A glorious win? Yes?
Big news in the surfers vs corpo overlord files
today.
If you frequent social media you’d be familiar with the
#fightforthebight campaign that’s been waged against Norwegian
resources company, Equinor.
The Nords wanted to extract oil deep below the seafloor of the
Great Australian Bight marine park, a couple hundred clicks off the
South Australian coastline, in one of the wildest and most pristine
environments you’ll find anywhere on earth.
A $200m project to deepwater drill in the conservation-listed
area.
Funny thing is, Equinor could have maybe snuck under the radar
with their plans if it wasn’t for a self-inflicted PR blunder, an
own goal, that saw them release a map showing every possible oil
spill dispersion from the proposed site, based off all the
conceivable combinations of wind, swell, ocean current etc.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BuHY8FjHOrW/
When looked at without context it appeared that a single spill
would sully the waters from Port Macquarie in the east to Albany in
the west, all at once. In American terms, that’d be from North
Carolina to Baja.
Immediately the strategic initiative was lost.
That single image galvanised a groundswell of public support,
led by former Tracks editor Sean Doherty and South Oz core lord
Heath Joske.
Everyone from Taj Burrow to fastidiously manicured
eco-warrior-influencers got behind the push, along with a bunch of
NGOs. There were insta shares, IRL paddle outs across the affected
areas. It was even successfully weaponised as a local issue in last
year’s federal election.
The campaign worked.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8-ASbHn0Ac/
Equinor said in a statement today that it has pulled out of the
project for economic reasons after a “holistic view of its
exploration portfolio.”
The Australian government ain’t happy.
Its wonderfully named resources minister, Keith Pitt, had
recently doubled down on his predecessor’s love for the project and
the sector in general, declaring Australia’s doors open for
business to offshore oil and gas.
For him this withdrawal is a hit to the economy.
Jobs, growth ‘n all that.
You won’t see any such sad faces from me though.
I reckon it’s a great win. What grass-roots political action
should look like.
You can make your jibes about surfers and their carbon
footprints, burn your smartphones if you wanna be a greenie
etc.
It’s a strawman argument.
Things ain’t black and white.
The resource sector is still an important part of the economy,
but it needs to be managed in an environmentally sustainable
way.
Deepwater drilling in a marine national park ain’t that.
This is a good outcome.
A couple of Qs were shot to Doherty but there was no response at
the time of writing, assuming the gloried surf writer slash
activist is enjoying a celebratory beer or three.
What do you think?
Is it a glorious win for surfers and the environment?
Or self-sabotage from a bunch of dewy eyed hypocrites during a
time of increasing economic uncertainty?
