World’s largest seismic blasting project abandoned after years of community opposition

News from Surfrider Australia:

(September 27, 2024) Multinational gas exploration company TGS has walked away from plans to conduct the world’s largest seismic blasting project in Australia’s Southern Ocean.

Concerned community, environmental and First Nations groups are breathing a sigh of relief after multinational data giant TGS this week pulled their plans on a project initially designed to seismic blast over 7 million hectares of ocean off Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania after years of campaigning by local communities along those adjacent coastlines.

TGS yesterday formally announced the withdrawal of their environmental application to industry regulator NOPSEMA, citing competing global priorities as the reason they would not proceed with the hugely controversial project. TGS had faced significant delays in the approvals process due to concerns over the environmental impacts of the project and lack of public consultation.

The blasting proposal, first announced in 2022, initially covered 7.7m hectares of the Southern Ocean, stretching past the South Australian border. It was the world’s largest seismic blasting proposal. 

After years of community opposition, the scope of the project had been reduced to 3.17m hectares - before being cancelled on the 26th September.

Seismic blasting is the first step in offshore oil and gas production.

Under the TGS plans, seismic vessels would have fired airgun blasts every 10 seconds, 24 hours a day, for up to 400 days in the Southern Ocean. The underwater blasts reach up to 250 decibels, louder than an atomic bomb. 

The proposed blasting area is of critical importance to endangered marine life, commercial fisheries, and ecosystems associated with the Bonney Upwelling, including blue whale habitat.

Since 2022, an alliance of community, environmental, scientific and First Nations groups has gathered momentum against what would have been the world’s largest seismic blasting project.

Over 30,000 formal submissions were made against the project, over 10,000 letters were sent to MPs, and 1200 locals paddled out in protest back in March in Torquay. A touring documentary highlighted the devastating impacts of seismic blasting, and delegations to Parliament House in Canberra for meetings with MPs.

Surfrider Foundation Australia’s National Campaigns Director, Drew McPherson added:

“This is a huge win for local communities right along these coastlines, and a huge win for the marine environment.”

“The blasting proposal put at risk everything we care about – healthy clean oceans, thriving coastal communities and threatened species of whales and marine life. It quickly became clear to us that TGS was not able to meet the environmental protection and mitigation requirements in order to proceed with such a dangerous project. It’s clear to us that TGS withdrew because they couldn’t meet these already low standards.”

“Seismic blasting is destructive for our oceans, and it’s time we ban this practice forever so we don’t have to keep fighting off individual permits just so we can protect our way of life and the places we love.”

“Australia exports over three times the amount of gas we use domestically. We don’t have a gas supply problem, we have a gas export problem. The gas industry is mostly multinational, and pays basically no tax, no PRRT, and little in royalties. To continue to allow them to expand into Australia’s pristine marine ecosystems, in the middle of the climate crisis, is madness.”

Surf Coast Surfrider Branch Secretary and volunteer Darren Noyes-Brown shared:

“This is such a great example of the power of community, incredible wins for the environment don’t happen by themselves. My community of Torquay had everything to lose if this went ahead as it became clear TGS wasn’t able to meet even the basic requirements that would mitigate the impacts of seismic blasting.”

“I want to surf on this coastline for the rest of my life, and we want our kids to be able to do the same - it’s time we think about permanently protecting pristine places like the Great Ocean Road and the Southern Ocean so our kids don’t have to put up the same fight”.

Surfrider Foundation Australia worked in a community alliance with other environmental groups in the campaign to Save the Southern Sea, including key Victorian community group OCEAN, environment groups Friends of the Earth and Australian Marine Conservation Society alongside First Nations group SOPEC.

Lisa Deppeler, an Apollo Bay local and OCEAN campaigner who first raised the alarm about the proposal shares

“This is a historic moment in protecting Australia’s oceans - this win belongs to the community of ocean people who care, and have shown up to send a message that we want to protect, not destroy these incredible places. People from all walks of life are waking up to the destruction caused by seismic blasting - this outcome sends a clear message to future fossil fuel exploration in the Southern Ocean: you are not welcome”.

TGS has made it clear that no further comment on this decision will be made.

For 32 years, Surfrider Foundation Australia has fought to stop destructive projects along Australia’s coastlines, including the Fight for Bight and PEP11. Surfrider will continue to focus campaigning efforts on protecting Australia’s coastlines from the destructive impacts of fossil fuel exploration

For further information or interview requests, please contact Sean Ryan, Senior Account Manager at Compass Studio - sean@compass-studio.com