industry should not be possible for South Australia, as it has been in Victoria and WA for several decades,” Roberts said.

“The economic benefits could be enormous. While it is very early days, success in the Bight would attract substantial investment to South Australia and see significant local job creation.”

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