Ban oil drilling, eliminate devastating oil spill risk

Great Australian Bight

The Australian Greens are calling for a ban to offshore drilling in the Great Australian Bight following the release of shocking modelling that shows twice the oil that spilled in the Gulf of Mexico disaster could be spilled in the Bight.
"It is time to ban offshore oil drilling ever being able to occur in the Bight, to protect our South Australian beaches, our fishing industry, and pristine Kangaroo Island,” Greens environment spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

“The big oil companies and the Federal Government tried to hide this modelling from the public because they don’t want the community to know how high the risks really are.
“If anything should kill off drilling in the Great Australian Bight once and for all, it is this.
"South Australians have rejected this project from day one, and community opposition grows every day.
"We know 74 per cent of South Australians support World Heritage protection for the Great Australian Bight.
"We don't want to see the jewel in our tourism crown, Kangaroo Island, and our beautiful beaches covered in oil.
"We don't want our tourism and fishing industries to be decimated. We should celebrate what the Bight has to offer - 85% of the species that call the Bight home are endemic to the area - rather than risk it all.
"Corporate profits and oil going offshore, and the risk of an oil spill twice as devastating as one of the worst environmental disasters we've seen in our oceans; Australia has everything to lose and nothing to gain from drilling in the Great Australian Bight. It must be banned."

Sunday, November 4, 2018