We Cannot Let Equinor Drill in The Great Australian Bight – Here’s What You Can Do To Stop Them
#fightforthebight
Kira Simpson
To anyone who cares about our environment and our home. This is an urgent call for your support and activism to prevent Swedish giant Equinor drilling for oil in the Great Australian Bight.
The Great Australian Bight is a marine sanctuary.
More than 85% of the marine species in the Bight can be found nowhere else in the world. It’s Australia’s whale nursery, it’s populated by probably the highest concentration of dolphins in the world, and is home to more unique species than the Great Barrier Reef.
Images via The Great Australian Bight Alliance
It’s also one of the riskiest places to drill for oil, with wild waters and fragile ecosystems.
We must protect this pristine natural wonder.
The issue
Last year the Australian government released the area for offshore oil and gas drilling, which foreign petroleum companies will now bid on to drill. Fast forward to today, the Norwegian Government, who have a 67% stake in Equinor, wants to start searching for oil off the coast of South Australia at a depth of almost 2.5 kilometers by the end of 2020.
“The Bight is no place for risky deepwater drilling. You probably remember images of BP’s Deepwater Horizon explosion in the US. It was an environmental disaster, spewing millions of litres of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. If we don’t stop Equinor, this could happen in the Great Australian Bight. In November, the ABC revealed a leaked internal report, prepared by Equinor, that showed an oil spill in the Bight could reach as far as Sydney’s beaches, and completely encircle Tasmania.” – Great Australian Bight Alliance
“Other companies are planning to use dangerous seismic blasts to find oil. These blasts are loud enough to kill a person and deafen whales. Countless other endangered marine animals, including whales and sea lions, are at risk from oil spills.” – Greenpeace, Australia
Fight for the bight
Big oil has no place in the Great Australian Bight. We need to ensure this never goes ahead. This is the time we all need to stand together and #fightforthebight
Have your say
Equinor’s environmental plan is before the Australian regulatory body, NOPSEMA, and is open for public comment until March 20th. To have the biggest impact, make your response unique to you—instead of copying and pasting some of these ideas, put them in your own words. Leave your comment here.
Sign these petitions
Australian Marine Conservation Society
The Great Australian Bight Alliance
“Nature is the salve for our souls. We owe it to everyone who comes after us and ourselves, to protect what little is left of wild nature…” – Dr. Bob Brown quote to Patagonia for ‘World Heritage Protection for the Tarkine’, 2018
Get Loud and be an activist
Spreading the world as much as possible means that more people are aware of the issue and will get involved.
- Use social media to tell every Australian government agency that you do not want this go ahead. Use your platforms, no matter the size to spread the word. Use these hashtags to get more attention #fightfortheBight #NoWayNorway #GreatAustralianBight #unitethebight
- Join protests and ocean paddle outs. Big numbers get public attention. Come along and bring everyone you know, every person counts. You can find events happening in your area on The Great Australian Bight Alliance Facebook page here.
- Tell EVERYONE you know. We need more people talking about this issue before this goes ahead and it’s too late to stop them.
- Leave a comment on this Norwegian news site’s post about the recent paddle outs, to let them know as an Australian, why you don’t want drilling in the Bight.
It’s imperative that we do not let Equinor go ahead with drilling in the Bight. We have the power to stop this, but we need to act now.
