I first saw Peter Garrett at the local rec centre. The nightclub boys, whom I shall give the most discreet pseudonym of the Kray Brothers, hosted the bar for the Midnight Oil gig, complete with barmaids in classy Bundy midriffs and all the water fountains taped over. (You can't possibly have free water at a concert of national standing in Albany!)
Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, Peter Garrett. Here is a letter from Tony Harrison to Peter Garrett, commenting on the Minister's recent approval of the port expansion project.
Dear Minister,
I found a small article in the West Australian newspaper dated Friday, June the 18th. It was about how you have approved the proposal from the Port of Albany and Grange Resources port development. You have failed to let the people of Albany know what is going to happen to the dredging spoil.
If you have been to Albany you would know how pristine this King George Sound really is. We don't want it destroyed. We have proof that there will be problems.
Even though this mining and export is all in W.A state waters and outside your jurisdiction, then how come you have approved this project. Before you make a decision about this dump site, I would like to invite you to come on a whale watching boat and see for yourself.
Save Our Sound,
Tony Harrison.
It seems that even though Grange have sailed in from a distant shore (47% Chinese owned), the company takes what the company wants and nothing's as precious as a hole in the ground.
What?! A Cheap Shot? Sorry, it was just irresistible.
Showing posts with label Sound People. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sound People. Show all posts
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
The Save Our Sound Flotilla
Today, at 10.30 am, or perhaps a bit closer to 11, fourteen mariners and passengers converged on waters between Bald Head and Breaksea Island to protest against the Albany Port Authority and Grange Resources dumping their dredging spoils there.
Fourteen boats doesn't sound like many but it was a grand effort getting out there. The maritime origins of Albany were well represented - fishing boats, dive boats, tour boats and a few weekenders came out. There was even a tinny or two, rolling around in the massive swells of the Sound entrance.
These photos are taken from my mobile phone. If anyone has any better, please email them to me at www dot saveoursound6330 dot gmail dot com ...
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Democracy is Alive and Well
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!
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!
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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