The story behind Friends of the Earth Australia's recent media win
Friends of the Earth Australia (FoE) scored a recent media win with an in-depth ABC's 7.30 Report about the discovery that Esso's - jointly owned by ExxonMobile and Woodside - plans to remove 13 retired oil and gas platforms from Bass Strait. FoE found that the company has applied to dump eight platform jackets - the steel pylons that hold them above the water - into Bass Strait, while bringing all the toxic, multi-storey topsides to shore to be stored and broken in the middle of the significant Ramsar-listed Corner Inlet wetland next to Wilson's Promontory National Park.
It's the latest success of a two-year campaign to bring attention to the potential environmental costs of a $60 billion post-production waste problem that would make nationwide gas extraction more expensive. FoE’s campaign funding has run out, and the charitable organisation is seeking donations to keep up the pressure to save Bass Strait and establish important waste disposal precedents for the industry.
For more information on FoE’s anti-gas campaign, view their campaign page and see stories in the Sydney Morning Herald and ABC.
