A Deepwater Disaster on Spencer Gulf’s Horizon?
Save Point Lowly group has met the Federal Governments recent announcement of deep-water exploration at the mouth of Spencer Gulf with much concern. Federal Resources Minister, Martin Ferguson announced on Monday 17 May 2010 that exploration areas will be auctioned off just south of Port Lincoln, right in the middle of the Tuna fishing area and a proposed marine sanctuary.
The Save Point Lowly group say the Spencer Gulf is South Australia’s one of greatest natural assets. Yet regrettably, both Federal and State Labor Government seem determined to put oil-royalties ahead of the fishing, tourism and recreation industries. This Federal exploration area comes on the heels of the State Governments approval to give Stuart Petroleum the go ahead to build a diesel storage and oil refinery on the Point Lowly Peninsula in January.
Tom Cheesman said, “This means we will end up with exploration activities at the mouth of the Gulf and oil tankers being brought into the Upper Spencer Gulf, the Cuttlefish breeding grounds and the nursery of our famous Snapper.”
With international attention focussed on the massive oil pill in the Gulf of Mexico, during the past 55 days, oil has reached 110 kilometres of shoreline along the Gulf Coast, including parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. This spill is now twice as big as the devastating Exxon Valdez in 1989. This illustrates the dangers of deep-water drilling and having oil storage in a shallow Gulf and we should learn some lessons from this and not repeat the mistake in the Upper Spencer Gulf.
Mr Cheesman said, “What is now becoming clear is that oil production is a very high risk business where leaks, spills and accidents do happen. The frequency of incidents may be low but the outcome can be catastrophic. Exploration at these depths is not only very costly; it has catastrophic dangers associated with it. The total failure of exploration and deep drilling technology is now an international issue.
“If there was a leak a mile below the surface, like the one currently out of control in the Gulf of Mexico, how would the problem be rectified before our tuna and prawn industry, pristine gulf waters and coastline become history?”
“The question we all want answered is, what plans and preparations have the Federal, State Government and the oil industry put in place to stop any permanent damage by an oil leak if it occurred at the entry to, or in Spencer Gulf. What guarantees can they give?”
“The massive BP oil slick has started to arrive on the fragile coastline of the Gulf of Mexico, which has many similarities to Spencer Gulf: that is composed of estuaries, mud flats and miles upon miles of fragile wetlands, the spawning and feeding grounds for the chain of marine life.”
“It’s a “soft” coast that would absorb oil like a sponge. There’s no way to clean oil from wetlands, to clean it off the bottoms of bays which are an important part of the marine dwellers life cycle.”