About the Gorgon Gas project

Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell (the Gorgon partners) are currently proposing to put over $11 billion worth of industrial gas processing plant and equipment on Barrow Island - infrastructure that could be located offshore, on the mainland or on less important islands nearby.

According to Gorgon, the proposal is likely to involve:

Two massive Liquid Natural Gas processing trains;
Gas to liquids processing; and
A compressed domestic gas capability.

Workers swarming over Australia’s ark?

A huge workforce will be required to build the proposed facilities – a manifold increase in the level of human industrial activity presently occurring on Barrow Island. This activity is one of the central threats posed to the 24 known types of animals (including five types of mammal) that live nowhere else but Barrow – put simply, with people comes the risk of pests, weeds and disease that could wipe out the island’s environmental values forever.

Presently, only 150 barge movements occur per year and only 150 people live on Barrow Island at any one time. Yet this relatively low level of activity has led to 27 recorded breaches of quarantine. These breaches resulted in the introduction of 13 known species of environmental weed, seven of which remain on Barrow. In recent years it has also been necessary to implement eradication programmes for black rats, house mice, and European bees.

The Gorgon proposal estimates that 861 barge movements and 52,307 personnel movements per year will be required to build the new facilities. This will dramatically increase the probability of pests and weeds arriving on the island – indeed, the Environmental Protection Authority considers that weed or pest invasion is “virtually certain”.

Threats posed by a temporarily contracted workforce

Gorgon proposes that the bulk of the work done in the construction phase will be done by temporary contractors. The EPA warns that this transitory workforce will be unable to meet appropriate quarantine standards – standards that even the current permanent employees on Barrow Island have been unable to meet.

What would happen if there was further invasion?

Barrow Island has existing, but smal scale, infestations of Buffel Grass (Cenchrus ciliaris) and Kapok (Aerva javanica). Thus far these weeds have proved impossible to eradicate.

The eradication of further invasive species, such as ants, mice and rats, could prove impossible to undertake without irreversibly damaging Barrow Island’s native species and ecosystems.

The potential for disease causing pathogens that could kill native animal and plant species is also very worrying. A disease like the virus that caused kangaroo blindness disease would have the potential to quickly devastate Barrow Island.

Climate threat

Gorgon gas is very dirty! Gorgon gas has a reservoir carbon dioxide content of up to 14%, compared with other gas sources, where 3% is the usual level. If allowed to proceed the proposal could cause the annual emission of approximately 8 million tonnes of climate threatening greenhouse gases.

The Government must not be swayed by unproven notions of re-injecting millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide underground. Gorgon partners have reserved the right to produce 16% of WA’s greenhouse gas emissions if re-injection is too expensive or technically infeasible.

There are too many unanswered questions

The threats raised above are only some of the inadequately addressed issues raised by the Gorgon proposal.

Under no circumstances should the Government give support to such a major development when critical details (such as quarantine procedures) remain unclear.

Alternatives exist. Gorgon on Barrow is not worth the risk.

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