Showing posts with label Port Hedland. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

The North West Coast

North West Marine Sanctuary Needed

As the weather warms up I have been adventuring off the North West coast, sailing around Port Hedland and being acompanied by whales on our way to Weirdy Is; snorkelling at Coral Bay with the miriad of fish and the exquisite lavender coral; and snorkelling at the Ningaloo Marine Park with the turtles, sharks and so many tropical fish that the water reminds me of a dot painting of vibrant colour; and swimming at 80 mile beach which is covered in beautiful shells. We are soooo lucky to have such a pristine environment to enjoy. The water brims with marine life. Recreational fishing restrictions are one way to protect fish species but I think a much more sustainable way is to creat marine sanctuaries such as Ningaloo.

WA has so few marine sanctuaries but work is underway to create a

"string of pearls along the whole coast".

http://www.dec.wa.gov.au/marine/marine-conservation/marine-parks-and-reserves.html

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Dust in Port Hedland

PortHedland dust

There has been much debate in Hedland in recent months about the dust in town and the possible health effects. Headland has recently been on cyclone watch as a rainbearing depression moved closer to the coast and crossed near town. As it came closer, the town was hit by a spectacular dust storm which preceded the rain.

If you want updated info about the dust visit the dust monitoring site which is updated hourly.

http://porthedlanddust.r-box.com.au/

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Potable water wasted to damp down dirt in Port Hedland

Water wasted

At the weekend I was shocked to hear that in Port Hedland, BHP Billiton damped down thier piles of iron ore with potable fresh water; 4.3 Gigalitres per day . Iron ore dust is a very important environmental hazard in Port Hedland.

Whole mountains are moved in enormously long trains. The ore is then dumped at the port and loaded into ships then carted off to Asia to build the incredible infrastructure that is now a feature of the Asian urban landscape. Port Hedland is right by the sea with an abundance of sea water that could be used for the job as was the case until recently. However BHP Billiton had a problem that the infrastructure they had constructed to move this dirt, namely the conveyor belts and the trucks were going rusty because of the salt. So fresh water is being used. Understandable you may think but in the same town, salt is being transported by conveyor belt and truck and loaded into ships. How is it possible that one company can transport salt and one can not transport dirt with a sprinkling of salt on top.

Finucane Port Hedland What is the Western Australian State government doing to ensure that safe drinking water is not being wasted in this way? If BHP Billiton absolutely needs to use this water what are they paying to deplete a non renewable natural resource namely the Pilbara underground water reserves.