The Oil Drum: Australia/New Zealand | The Bullroarer

6 comments on The Bullroarer - Sunday 20 July 2008

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Big Gav on July 20, 2008 - 7:35am

One more, from Stuart in Brisbane:

Courier Mail - Dispute looms over Whitsunday oil plan

A PROPOSED $14 billion shale oil mining operation in the Whitsundays is shaping up to be one of Queensland's biggest environmental battles. The company behind the project says it would produce millions of barrels of oil a year, helping to secure Australia's diesel fuel needs for decades and creating thousands of jobs for the region.

But conservationists say it risks causing devastating environmental damage in a key tourism area just kilometres from some of the country's most prized natural assets. "This is an incredibly dirty industry on the edge of the Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef. Why anyone would suggest that's a good idea is beyond me," said Suzette Pelt of the local Save Our Foreshore group, which is behind a protest day in Airlie Beach today .

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thirra on July 20, 2008 - 11:11pm

Who would of thought it?The "Curious Snail" is actually running a few sensible articles/leaders on environmental matters.Is Rupert getting greener?

The shale oil proposal in the Proserpine area is a rerun of the Rundle fiasco a few years ago but this time there will be more pressure to push it to a commercial operation because of the energy crisis.It is predictable that McNamara would be non committal on it.This bloke is also the minister responsible for the EPA which translates into the Agency for Protecting the government's Arse.
Ditto for the lukewarm response to the the geothermal prospect in the NW.Anything that doesn't fit the Sacred Coal paradigm is anathema to these retards.

The proposal to export phosphate from the NW QLD deposits is just another symptom of the resources boom disease.As the ancient Australian soils are chronically phosphate deficient this really makes sense?

The Murray-Darling basin is a sad story.Due to past greed/ignorance/short sightedness there is far too much water being taken out of the system,either from dams or from pumping to off stream storage.
The rivers aren't allowed to flood and this destroys the natural flood plain system.If we want to preserve and restore the rivers we have to drasticly reduce the amount of water being drawn out of them at any time,flood or drought.
The only way that this will happen is if the government/s buy back licences.This will cause a lot of the industries currently dependent on the rivers to fold.Some of the high return relative to water input growers may be able to survive.This is the price and the sooner those involved realize it the better.
The alternative is to continue to regard the rivers as irrigation drains and write off the natural ecosystem totally.I suspect that a lot of the man made system will accompany it.

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