Sea Shepherd has announced it will join the Great Australian Bight Alliance to fight BP's proposal to drill for oil in the Great Australian Bight. They will join the Wilderness Society, Oil Free Seas Kangaroo Island, elders from the Mirning and Kokatha people and the Clean Bight Alliance Australia.
BP wants to drill four deep-water exploration wells between 1000 and 2500 metres deep, about 300 kilometres south-west of Ceduna. The Alliance fears an oil spill will have dire consequences for Australia's southern coast.
Sea Shepherd has announced it will join the Great Australian Bight Alliance to fight BP's proposal to drill for oil in the Great Australian Bight. They will join the Wilderness Society, Oil Free Seas Kangaroo Island, elders from the Mirning and Kokatha people and the Clean Bight Alliance Australia.
BP wants to drill four deep-water exploration wells between 1000 and 2500 metres deep, about 300 kilometres south-west of Ceduna. The Alliance fears an oil spill will have dire consequences for Australia's southern coast.
BP was responsible for the world's biggest oil spill accident, in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, when up to 100,000 barrels of oil a day escaped for 87 days from a well blow-out 1.6 kilometres below the surface.
The Wilderness Society's SA director Peter Owen said the drilling project's potential for an oil spill was his main concern because it would cause "irreparable damage to the area. He said the region was the world's "most significant southern right whale nursery", Australia's "most important sea lion nursery", and was a haven for humpback, sperm, blue and beak whales
The nation's oil and gas regulator, the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environment Management Authority, rejected BP's initial proposal in November. It said it was not satisfied that BP's environmental plan met all of the regulatory requirements. It said it had given the oil and gas company the opportunity to resubmit a new plan for consideration.
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