Gorgon’s dirty secret: Western Australia’s biggest single polluter?

Barrow Island Wiki pic

Senator Rachel Siewert

Gorgon’s dirty secret: WA’s biggest

single polluter?  Bye Bye Barrow Is.

MEDIA RELEASE, Tuesday 11 August 2009

The Gorgon LNG proposal for Barrow Island, if it goes ahead, will massively increase WA’s greenhouse gas emissions, representing a disastrous decision for the climate, Greens Senator for WA Rachel Siewert has warned.

“While the old parties in Canberra this week are debating various flawed forms of an emissions trading scheme – all aimed at donating billions of dollars to the nation’s biggest polluters to compensate them for the cost of the pollution they are causing – the State Government is quietly progressing a project that will single-handedly boost WA’s greenhouse gas emissions by between eight to 12 per cent,” Senator Siewert said.

“Gorgon’s emissions will be 5.45 million tonnes-a-year if carbon geo-sequestration is achieved and 8.81 million tonnes-a-year without the greenhouse gas sequestered.

“This represents either an eight or 12 per cent increase on the State’s total annual carbon footprint now.

“Meanwhile, there are plans to more than double the number of coal-fired power stations in Collie from four to nine by 2013, plus allow the highly polluting Perdaman urea plant.

“If the WA and Federal governments are relying on public apathy to get away with taking us down the opposite path that we need to go on climate change, then they are wrong.

“This issue was a vote-decider at the last Federal election and we saw it again with the Fremantle by-election. People care about climate change and they can see that neither the Liberal nor the Labor party are showing leadership on this issue.”

For more information or media inquiries, please call Eloise Dortch on 0415 507 763

Image via Wikipedia

BACKGROUND:

Even with carbon geosequestration, Gorgon proponents plan to add 5.45million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually: (ref: page 30, http://www.epa.wa.gov.au/docs/2937_Rep1323GorgonRevPer30409.pdf).

The amount Gorgon proponents Chevron, Shell and Exxon Mobile plan to geo-sequester from the expanded, three-LNG train proposal is 3.36 million tonnes annually (ref: page 31 http://www.gorgon.com.au/review/FromClient/Gorgon_Revised_Proposal_PER_Final_Main_Report_20080909.pdf. To quote: “The addition of a third LNG processing train and a Domestic Gas supply will potentially increase the annual volume of reservoir CO2 to be injected from approximately 2.72 MTPA as a result of the Approved Development, to a total of approximately

3.36 MTPA (Table 2.2) as a result of the Revised Proposal.”

This compares to WA’s total annual CO2 emissions of 70.4mtpa (ref: http://www.climatechange.gov.au/inventory/stateinv/index.html)

· 5.45mtpa therefore represents an eight per cent increase on WA’s current annual greenhouse gas emissions (assuming carbon geo-sequestration is achieved)

· If carbon sequestration is not achieved, annual greenhouse emission from Gorgon will be 8.81mtpa (5.45mtpa + 3.36mtpa), equivalent to a 12.5 per cent increase on WA’s current annual emissions.

posted in support of those working to protect the environment by tony serve

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