A Friend of the Sound sent this letter to me recently, as a response to the Albany Advertiser's article, May 6th, 2010; "Offshore Oil, Gas Project Holds Promise."
DEMOCRACY IS ALIVE AND WELL! (AND IF YOU PAY US ENOUGH, WE'LL RETURN IT SAFELY).
I'm excited to hear the Albany is set to benefit from the next resource boom. It's fantastic that the state government is supporting actions to mitigate climate change and we are all doing our bit to ramp up the race to peak oil. Future generations? Who gives a damn. While the oil glass is half full, let's drink it down, before the bartender gives it to someone else.
I bet the whales are excited too, about the pollution and seismic disturbances they "won't be exposed to."
And the timing of this announcement couldn't be better, which the daily spewing of 5,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. A company with the pretty name of Arcadia Petroleum is bound to be more accountable than BP, for sure. You can even ask them .... oh they can't be contacted for comment? Nothing has gone wrong yet, has it?
Another benefit is to the democratic process. Mines are famous for their love of public participation and comment. Just look at how excited Grange is about what we've got to say about the dredging of the harbour for iron ore shipments. And we're all pretty glad to get rid of that ugly little cove under the old pea factory, it's the last reminder of natural coastline on the south side of the harbour, after all.
And the astronomical economic benefits! All you renters, wave your eviction notices in the air if you are as excited as I am about rising accommodation and food costs.
Maybe we'll even afford to find, or rebuild, the town jetty that disappeared overnight! Maybe even a new beachfront hotel!
Lucky, lucky us!
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Diddums, Russell
It's always nice to hear someone wingeing louder than myself. When I read of the managing director of Grange Resources carrying on like Henny Penny in Albany's Weekender, well, it just makes me feel all warm inside.
Russell Clarke is worried that the sky will fall in. He's also annoyed that the City of Albany has written to the Environment Minister to express its concerns about the dredging of our channel and dumping the spoils in King George Sound. If Grange have to cart the spoils anywhere else, "the huge cost would be detrimental to the project."
"That is outside (the COA's) jurisdiction," he says. "There is actually an appeals process they can go through to do that, which they chose not to do."
Yes, it is outside their jurisdiction but the Council, like any other group of people, have a right to write to any minister they like. It's called a democracy. And they did try to appeal via official channels, Russell. Their submission was rejected for being eight days late.
"Then we have the Federal Government wanting to put in this Super Profits tax that is going to change the economics of the project," he said. "The Council is wanting to dump further out to sea, the Rudd Government is wanting a super tax and other people are wanting everything else." Bloodsucking vampires, the lot of us.
Russell Clark and Grange Resources have promised the people of Albany all sorts of trinkets and lollies in return for what they term a "terrific project." Already Grange has spent millions investing in real estate. This is a prime example of their commitment to the region - they've bought a farm, so they can mine it.
"Money is being spent, assets are being bought, studies are being done." You know that picture of the skeleton sitting on an armchair, the one that real estate agents like to flourish? The picture of the young man waiting for the price of land to come down? Give us a break, Russell.
"The mine will be spending probably upwards of $3 million into the local economy in one way or another," said Russell. Have a good look at that statement, it's pretty vague and it's the whole extent of promises from Grange that you are getting today. The very same Grange Resources that is nearly 47 percent Chinese owned.
In return for these poxed blankets and beads from Russell and the Albany Port Authority (and haven't these guys been quiet), we allow the Cove to be destroyed permanently, we lose fishing, aquaculture and recreational freedom in King George Sound and we shall witness environmental vandalism on a scale we've not yet experienced in this gorgeous corner of the world.
Quotes taken from The Weekender, May 20, 2010, pg. 3.
Russell Clarke is worried that the sky will fall in. He's also annoyed that the City of Albany has written to the Environment Minister to express its concerns about the dredging of our channel and dumping the spoils in King George Sound. If Grange have to cart the spoils anywhere else, "the huge cost would be detrimental to the project."
"That is outside (the COA's) jurisdiction," he says. "There is actually an appeals process they can go through to do that, which they chose not to do."
Yes, it is outside their jurisdiction but the Council, like any other group of people, have a right to write to any minister they like. It's called a democracy. And they did try to appeal via official channels, Russell. Their submission was rejected for being eight days late.
"Then we have the Federal Government wanting to put in this Super Profits tax that is going to change the economics of the project," he said. "The Council is wanting to dump further out to sea, the Rudd Government is wanting a super tax and other people are wanting everything else." Bloodsucking vampires, the lot of us.
Russell Clark and Grange Resources have promised the people of Albany all sorts of trinkets and lollies in return for what they term a "terrific project." Already Grange has spent millions investing in real estate. This is a prime example of their commitment to the region - they've bought a farm, so they can mine it.
"Money is being spent, assets are being bought, studies are being done." You know that picture of the skeleton sitting on an armchair, the one that real estate agents like to flourish? The picture of the young man waiting for the price of land to come down? Give us a break, Russell.
"The mine will be spending probably upwards of $3 million into the local economy in one way or another," said Russell. Have a good look at that statement, it's pretty vague and it's the whole extent of promises from Grange that you are getting today. The very same Grange Resources that is nearly 47 percent Chinese owned.
In return for these poxed blankets and beads from Russell and the Albany Port Authority (and haven't these guys been quiet), we allow the Cove to be destroyed permanently, we lose fishing, aquaculture and recreational freedom in King George Sound and we shall witness environmental vandalism on a scale we've not yet experienced in this gorgeous corner of the world.
Quotes taken from The Weekender, May 20, 2010, pg. 3.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
The Cove
Back in the bad old days, when the pea 'n' beans processor let their by-product flow straight into the channel, we'd string up a piece of bamboo with some nylon and a hook and go looking for herring.
We stood on wet black rocks with the conveyor belt ladies (the ones who picked out the rotten peas) and men whom we thought then were old - wrinkled knees and Stubbie shorts, fingers flattened and strong with manual work. No bait required, thanks to those rotten peas and bean shells. The herring were nuts. We'd get half a bucketful in half an hour.
Around the corner from the creaking, rusting factory, there lies a pristine little cove, secreted away from roads or tracks. It's a funny little spot on the south shore of the channel into Princess Royal Harbour, damp, often hidden from the sun, clad in paper bark trees that grow right down to the briny. Things arrive here, flotsam from the Sound and beyond.
It's a good place to play, catch whiting, and watch the schools of salmon trout meander by.
To get the massive Cape iron ore ships into Princess Royal Harbour, the Albany Port Authority and Grange Resources will dredge a channel from the harbour and straight through the middle of King George Sound.
Some of the spoils from this dredging will be used to fill in the cove, creating a berth for the iron ore ships. The cove, the last piece of natural coastline on the south side of the harbour, will be gone, forever ....
... and replaced with more of this:
The Google image above is shows where the cove will be filled to, using the spoils from the dredging. This information comes from the Public Environment Review,which is on the sidebar of this blog.
Postscript: This drawing of the proposed filling-in of The Cove is inaccurate. The Albany Port Authority are actually going to fill in a lot more, further towards the channel. Also ... for the info of original readers and followers, Save Our Sound is reposting 'The Cove' because this article disappeared into 'older posts' and I want newer readers to check it out ...
Saturday, May 8, 2010
A Poem
A long-time resident who has fished around Albany for fifty years and once sorted the peas at Hunts Canning, (one of those people that I mentioned in 'The Cove',) wrote this poem recently ...
Albany's Special
by Joy Jarratt
There's beaches East, there's beaches West,
The most natural harbour around.
There's sailing, fishing, swimming and surf,
Played out in King George Sound.
My favourite walk is Middleton Beach,
Sometimes we watch the whales play.
Sometimes we swim and walk the dog,
On each beautiful sunny day.
Sometimes the waves are greeny blue,
With a lovely bubbly white crest,
The water is so clear you can see right through,
It's those days that I like best.
They're talking of dredging the harbour,
But locals don't like that idea.
Big business rapes and leaves a place,
While we value what we've got here.
They need the channel to be deeper,
'Cos the ore tankers are clumsy and fat.
But Albany welcomes the Queen Mary,
And you can't do better than that.
So take your mine waste somewhere else,
And leave Albany harbour alone.
Money can't buy what's natural here,
Take your money and sludge and be gone.
Money we know usually wins the day,
And that's why we have this situation.
The question you have to ask yourself:
Will it be progress or devastation?
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Interview with Tony Harrison
Tony Harrison has been agitating politicians for years now. He does it because he loves and understands our coast and can't sit by when people are making ridiculous decisions that will impact upon it. I talked to him today about his response to the Port Authority and Grange Resources wanting to dump the dredging spoils at the entrance to King George Sound.
Tony has been collecting signatures to petition against the proposed dump site, (see the photograph on the previous post) by standing out the front of maritime festivals, farmers markets and post offices for several months now. He has educated people, garnered support and ended up with nearly 1, 200 signatures. He presented the petition to Peter Watson MLA on Monday and it was in turn presented to state parliament yesterday.
He said that all kinds of people signed the petition; a broad demographic of Albanians. "A lot of young people (voters) signed it, amateur fishers, older people - a lot of older people who signed the petition remember what we have already lost and know the coastal dynamics around here, who know of all the coastal problems from Albany to Esperence that have been caused by these interventions. Some are visual problems and some are not," he said.
As well as collecting signatures, Tony has written letters to the main players; Albany Port Authority, Grange Resources, the Minister for Environment and asked them to guarantee him that the sand dumped from the dredging will not shift. In their replies, not one body was able to commit to this. The Port Authority and Grange evaded the question altogether and Ecologia, the company that wrote the PER have not even answered yet.
Tony Harrison's fears that the dump site will spread with current and wave actions are well founded and based on his past experience and observation. "The evidence is there to prove the massive strength of waves and currents. In 1985, they dumped sand just off Middleton Beach and the currents and tides are not that strong just off the tideline there, but there's been sand and coal just washing in for the last 25 years. Since 2005, even though Whale World is further inside King George sound (than the proposed dump site), the ocean has been strong enough to fill the groyne with sand and that's only in 5 years. And Emu Point? Well, DPI just can't fix that, they're ignoring it. With those examples, then the currents in King George Sound are definitely strong enough to move a pile of sand."
"Last august the Belchers broke. (The Belchers is a reef situated between the proposed spoil dump site and another proposed site further out to sea.) That reef is 12 metres below the surface. If all the experts tell us that there is no energy or power in the ocean at 12, 20 or even 40 metres, well then ... they shouldn't be in the jobs they are in."
So why is the Albany Port Authority so intent on dumping the spoil inside the Sound?
"Because it's the cheapest. It's at the last point of Albany Port Authority jurisdiction. After that it is out of state waters and under federal control. That's why they want it inside."
"The Port, Grange and the politicians are all thinking of economics first and the environment is right down the bottom somewhere. They don't realise that, if you look after the environment first, everything follows - jobs, infrastructure, money. No damage, everything keeps going."
Tony has been collecting signatures to petition against the proposed dump site, (see the photograph on the previous post) by standing out the front of maritime festivals, farmers markets and post offices for several months now. He has educated people, garnered support and ended up with nearly 1, 200 signatures. He presented the petition to Peter Watson MLA on Monday and it was in turn presented to state parliament yesterday.
He said that all kinds of people signed the petition; a broad demographic of Albanians. "A lot of young people (voters) signed it, amateur fishers, older people - a lot of older people who signed the petition remember what we have already lost and know the coastal dynamics around here, who know of all the coastal problems from Albany to Esperence that have been caused by these interventions. Some are visual problems and some are not," he said.
As well as collecting signatures, Tony has written letters to the main players; Albany Port Authority, Grange Resources, the Minister for Environment and asked them to guarantee him that the sand dumped from the dredging will not shift. In their replies, not one body was able to commit to this. The Port Authority and Grange evaded the question altogether and Ecologia, the company that wrote the PER have not even answered yet.
Tony Harrison's fears that the dump site will spread with current and wave actions are well founded and based on his past experience and observation. "The evidence is there to prove the massive strength of waves and currents. In 1985, they dumped sand just off Middleton Beach and the currents and tides are not that strong just off the tideline there, but there's been sand and coal just washing in for the last 25 years. Since 2005, even though Whale World is further inside King George sound (than the proposed dump site), the ocean has been strong enough to fill the groyne with sand and that's only in 5 years. And Emu Point? Well, DPI just can't fix that, they're ignoring it. With those examples, then the currents in King George Sound are definitely strong enough to move a pile of sand."
"Last august the Belchers broke. (The Belchers is a reef situated between the proposed spoil dump site and another proposed site further out to sea.) That reef is 12 metres below the surface. If all the experts tell us that there is no energy or power in the ocean at 12, 20 or even 40 metres, well then ... they shouldn't be in the jobs they are in."
So why is the Albany Port Authority so intent on dumping the spoil inside the Sound?
"Because it's the cheapest. It's at the last point of Albany Port Authority jurisdiction. After that it is out of state waters and under federal control. That's why they want it inside."
"The Port, Grange and the politicians are all thinking of economics first and the environment is right down the bottom somewhere. They don't realise that, if you look after the environment first, everything follows - jobs, infrastructure, money. No damage, everything keeps going."
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