Opinion: Santos pleads guilty, but WA's environmental oversight is the real guilty culprit
Is the state's environmental legislation fit for purpose?
Anna Chapman
Cheap at twice the price | Credits: ENB
07 January 2025
In a devastating but perhaps unsurprising outcome this week, gas giant Santos pleaded guilty to causing an oil spill off the Pilbara coast in 2022, a disaster that saw more than 25,000 litres of crude oil polluting the waters surrounding Varanus Island (see here for ENB's coverage).
The toxic slick killed marine life, with disturbing reports of dead dolphins floating in the water and sea snakes found writhing in pain, struggling to survive in oil-choked waters. Yet, despite this destruction, the penalty imposed on Santos in the Karratha Magistrates Court was limited to only a $10,000 fine — less than 40 cents per litre of oil spilled. This fine is so paltry it borders on the absurd.
The news shines a much-needed light on the dangers posed by the oil and gas industry to Western Australia, where the risks of offshore drilling continue to be downplayed, and where the government tasked with safeguarding our delicate marine ecosystems seem so powerless to hold the multinational oil and gas businesses to account.
While Santos has been found guilty for the spill, the broader question remains: why does the WA government continue to allow this kind of vandalism to happen, with no meaningful consequences?
The short answer is that the legislation in place to regulate oil and gas operations in our ocean, dating back to 1982, is woefully inadequate. It has been reported that the maximum penalty for the offences of failing to operate a licensed pipeline in a proper and workmanlike manner, and failing to prevent the escape of petroleum is just $50,000 for corporations.
But there is a longer answer.
The government, in prosecuting Santos for the oil spill, chose not to lead any evidence of environmental damage. Magistrate Young concluded, on the basis that no allegations of environmental damage were made by the government, that the spill was "relatively limited." The truly unbelievable aspect of this case, in light of the damning whistleblower testimony tabled in Parliament by Senator David Pocock in 2023, is that both Santos and the WA government were happy to pretend the environmental impact of a spill of 25,000 litres of condensate that killed sea life was "negligible."
Santos stood up in court and relied on surveys showing the toxic condensate it spilled in the Pilbara had conveniently evaporated over the days following the spill. No cleanup required, just wait for the problem to disappear (and no mention of what happens to the atmosphere absorbing 25,000 litres of oil of course).
Santos avoided facing any evidence of the consequences of their negligence - the photos of dolphins floating belly up in the slick, or the first-hand accounts of stricken sea snakes in its aftermath. But given that all this evidence is freely available on the Parliamentary record, it is simply staggering the WA government did not bother to present any of this heartbreaking evidence to the court. Instead, they were happy to negotiate the smallest possible slap on the wrist for Santos - a $10,000 fine for a company with a market cap of $22 billion. Forty cents per litre spilled.
Either the government is unbelievably naive and believes this fine could possibly have any deterrent effect, or it has entirely abandoned the pretense of holding multinational companies to the rule of law in WA. This shows what a laughing stock WA is. It is humiliating for our state to sell ourselves so cheaply to the most irresponsible companies in the country. Two years earlier, two amateur marron fishermen in WA's south west were slapped with a $97,000 fine for overfishing. A couple of boaties in a tinnie get slapped with a fine that might be bigger than their annual income. The $10,000 fine imposed on billionaire companies when compared to this is an outrageous illustration of who gets an easy run from the WA government.
This is not the first time WA has been damaged by the oil and gas industry. This was the second spill in the region in the recent past, after the catastrophic Montara spill in 2009. The likelihood of another spill will only increase if the gas industry is allowed to continue to expand its offshore drilling operations.
It's clear that WA is at a tipping point. The state has precious few unspoiled marine ecosystems left. From the iconic Ningaloo Reef to the wild Scott Reef off the Kimberley coast, these ecosystems are under increasing threat from an oil and gas industry that refuses to take responsibility for the damage it causes. But while Santos is the latest in a long line of corporate offenders, the true failure lies with WA's regulators and policymakers. The ruling against Santos should serve as a wake-up call—if the government can't stand up now, it won't be the last spill we see, and the next one might be even more devastating.
WA's precious marine life is not an expendable resource. The big oil and gas players should not be above the law, and the WA government must stop giving them effectively a free pass to destroy our environment.
Energy News Bulletin has asked for a response from the Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (who brought the prosecution against Santos) and Minister Reece Whitby and David Michael, in whose portfolios DEMIRS sits.
A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the energy sector, brought to you by the Energy News Bulletin Intelligence team.
A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the energy sector, brought to you by the Energy News Bulletin Intelligence team.
OPINION
Opinion: Santos pleads guilty, but WA's environmental oversight is the real guilty culprit
Is the state's environmental legislation fit for purpose?
Cheap at twice the price | Credits: ENB
In a devastating but perhaps unsurprising outcome this week, gas giant Santos pleaded guilty to causing an oil spill off the Pilbara coast in 2022, a disaster that saw more than 25,000 litres of crude oil polluting the waters surrounding Varanus Island (see here for ENB's coverage).
The toxic slick killed marine life, with disturbing reports of dead dolphins floating in the water and sea snakes found writhing in pain, struggling to survive in oil-choked waters. Yet, despite this destruction, the penalty imposed on Santos in the Karratha Magistrates Court was limited to only a $10,000 fine — less than 40 cents per litre of oil spilled. This fine is so paltry it borders on the absurd.
The news shines a much-needed light on the dangers posed by the oil and gas industry to Western Australia, where the risks of offshore drilling continue to be downplayed, and where the government tasked with safeguarding our delicate marine ecosystems seem so powerless to hold the multinational oil and gas businesses to account.
The short answer is that the legislation in place to regulate oil and gas operations in our ocean, dating back to 1982, is woefully inadequate. It has been reported that the maximum penalty for the offences of failing to operate a licensed pipeline in a proper and workmanlike manner, and failing to prevent the escape of petroleum is just $50,000 for corporations.
But there is a longer answer.
The government, in prosecuting Santos for the oil spill, chose not to lead any evidence of environmental damage. Magistrate Young concluded, on the basis that no allegations of environmental damage were made by the government, that the spill was "relatively limited." The truly unbelievable aspect of this case, in light of the damning whistleblower testimony tabled in Parliament by Senator David Pocock in 2023, is that both Santos and the WA government were happy to pretend the environmental impact of a spill of 25,000 litres of condensate that killed sea life was "negligible."
Santos stood up in court and relied on surveys showing the toxic condensate it spilled in the Pilbara had conveniently evaporated over the days following the spill. No cleanup required, just wait for the problem to disappear (and no mention of what happens to the atmosphere absorbing 25,000 litres of oil of course).
Santos avoided facing any evidence of the consequences of their negligence - the photos of dolphins floating belly up in the slick, or the first-hand accounts of stricken sea snakes in its aftermath. But given that all this evidence is freely available on the Parliamentary record, it is simply staggering the WA government did not bother to present any of this heartbreaking evidence to the court. Instead, they were happy to negotiate the smallest possible slap on the wrist for Santos - a $10,000 fine for a company with a market cap of $22 billion. Forty cents per litre spilled.
Either the government is unbelievably naive and believes this fine could possibly have any deterrent effect, or it has entirely abandoned the pretense of holding multinational companies to the rule of law in WA. This shows what a laughing stock WA is. It is humiliating for our state to sell ourselves so cheaply to the most irresponsible companies in the country. Two years earlier, two amateur marron fishermen in WA's south west were slapped with a $97,000 fine for overfishing. A couple of boaties in a tinnie get slapped with a fine that might be bigger than their annual income. The $10,000 fine imposed on billionaire companies when compared to this is an outrageous illustration of who gets an easy run from the WA government.
This is not the first time WA has been damaged by the oil and gas industry. This was the second spill in the region in the recent past, after the catastrophic Montara spill in 2009. The likelihood of another spill will only increase if the gas industry is allowed to continue to expand its offshore drilling operations.
It's clear that WA is at a tipping point. The state has precious few unspoiled marine ecosystems left. From the iconic Ningaloo Reef to the wild Scott Reef off the Kimberley coast, these ecosystems are under increasing threat from an oil and gas industry that refuses to take responsibility for the damage it causes. But while Santos is the latest in a long line of corporate offenders, the true failure lies with WA's regulators and policymakers. The ruling against Santos should serve as a wake-up call—if the government can't stand up now, it won't be the last spill we see, and the next one might be even more devastating.
WA's precious marine life is not an expendable resource. The big oil and gas players should not be above the law, and the WA government must stop giving them effectively a free pass to destroy our environment.
Anna Chapman is the Fossil Fuels Program Manager at the Conservation Council of WA
Energy News Bulletin has asked for a response from the Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (who brought the prosecution against Santos) and Minister Reece Whitby and David Michael, in whose portfolios DEMIRS sits.
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