In 1965, the first western settlement of Dampier was established in Murujuga, land stewarded by the Ngarluma aboriginal people after the Yaburara traditional owners were wiped out by the western colonisers [1], to serve as a port to export iron ore from mines in the Pilbara region. In 1984, the first production well at what is now known as Burrup Hub was opened as part of the North West Shelf gas project. In 1989, the first LNG cargo was sent from the Karratha LNG terminal, the second largest LNG export terminal in the world [2]. In 2005, further expansion projects started with the development of more offshore gas fields and the construction of Pluto LNG, a second liquefaction plant [3]. Now, the corporate conglomerate led by Woodside wants to ramp up gas extraction with the Scarborough and the Browse basin offshore gas projects, and potentially opening opportunities for an onshore fracking boom in Western Australia [4]. But aboriginal people and climate campaigners are defiantly resisting the projects. Murujuga, also known as Burrup peninsula, is the site of a vast collection of over 1 million petroglyphs, or rock paintings, dating from 50,000 years ago to the mid 19th century. These rock paintings are sacred for the aboriginal population and they constitute the recorded memory of their ancestors [5]. There is an ongoing application process for Murujuga to be protected as a UNESCO World Heritge site [1]. A recent scientific report confirmed the original alarm of aboriginal peoples over the erosion of the rock art due to the industrial activities of the Burrup Hub [6]. Historically, the development of the infrastucture for what is now the Burrup Hub has destroyed, displaced and disturbed petroglyphs, including up to 5,000 pieces of rock art destroyed to make way for the Karratha Gas Plant in the 1980s. Possibly up to 15,000 petroglyphs could have been destroyed by the construction of the iron ore stockpiling and export facilities in the 1960s , before the petroglyphs were recorded or protected [7]. In the words of Raelene Cooper, a Mardudhunera woman and former board member of the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation: “Industry has removed and destroyed our rock art in another form of cultural genocide. This has caused loss of our traditional livelihoods, traditional Indigenous knowledge and our spiritual relationship with the land. There has been displacement and ecological degradation. The ngurra, our land, is our temple and our parliament. The rock art archives our lore. It is written not on a tablet of stone but carved into the ngurra, which holds our Dreaming stories and Songlines.” [8]. Woodside is playing a game of divide and rule over the local aboriginal community. Based on its collaboration with the Mujuruga Aboriginal Corporation (MAC), the organisation managing the Native Title in representation of 5 aboriginal groups, it says that industrial development and traditional heritage can co-exist. But the current CEO of the Mujuruga Aboriginal Corporation worked for Woodside since 2013 [8]. This has brought the MAC to support further developments of the Barrup Hub [9] while other aboriginal groups such as Save Our Songlines are standing their ground and fighting for the cancelation of new industrial projects in Mujuruga and the recognition of their ancestors' heritage [10]. Despite public authorities claiming that "little was known about the heritage values" of Mujuruga at the time of industrialisation. It is obvious the site has always had great importance for aboriginal peoples, and Mujuruga was already identified as "a major archaeological resource with high scientific value" in a 1980 report, years before the construction of the Karratha Gas Plant [7]. One can't help but ask whether the industrial gas development was intentionally placed in Murujuga out of all possible locations to deliberately destroy the local aboriginal people cultural memory and sacred link with their ancestors. The case is reminiscent of the 2020 Rio Tinto's blow up of Juukan Gorge, a site with 46,000 years of continous human occupation, just 225km away. "It's almost a case of Juukan Gorge in slow motion" [11]. Climate and conservation organisations accuse Woodside and its corporate partners of lying about the climate impact of the project. They indeed warn that the Burrup Hub will have combined emissions of more than 6 GtCO2 over its lifetime, or the equivalent to the emissions of 35 of the largest, dirtiest coal-fired power stations every year [4]. To put this enormous quantity into perspective, as of 2020 only 500 GtCO2 can be emited to stand a 50% chance to remain below 1.5ºC of warming in 2100, what we know as carbon budget [12]. Two legal challenges have been put forward by conservation organisations seeking to stop the expansion project on its tracks. In 2020, the Conservation Council of Western Australia brought the chairman of the Western Australia (WA) Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to the WA supreme court to reverse environmental approvals by the agency [13]. In 2022, the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) filled a case against claiming that emissions from the Scarborough project will significantly contribute to CO2 emissions leading to irreversible damage to the Great Barrier Reef and so the project needed to be approved by the Federal Environment Minister under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act instead of requiring only approval by the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (Nopsema). ACF chief executive, Kelly O’Shanassy warned “Scarborough’s gas is a climate bomb about to be detonated” [14]. |
Name of conflict: | Woodside's Burrup gas hub threatens ancient aboriginal sacred art, Western Australia |
Country: | Australia |
State or province: | Pilbara, Western Australia |
Location of conflict: | Murujuga |
Accuracy of location | HIGH (Local level) |
Type of conflict. 1st level: | Fossil Fuels and Climate Justice/Energy |
Type of conflict. 2nd level: | Oil and gas exploration and extraction Ports and airport projects Transport infrastructure networks (roads, railways, hydroways, canals and pipelines) Oil and gas refining |
Specific commodities: | Natural Gas Iron ore Ammonium Nitrate Fertilisers |
Project details | The Burrup Hub includes several projects: Scarborough gas project It is an offshore gas field and contains 11.1 Tcf of gas. It will be exploited through a semi-submersible floating production unit with eight associated wells. It is located 375 km west of the Burrup Peninsula and will be connected to the Pluto LNG terminal by a 430 km pipepline. It will provide up to 8 Mtpa LNG through the Pluto LNG terminal [15]. $16,000,000,000 investment Pluto LNG It currently has one liquefaction train with 4.9 Mtpa LNG capacity and processes gas from the Pluto and Xena fields. Korean and Japanese are leading markets for the LNG. A second liquefaction train with 5 Mtpa LNG capacity is being proposed under the Scarborough gas project. Recently an interconnector between Pluto and Karratha Gas Plant has been built to optimise production accross both facilities [3]. North West Shelf Project At 16.9 Mtpa capacity Karratha Gas liquefaction Plant is the second largest LNG export terminal in the world. It has been in operation for 37 years. It has 5 LNG liquefaction trains and 3 LPG fractionation units. The gas is sourced from the North Rankin, Goodwyn and Angel gas fields 135 km north-west of Karratha with three offshore platforms [16]. $25,000,000,000 investment since 1980s Yara Pilbara Nitrates and Fertiliser Plants Both use fossil gas as input to produce ammonium nitrate to be used as explosive for the mining industry in Western Australia and fertilisers for agriculture. The fertilisers plant is one of the biggest in the world with an annual output of 850,000 tonnes exported through the Dampier port. The fertilisers are mainly for the Korean, Indonesian and other SE Asian markets [17]. $480,000,000 investment Perdaman's Urea Plant (proposed) It has a proposed annual capacity to produce 2 Mtpa of urea from fossil gas. It has received the Ministerial approval in January 2022 [18]. $4,500,000,000 investment |
Project area: | 1,600 |
Level of Investment for the conflictive project | 46,000,000,000 |
Type of population | Rural |
Affected Population: | 1,341 Dampier population |
Start of the conflict: | 01/01/1984 |
Company names or state enterprises: | Mitsubishi Corporation from Japan - It owns an 8.3% stake through its joint venture subsidiary Japan Australia LNG (MIMI) Pty. Ltd. with Mitsui Mitsui & Co., Ltd from Japan - It owns an 8.3% stake through its joint venture subsidiary Japan Australia LNG (MIMI) Pty. Ltd. with Mitsubishi Kansai Electric Power Co (KEPCO) from Japan - It owns a 5% stake in the Pluto LNG terminal and has long-term sales agreements Tokyo Gas from Japan - It owns a 5% stake in the Pluto LNG terminal and has long-term sales agreements Woodside Energy from Australia - Operates and owns a 33% stake in the Karratha Gas Plant LNG terminal and operates and owns a 90% stake of the Pluto LNG terminal. British Petroleum (BP) from United Kingdom - Owns a 16.6% stake in the Karratha Gas Plant LNG terminal through its subsidiary BP Developments Australia Pty Ltd. Chevron Polska Energy Resources Sp. z o.o. from United States of America - Owns a 16.6% stake in the Karratha Gas Plant LNG terminal through its subsidiary Chevron Australia Pty Ltd. Royal Dutch Shell (Shell) from Netherlands - Owns a 16.6% stake in the Karratha Gas Plant LNG terminal through its subsidiary Shell Australia Pty Ltd. Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) from United States of America - Owns a 49% stake in Pluto LNG train 2 Orica Australia (Orica) from Australia - Owns a 50% stake in the Yara Pilbara Ammonium Nitrate plant Yara from Norway - It is the owner of the Yara Pilbara Fertiliser Plant and holds a 50% stake in the Yara Pilbara Ammonium Nitrate plant Perdaman Industries (Chemicals & Fertilisers) from Australia - It is proposing the new urea plant Rio Tinto (Rio Tinto ) from United Kingdom - Through its subsidiary Pilbara Iron, it owns and operates the iron ore export facilities in East Intercourse Island |
Relevant government actors: | - Western Australia (WA) Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) - Federal Environment Minister |
Environmental justice organizations (and other supporters) and their websites, if available: | - Save our Songlines https://www.saveoursonglines.org/ - Say No to Scarborough Gas https://saynotoscarborough.com.au - Conservation Council of Western Australia (CCWA) https://www.ccwa.org.au - Australian Conservation Foundation https://www.acf.org.au/ - Clean State https://www.cleanstate.org.au/ - Extinction Rebelion Western Australia https://xrwa.earth - Australian Workers’ Union https://www.awu.net.au - Maritime Union of Australia https://www.mua.org.au - Greenpeace https://www.greenpeace.org - Friends of Australian Rock Art (FARA) https://www.fara.com.au/ |
Intensity | MEDIUM (street protests, visible mobilization) |
Reaction stage | PREVENTIVE resistance (precautionary phase) |
Groups mobilizing: | Indigenous groups or traditional communities Industrial workers International ejos Local ejos Ethnically/racially discriminated groups Recreational users |
Forms of mobilization: | Artistic and creative actions (eg guerilla theatre, murals) Creation of alternative reports/knowledge Development of a network/collective action Involvement of national and international NGOs Lawsuits, court cases, judicial activism Media based activism/alternative media Public campaigns Street protest/marches Occupation of buildings/public spaces Boycotts of companies-products |
Environmental Impacts | Visible: Biodiversity loss (wildlife, agro-diversity), Global warming, Air pollution, Loss of landscape/aesthetic degradation Potential: Surface water pollution / Decreasing water (physico-chemical, biological) quality, Oil spills |
Health Impacts | Visible: Exposure to unknown or uncertain complex risks (radiation, etc…), Other Health impacts |
Other Health impacts | Respiratory and circulatory diseases linked to air pollution |
Socio-economical Impacts | Visible: Other socio-economic impacts, Loss of traditional knowledge/practices/cultures Potential: Increase in violence and crime, Loss of livelihood, Land dispossession |
Project Status | Proposed (exploration phase) |
Conflict outcome / response: | Court decision (undecided) Project temporarily suspended |
Proposal and development of alternatives: | There are proposals to pursue an economic model based on respectful tourism of the rock art in Murujuga, which could be strengthened if UNESCO World Heritage status is finally given to the site. |
Do you consider this an environmental justice success? Was environmental justice served?: | No |
Briefly explain: | The project started operating more than 37 years ago with the North West Shelf operations. It continues nowadays with several projects to expand operations offshore to Scarborough and Browse basin fields, and onshore opening oportunities for development of a fracking industry in Western Australia. Aboriginal organisations still have to mobilise to save the remaining rock art and heritage in Murujuga threatened by the expansion projects and associated chemical industries. |
References to published books, academic articles, movies or published documentaries |
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Related media links to videos, campaigns, social network |
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Other comments: | "Indigenous women travel to UN to warn of 'cultural genocide' in Australia" . Yahoo News AU. MICHAEL DAHLSTROM 6 July 2022 (19). |
Contributor: | EJAtlas team (M.L.) |
Last update | 03/08/2022 |
Conflict ID: | 6078 |
Images |
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40,000 year-old aboriginal art endangered by the project
Source: Say No to Scarborough Gas website. https://saynotoscarborough.com.au/what-is-scarborough/
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Murujuga characteristic rock formations with gas plant in the background
Source: https://www.saveoursonglines.org/rock-art-threats
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Save Our Songlines march resisting the development of an urea plant on 19/06/2022
Credit: AAP/Save Our Songlines Source: https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2022/07/19/traditional-owners-ministers-wa-urea-plant/
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Satellite image of Murujuga with industrial sites and petroglyph are indicated
Credit: Brisbane Times. Source: https://www.fara.com.au/brisbane-times-australias-significant-site-off-unesco-world-heritage-list/
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Burrup Hub schematic representation and companies involved
Source: https://www.ccwa.org.au/burrup-hub
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