BP oil and gas exploration in the Great Australian Bight

Previously we have expressed our concerns on BP conducting oil and gas exploration  in the Great Australian Bight. BP recently put the Sesimic testing up for referral under the EPBC act. The Conservation Council of SA submitted comments on this referral, you can download it here.

This exploration has the potential to significantly impact on matters protected by the EPBC Act, including threatened and migratory species, and the Great Australian Bight Marine Park Benthic Protection Zone.

We have identified 5 key areas of concern to the Conservation Council SA. We consider BP to have presented misleading or incorrect information with regards to these 5 areas in referral 2011/5969.

1. The 3D seismic surveys are a component of a larger project, including required drilling of exploration wells, and are not a single action, therefore the full impacts on matters protected under the EPBC Act need to be considered in this referral.
2. There are fundamental gaps in the scientific understanding of the biology and ecology of the area included in the licenses EEP 37, EEP 38, EEP 39 and EEP 40 and surrounding areas. This
3. There is risk of injury to listed threatened and migratory species protected by sections 18 and 20 of the EPBC Act and there are inadequate precautions to prevent their injury.
4. The environmental record of the party responsible, BP. In their referral BP indicated they have a satisfactory record of environmental management. In light of the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, also known as the Mocondo Oil Spill, BP can not be considered to have a good environmental safety record. To say otherwise is misleading.
5. The action and its wider consequences should be considered a controlled action. BP indicate the action to conduct seismic surveys in the Great Australian Bight is not a controlled action, i.e. likely to impact on matters protected by the EPBC Act. However given the under-researched impacts of seismic testing on marine life, the inadequate information on the biology of the area and the fact that BP is required to drill under the licences awarded to it by the Federal Government, it needs to be considered a controlled action.