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On location, hunting for dinosaurs! While waiting for a massive Sauropod to wander across the barren...
Destinations > Paradise Lost?
Paradise Lost?
(In addition, the wilderness area film-maker is upset about the development of a 5-star 'camp' at the mouth of the Berkeley River on King George Sound, in the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf. Guests will be choppered into what was previously a completely undeveloped, pristine environment. It's all happening, folks.)
The LNG operation is the thin edge of the wedge. There are proposals for two major bauxite mines, one on the Mitchell Plateau and one at Mount Leeming, near Kalumburu. To make this happen, the mining companies are going to need two major ports, including wharves, shipping channels (probably requiring dredging) and turning basins. The possibilities for the Mitchell Plateau are Port Warrender, Walsh Point or MacGregor Point, while Deep Bay is the likely one for Kalumburu. These ports will all have conveyor belts, stackers, ship loaders, ore stockpiles, and of course, admin and maintenance facilities. What will also be required are two new power stations with high voltage transmission lines.
Proposed sites for the inevitable aluminium refineries include Broome, Derby, and one in-situ on the Mitchell Plateau. And the aluminium refineries would need onshore gas.
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Another potential danger is the Admiral Bay zinc deposits, expected to produce 200 000 tonnes a year, all of which would be trucked to Broome Port, where the jetty would require extending and the installation of a bulk ship loader and a conveyor system would be mandatory.
For obvious reasons, we've initially concentrated on the visual pollution - ruination - of the Kimberley, but there are other adverse effects if this whole abomination of a concerted plan goes through.
As the STK group points out, there are four broad impact areas. The first is environmental. Woodside, for example, is expected to produce around 10 million tonnes of greenhouse gases a year - not just methane, which is the main component of natgas and has a global warming impact roughly twenty times that of carbon monoxide - and any plant will emit nasties like benzene (a carcinogenic), cyclohexane (which can damage the nervous system), ethylbenzene, toluene (which can damage the kidneys), NOx, carbon monoxide and volatile hydrocarbons. The only thing that pollutes Kimberley air currently is bushfire smoke.
The second is the effect it will possibly have on indigenous people. While Wayne Bergmann is confident the plants will produce real jobs for his people, overseas experience (say, for example, with Eskimo people in Alaska, who have already gone through this) would suggest that the employment opportunities are mainly menial and relatively few in real terms. And a lot of indigenous people realise this - not everyone sides with the point of view of the KLC. The fact is that few locals - white and black alike - will have the requisite skills to make up the workforce in a mining environment, meaning that the primary labour will be of the 'fly-in/fly-out' sort, more interested in strippers and pole dancers than the ongoing good of the community.
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The LNG operation is the thin edge of the wedge. There are proposals for two major bauxite mines, one on the Mitchell Plateau and one at Mount Leeming, near Kalumburu. To make this happen, the mining companies are going to need two major ports, including wharves, shipping channels (probably requiring dredging) and turning basins. The possibilities for the Mitchell Plateau are Port Warrender, Walsh Point or MacGregor Point, while Deep Bay is the likely one for Kalumburu. These ports will all have conveyor belts, stackers, ship loaders, ore stockpiles, and of course, admin and maintenance facilities. What will also be required are two new power stations with high voltage transmission lines.
Proposed sites for the inevitable aluminium refineries include Broome, Derby, and one in-situ on the Mitchell Plateau. And the aluminium refineries would need onshore gas.
read on below advertisement
Another potential danger is the Admiral Bay zinc deposits, expected to produce 200 000 tonnes a year, all of which would be trucked to Broome Port, where the jetty would require extending and the installation of a bulk ship loader and a conveyor system would be mandatory.
For obvious reasons, we've initially concentrated on the visual pollution - ruination - of the Kimberley, but there are other adverse effects if this whole abomination of a concerted plan goes through.
As the STK group points out, there are four broad impact areas. The first is environmental. Woodside, for example, is expected to produce around 10 million tonnes of greenhouse gases a year - not just methane, which is the main component of natgas and has a global warming impact roughly twenty times that of carbon monoxide - and any plant will emit nasties like benzene (a carcinogenic), cyclohexane (which can damage the nervous system), ethylbenzene, toluene (which can damage the kidneys), NOx, carbon monoxide and volatile hydrocarbons. The only thing that pollutes Kimberley air currently is bushfire smoke.
The second is the effect it will possibly have on indigenous people. While Wayne Bergmann is confident the plants will produce real jobs for his people, overseas experience (say, for example, with Eskimo people in Alaska, who have already gone through this) would suggest that the employment opportunities are mainly menial and relatively few in real terms. And a lot of indigenous people realise this - not everyone sides with the point of view of the KLC. The fact is that few locals - white and black alike - will have the requisite skills to make up the workforce in a mining environment, meaning that the primary labour will be of the 'fly-in/fly-out' sort, more interested in strippers and pole dancers than the ongoing good of the community.
next page »
