Sad day for Barrow Island as Government fails to show leadership
10 Oct 2007
WWF-Australia today expressed deep disappointment in the decision by Federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull to approve the Gorgon gas project on Barrow Island.
'We have repeatedly asked the Australian Government to locate Gorgon on the mainland of Western Australia," said WWF-Australia CEO Greg Bourne.
"Our submissions were based on solid scientific information and mirror the opinion of the Environmental Protection Authority, but the Minister has chosen to ignore both sets of advice," he said.
"There are no conditions that will ever make Barrow Island, which is one of Australia's oldest and most important nature reserves, an acceptable location for an LNG plant.
"The risks to species found nowhere else in Australia and to the turtles and corals in the surrounding marine environment are simply too great. Our islands should be treated as sanctuaries for native wildlife not convenient platforms for oil and gas facilities."
Barrow Island is home to a number of threatened species, including the flatback turtle (listed as Vulnerable), the burrowing bettong (extinct on the mainland), the golden bandicoot (listed as Vulnerable), and the black-flanked rock wallaby (Vulnerable).
Barrow Island also hosts species only found on the island (endemics), including Rhamphotyphlops longissimus, a blind snake believed to be the only snake in the world that lives entirely underground, and the Barrow Island black and white fairy wren.
Earlier this year an average of 1000 people a day signed WWF's international online petition calling for Gorgon to be moved to the mainland, showing that protection of Barrow Island was an issue of global concern.
The future of Barrow Island now rests with the proponents of the Gorgon consortium - Chevron, Shell and ExxonMobil - and WWF is urging these companies to show leadership and relocate the project to the mainland.
See also http://www.wwf.org.au/articles/gas-weighs-heavily-on-barrow-wildlife/
More information
Gilly Llewellyn, Program Leader Oceans, WWF-Australia
Phone: 02 8202 1227
Mobile: 0406 380 801
Paula Schibeci, Communications Officer, WWF-Australia
Phone: 08 9387 6444
Mobile: 0406 381 137
