Today the Albanese Government announced it has issued a raft of new offshore fossil fuel exploration permits, locking in years of climate-warming emissions and harm to marine ecosystems.
The release includes 10 permits for carbon pollution dumping (known as carbon capture and storage (CCS)) and several permits for gas exploration in the Otway and Sorrell basins and in Western Australia, some of which overlap with Commonwealth marine parks.
New gas exploration flies in the face of global commitments to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. There can be no new fossil fuel projects if we are to meet emissions reduction targets and make the urgent transition to renewable energy.
Contact your MP with your objection - see the talking points below.
The carbon dumping permits released today will allow companies such as Esso/ExxonMobil to repurpose rusting old rigs and infrastructure, which have had two reported leaks and spills just this year, for dumping carbon in Bass Strait. Esso/ExxonMobil currently has proposals to pump carbon pollution from its Longford gas plant in Gippsland under the ocean as part of its South-East Australia CCS project.
These permits for new gas and carbon pollution dumping projects spell disaster for Australia’s oceans, which are already stressed from the impacts of accelerating climate change. Our south-east waters are warming at 3-4 times faster than the global average and have experienced devastating marine heatwaves and kelp forest die offs. These new offshore fossil fuel projects bring increased risks of hydrocarbon spills, pollution, and harm to marine ecosystems and biodiversity – not to mention further climate harm from decades of fossil fuel emissions.
Our MPs need to hear that their constituents do not want more offshore fossil fuel projects harming our oceans and climate, and that this is an election issue that will influence votes.
Talking points for MP engagement:
- No new gas projects – we should be scaling up renewable energy projects, not continuing with business-as-usual fossil fuel exploration
- No carbon pollution dumping CCS projects – CCS is failed and expensive, prolongs the fossil fuel industry and harms our oceans and marine life
- More action on climate – for us, our oceans and our future on a liveable planet
Contact your MP today!!
If you need some help, there's two issue briefings on our webpage - on seismic blasting (whale pic) and CCS (penguin pic).
See also: Protect Our Oceans: END Action Against Seismic Blasting