Turtles, toxic PFAS and quarantine: Probes target Chevron’s Gorgon
Peter Milne Oct 18 2023
https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/turtles-toxic-pfas-and-quarantine-probes-target-chevron-s-gorgon-20231016-p5ecrv.html
Western Australia’s environment regulator is investigating environmental failures of Chevron’s Gorgon gas project on the Barrow Island nature reserve off the Pilbara coast, to determine if the US giant has broken the law.
Beach erosion where turtles nest, contamination of soil and water with toxic “forever chemical” PFAS from firefighting foam, and breaches of strict quarantine intended to preserve the island’s ecosystem are all in the sights of the WA Department of Water and Environmental Regulation.
In 2003, the WA government gave Chevron permission to build an $88 billion gas export plant on the island it described as “one of the oldest and most valuable biodiversity conservation reserves in the world” despite the objections of its own Conservation Commission.
Barrow Island has been a nature reserve for 113 years and is home to more than 100 species of birds, 13 mammal species, 44 different reptiles and almost 4000 different plants.
The 235-square-kilometre island is a haven where native animals and plants, including 24 found nowhere else, have flourished free of introduced diseases and pests.
The regulator’s investigations were revealed by this masthead’s three freedom of information requests, which were refused because disclosure of the 111 documents could “prejudice an investigation relating to contravention or possible contravention of the laws.”
Dr Kelly Duckworth, policy manager at the Conservation Council of WA, said Chevron’s access to Barrow Island was an incredible privilege.
“Chevron’s operations on Barrow Island have veered from shambolic to dangerous for years, largely without any meaningful punishment from the regulators,” she said.
A principal reason for allowing the plant on Barrow Island was to allow climate-warming carbon dioxide to be buried underground.
After more than seven years, Chevron has failed to get the system to work at its design capacity, resulting in millions of tonnes of carbon pollution.
The investigations
About 1400 flatback turtles, designated a vulnerable species, come to the island’s east coast each year to lay eggs.
Nesting has significantly reduced at two beaches where sand has shifted due to an adjacent jetty built to load ships with gas, according to an environment report published by Chevron.
As well as reduced areas for nesting, Chevron identified less successful nesting from turtles exhausted from finding alternative spots to lay eggs and worse conditions for incubating the eggs as medium-level risks from changes to the beaches.
Chevron and the regulator corresponded on the beach erosion for five years, according to the FOI document listing, and, like quarantine and PFAS, it was serious enough to warrant a contentious issue briefing note to the state environment minister.
A Chevron spokesman said it had caused the changed beaches and was planning to trial redistributing sand, but the island’s turtle population remained stable and healthy.
An array of species have escaped quarantine, according to the limited document details in the FOI responses, including a fungal disease sooty mould, scale insects, earwigs, beetles, and typha, a type of bullrush.
The Asian house gecko, which competes with native geckos and can cause population declines in native insects and spiders, was declared a level 3 quarantine incident, defined by Chevron as when “the risk to the biodiversity of Barrow Island is considered to be high and the ability to detect and eradicate is difficult.”
Duckworth said some of those species, particularly the insects, could significantly impact the island’s native vegetation.
“It would appear that the quarantine measures are failing,” she said.
A spokesman for the regulator said it was unlikely that invasive species that had escaped quarantine could be eradicated.
The Chevron spokesman said its detection and immediate response to the gecko that had not established itself on the island showed its quarantine worked.
The company has processed more than one million passengers and two million tonnes of freight through its quarantine system, which it describes as “beyond best practice.”
The third investigation into Chevron’s stewardship of the island concerns contamination from PFAS (per- and polyfluorinated substances) used in firefighting foam, which it first reported in June 2022.
Chevron stopped using the chemical, which has caused serious groundwater contamination near many RAAF bases, in April 2023.
The Chevron spokesman said given its long-term use in firefighting foam, PFAS was a challenge for many organisations.
Barrow Island is already listed as a contaminated site due to widespread soil and groundwater contamination by hydrocarbons from Chevron’s oil field that has operated on Barrow Island since the 1960s.
In April, Environment Minister Reece Whitby asked the independent WA Environmental Protection Authority to assess whether the quarantine and coastal stability conditions the government imposes on Chevron are adequate.
The Chevron spokesman said the company operated under stringent environmental conditions to protect biodiversity on the island.
“We take our environmental obligations seriously, and we are committed to environmental stewardship on Barrow Island,” he said.