Montara,  Western  Australia  (2009)    Equivalent  of  one  ‘Rena’  disaster  everyday  for  74  days  in  a  row…  

Deepwater  Horizon  exploratory  well  (2010)  

Petrobras  P36,  March  2001  

“Petrobras has established new global benchmarks for the generation of exceptional shareholder wealth through an aggressive and innovative programme of cost cutting on its P36 production facility…” ! !    

–  1km  oil  slick  reported  from  P-­‐57  plaNorm  in  Jubarte  field  (May  2012);  oil  leak  from  another  well  at  Roncador  field,  500m  from  Nov  2011  spill  (Apr  2012);  two  offshore  oil  spills:  one  small  and  one  undisclosed  amount  (Mar  2012);  Petrobras  rig  fire,  oil  and  drilling  fluid  spill  off  Rio  (Mar  2012);  30  barrels  spilt  from  a  Petrobras  rig  off  Rio  on  (Feb  2012);  160  barrels  of  oil  leaked  from  Petrobras  plaNorm  offshore  from  Sao  Paulo  (Jan  2012)  

–  death  of  another  Petrobras  employee  and  injury  of  two  others  in  a  Boxing  Day  accident  on  the  PUB-­‐03  oil  rig  in  offshore  waters  in  Rio  Grande  do  Norte  state  (Dec  2011)  

–  Police  say  material  dumped  in  the  river  from  Petrobras  refinery  violated  the  limits  set  by  environmental  law.  

–  a  spill  from  a  project  co-­‐owned  by  Petrobras  and  Chevron  spewed  3,000  barrels  of  oil  into  the  sea  and  took  a  week  to  get  under  control.  Local  government  authoriaes  have  taken  a  civil  lawsuit  against  the  polluters  claiming  US$11billion  in  damages.  

–  Petrobras  worker  killed  and  his  colleague  badly  disfigured  from  a  refinery  explosion  in  Argenana  that  was  similar  to  another  fatal  accident  two  years  earlier.  

–  major  incident  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  involved  a  deep  sea  riser  coming  loose  with  a  130  tonne  buoy  narrowly  missing  another  rig  as  the  company  prepared  to  start  the  first  new  extracaon  since  the  Deepwater  Horizon  disaster.  Had  the  break  happened  a  few  days  later  when  oil  had  started  pumping,  analysts  claim  it  could  have  resulted  in  a  disaster  similar  to  the  BP  oil  leak  in  2010.  

Petrobras  Wall  of  Shame  2011-­‐2012  

Permit  38348  

Expires:  7/11/2011  

Area:  1606  SQKM  

LocaNon:  East  Coast  Basin    

OperaNon  Name:  Waitangi  Hill    

Minerals:  Oil,  Condensate,  LPG,  Petroleum,  Gas  

Te  Puia  

Tokomaru  Bay  

Whangara  

Tolaga  Bay  

Te  Karaka  

Whatatutu  

‘landfarming’  (contaminated  mud  spread  onto  farmland)  

Toxic  waste  stored  in  unlined  pits   Stream  polluaon  

‘landfarming’  (contaminated  mud  spread  onto  farmland)   Chemical  spill  near  well  site  

At  New  Plymouth  District  Council  Hearing  (14  May  2012)  on  TAG  Oil’s  proposal  to  expand  its  drilling  operaNons  at  the  Sidewinder  site  a  company  representaNve  claimed  that  they  have  an  ‘impeccable  track  record’  there.        The  TAG  Oil  representaave  gave  a  long  talk  about  the  Resource  Management  Act  and  New  Plymouth  District  Plan  and  concluded  that  the  proposed  expansion  is  "not  out  of  character"  of  the  local  rural  environment  because  there're  already  several  oil/gas  sites  in  the  area;  effects  such  as  noise  can  be  miagated  so  it  is  no  more  than  minor;  and  the  commissioners  must  not  consider  any  "irrelevant,  extraneous  makers"  and  instead  think  about  the  potenaal  benefits  -­‐  money  and  jobs  to  the  whole  of  NZ!      

Let’s  have  a  look  at  the  July  2011  Taranaki  Regional  Council  monitoring  report  on  Sidewinder…    

•  In  the  10  months  of  operaaons  from  Sept  2010,  there  were  two  diesel  spills,  a  cement  spill  and  several  breaches  of  consent  condiNons.    

•  The  tank  for  storing  hazardous  substances  including  diesel  was  only  single  skinned  when  it’s  supposed  to  be  double-­‐skinned.    

•  A  water  sample  taken  at  the  point  where  stormwater  discharged  to  land  near  to  Piakau  Stream  revealed  levels  of  chloride  and  suspended  solids  above  consent  limits.    

•  There  were  issues  with  Halliburton’s  pracaces  surrounding  cleaning  pipes  and  containment  of  discharged  products.    

•  Consent  7596-­‐1  was  not  complied  with  because  TRC  did  not  receive  noaficaaon  of  flaring.    

•  No  chemical  analysis  was  undertaken  on  emissions  from  the  flare  to  verify  consent  compliance  re  carbon  monoxide,  nitrogen  dioxide  and  other  contaminants.    

   Source:  hkp://www.trc.govt.nz/assets/Publicaaons/technical-­‐reports/oil-­‐and-­‐gas-­‐compliance-­‐monitoring-­‐reports/890325.pdf  

How  does  mining  happen?  

1.   Government  issues  a  permit  2.   Owners  negoaate  access  3.   Council  issues  Resource  Consents  

What  are  the  benefits?  

Probable:    1.   a  few  local  jobs  2.   some  increase  in  local  economic  acavity  3.   some  government  royalaes  

Possible:  1.  significant  number  of  local  jobs  2.  high  increase  in  local  economic  acavity  

What  are  the  risks?  

Risk   Likelihood   Impact  polluted  surface  water/waterways   High   Medium  

polluted  land   High   Medium  

polluted  underground  aquifers   Low   High  

polluted  air   High   Medium  

significant  earthquakes   Low   Low?  

negaNve  social  impacts   Guaranteed   Medium-­‐High  

negaNve  cultural  impacts   Guaranteed   High  

negaNve  economic  impacts   Guaranteed   Medium  

greenhouse  gas  emissions   Guaranteed   High  

=500MW  (Huntly:  1000MW  =  17%  NZ  electricity  &  50%  greenhouse  gases  from  electricity  gen.)