Support is growing for a proposed massive new industry, potentially for Port Hedland.
In a submission to the WA state government today, Friends of the Earth Australia (FoEA) is calling for an Australian Rig Recycling Centre (ARRC) to be built in the Pilbara, where decommissioned oil and gas rigs can be cleaned and scrapped for recycling. The huge new centre would provide thousands of new, ongoing jobs.
The submission is FoEA’s contribution to the state’s “Draft Decommissioning Discussion Paper.” The closing date for submissions to the paper is today.
FoEA’s Offshore Gas Campaigner, Jeff Waters, says an ARRC could be used to safely process the scores of Australian rigs, and hundreds of other extraction assets, that need to be retired at no cost to the state.
“The ARRC could also be used to scrap rigs in Bass Strait and the many hundreds of assets requiring decommissioning in Asian waters to the north,” Jeff Waters said. “It’s time for the WA government to take this visionary step, which could also service the entire Indo-Pacific region, which has about 2,500 platforms that will need to be recycled over the next decade.” “We are calling on the state government to conduct a feasibility study, and to join in calls for the federal government to pay for the ARRC by simply extending the existing decommissioning levy,” he said.
The Mayor of Port Hedland, Peter Carter, calls the idea a “no brainer” and says he is willing to back the concept. The Greens’ Waste and Healthy Oceans spokesman, Tasmanian Senator Peter Whish-Wilson is sending questions relating to the proposal to the federal government through a senate committee. And the relevant unions — the Maritime Union of Australia and the CFMMEU — are also calling for a Western Australian recycling centre to be established. Both the Port Hedland Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Pilbara Development Commission have been sent the submission and are considering the proposal.
A 30-second promotional video is available on request.
