The Australian Greens and The Greens (WA) have today issued a joint call for a seismic blasting moratorium in Western Australian and Commonwealth waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The call comes as fossil fuel giant Woodside gears up to pressure the state and federal government to allow the company to seismic blast in endangered blue whale habitat and feeding grounds at the pristine Scott Reef off the Kimberley coast — an activity that contradicts government funding to study the Australian Indigenous songlines to better protect Australia\u2019s whales and dolphins, including tangible and intangible cultural heritage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Woodside\u2019s seismic blasting plans at Scott Reef were revealed earlier this month in an application<\/a> by the company to the Federal Environment Department. In the document, the fossil fuel giant divulged its plan to carry out ongoing seismic blasting as part of its application to dump carbon under the seabed at the pristine coral reef, using risky and untested carbon capture and storage (CCS) practices never tried before in Australian waters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Woodside details the potential risks its planned activities at Scott Reef pose to endangered Blue Whales and four species of endangered and vulnerable sea turtles, acknowledging possible \u201cdirect or indirect impacts\u201d from seismic blasting, drilling, subsea fluid discharges, unplanned discharges of hazardous waste or a hydrocarbon (condensate) spill. Woodside concedes that modelling for \u201cunderwater noise emissions\u201d from seismic blasting indicated that \u201cfauna injury\/mortality is predicted if individuals remain close to the source for a long period of time\u201d which the fossil fuel giant claims is \u201cconsidered highly unlikely.\u201d Greens WA Fossil Fuel and Marine & Coastal Spokesperson Sophie McNeill:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “Even Woodside acknowledges that its seismic blasting and carbon dumping plans at Scott Reef could harm endangered blue whales and loggerhead turtles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “It is unfathomable that the federal regulators could approve such activity in this highly sensitive marine environment, home to dozens of endangered, vulnerable and threatened species. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Western Australia’s oceans and our marine life are already suffering horrific consequences as a result of warming temperatures and continued fossil fuel production. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “This month, a severe and deadly marine heatwave <\/a>in WA\u2019s northwest that has seen water temperatures rise above 30\u00b0C has been attributed for the deaths of more than 30,000 fish in the Pilbara and has also been blamed for the deaths of 10 melon-headed whales<\/a> on the Kimberley coast near Broome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The WA community have made it clear that they want this government to protect our oceans, endangered marine life and our stunning Kimberley coast from companies like Woodside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The time to end seismic blasting and new oil and gas exploration off our WA coast is now.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, Australian Greens spokesperson for Healthy Oceans:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “Last year one of the largest seismic blasting proposals ever in Australian history was withdrawn by its proponent following immense community pressure. It was a siren call to all the fossil fuel companies eyeing off our oceans: your time is up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Increasingly West Australians understand their oceans are under siege and are unnecessarily being exploited by reckless and rapacious fossil fuel corporations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “In 2021 I moved for a Senate inquiry into seismic blasting<\/a>. This inquiry was the first of its kind, with evidence revealing seismic blasting presents immense risk to coastal communities and marine wildlife. As chair of the inquiry I implore governments to review the evidence, and ban seismic blasting right across Australia\u2019s coastlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I\u2019ve introduced the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment (Fight for Australia\u2019s Coastline) Bill<\/a> to the Senate. If passed, this legislation would permanently stop some of the most destructive offshore oil and gas exploration in our oceans. We\u2019ve seen NSW put an end to new oil and gas exploration in their state waters, and in the next parliament I intend to amend and progress the Bill I introduced to set a precedent right across Australia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “The tide is now turning, and what we need is a brave state and federal government ready to invest in a renewable future. But if you want change, you have to vote for it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n BACKGROUND<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Australian Greens and The Greens (WA) have today issued a joint call for a seismic blasting moratorium in Western Australian and Commonwealth waters. The call comes as fossil fuel giant Woodside gears up to pressure the state and federal government to allow the company to seismic blast in endangered blue whale habitat and feeding … Continue reading “Greens call for seismic blasting moratorium as Woodside acknowledges risks to whales and turtles”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31156"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31157,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31156\/revisions\/31157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
The Greens are calling for federal regulators to reject Woodside\u2019s application and for a seismic blasting moratorium to be put in place to protect Western Australia\u2019s stunning marine environments and endangered marine life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n