As gas runs out in the Bass Strait the debate over how to dismantle massive offshore rigs is heating up - ABC NewsYet another example of a huge mess trying to be avoided is in Bass Straights old gas platforms. All of this should have been planned and funded for over the last decades not now. I am Not attacking wind, solar or gas! The costs need to be covered not deferred to taxpayers and or the mess left for ever.
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As gas runs out in the Bass Strait the debate over how to dismantle massive offshore rigs is heating up
The network of offshore oil and gas platforms launched more than 50 years ago in the Bass Strait turned Victoria into an Australian energy powerhouse.
But now the gas is dwindling and supplies are projected to drop by nearly 50 per cent by 2028, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator.
About half of ExxonMobil subsidiary Esso's platforms and pipelines in the Bass Strait are no longer operational. And as rigs shut down the debate is raging over what happens next.
"The concerns are that not all of the infrastructure is going to be removed," said Ange Moore, a Maritime Union of Australia representative who spent years working on supply ships and semi-submersible rigs as they drilled offshore wells and laid pipes.
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An article in a paper suggesting NO or low impact on whales and marine life from offshore testing and construction made my jaw drop. As a Sonar operator in the Navy we all could see the Dramatic impact we had on marine biologicals of all sizes. From STUNNED/Dead if too close to an active sonar ping transducer to clear distress on whales and dolphins much further away. We stopped transmitting whenever we saw this!
It very is clear to me >99% plus we could not see the marine biologicals our Sonar impacted on.
Explosive or seismic testing for offshore oil, gas or wind turbines has impacts. Millions of tones of concrete or steel or worse should not be left in place! "
Esso's proposal for the Bass Strait follows a pattern established in the Gulf of Mexico, where parts of 600 US rigs have been left in place"
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"The best scenario, and the one that's required by law, is to remove everything that you brought into the license area, unless there's a darn good environmental reason not to," Ms Soliman-Hunter said."
Go for a drive around our country and its easy to find huge scars left by other past activities that did not have a decommissioning plan!
Come diving and you will find worse!
