Greenpeace’s flagship the Rainbow Warrior has carried a giant message to gas companies Woodside Energy and Buru Energy along the Kimberley coastline: “Don’t Frack the Kimberley”.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific, in partnership with leading environmental organisation Environs Kimberley, sailed along the coast of the Kimberley to display the giant banners calling for no new gas and fracking projects in the region.
The banner display – carried on a 12m x 12m net – comes almost exactly 10 years after a major community campaign defeated Woodside Energy’s Browse LNG gas factory proposal at Walmadany (James Price Point), garnering national and international attention.
Woodside now wants to revive its plan to open up the Browse gas field, proposing to send it to the North West Shelf LNG gas factory on the Burrup Peninsula.
Environs Kimberley Strategy Director Martin Pritchard said any oil or gas giants proposing fracking in the region won’t be tolerated by the community.
“The Kimberley community is determined to keep fossil fuels in the ground to prevent destruction of Country and dangerous climate change,” he said.
“For more than fifteen years, we have been fighting gas giants, first Woodside and now Buru Energy who want to rip up the ground, drill and frack. They also want to pipe gas to a monstrous floating gas factory, threatening our incredible Kimberley coast and communities who depend on them”.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific Head of Clean Transitions Jess Panegyres said new gas and oil had no place in Western Australia’s future.
“It is sobering to hear stories from Traditional Owners across the Kimberley of the terrible impacts of climate change on Country, including floods and soaring temperatures. The world’s scientists and the International Energy Agency are clear that there is no room for new gas projects if we want to limit the worst impacts of climate change,” she said.
“The good news is WA can be a renewable energy superpower – creating clean jobs of the future for our regions and communities. We’re united with Environs Kimberley to call for a renewable future.”
Climate models suggest the Kimberley will suffer a predicted temperature increase of up to 2.5C in the next 30 years and become unliveable by 2090 if current global warming trajectory continues.
Over the weekend, Environs Kimberley and Greenpeace welcomed more than 100 people from across the community, including Traditional Owners and community leaders, on board the Rainbow Warrior to discuss the threats new gas and fracking poses to Country, culture, climate, jobs and livelihoods.
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