22 February 2012

Dividend and Liability Announcement James Price Point project failures

As Woodside Ltd announces its 2011 company dividend today, conservation groups announce Woodslides 2011 liabilities from the James Price Point project failures. The proposed James Price Point LNG development on the pristine Kimberley coast, currently being assessed as the site for processing Browse Basin gas, has become Woodsides greatest corporate liability.

WOODSLIDES LIABILITIES:
FAILED TO CONSIDER LESS COSTLY ALTERNATIVES Development of a greenfields LNG precinct at James Price Point is expected to cost at least $35 billion compared to a development cost of $24 billion to pipe the gas from Browse to backfill existing LNG infrastructure in the Pilbara. CARRIED OUT WORKS WITHOUT APPROVAL Woodsides 2011 preliminary site works around James Price Point appear now to have been conducted without the required Broome Shire planning approvals. Over 40 community members were arrested in 2011 for peacefully attempting to stop Woodside carrying out these unlawful works. Woodside is now trying to get retrospective approval via the governments dodgy Kimberley Development Assessment Panel. FAILED TO GAIN SECURE TENURE FROM TRADITIONAL OWNERS Woodside has no secure tenure at James Price Point. The project was dealt a serious blow last year when the WA Supreme Court ruled that the State governments compulsory acquisition notices for the James Price Point site were invalid. The land remains in the hands of its Traditional Owners many of whom strongly oppose the project. FAILED TO GAIN ENVIRONMENTAL APPROVALS Woodside has failed to secure necessary State and Commonwealth environmental approvals for the James Price Point development. Timelines have already blown out to two years longer than initially expected. Woodside suffered another serious blow to its prospects of gaining environmental approvals when the globally-significant Dinosaur trackways at James Price Point were awarded National Heritage Listing in August 2011. FAILED TO MEET FINAL INVESTMENT DECISION DEADLINE Woodsides Final Investment Decision (FID) on James Price Point has been pushed back from 2012 until 2013, indicating that management has over-promised and under-delivered on its James Price Point ambitions.

FAILED TO GAIN SOCIAL LICENSE TO OPERATE Woodside has failed to win the support of the Broome community. It reached a new low of corporate behaviour in June last year when it relied on special police squads flown in by the WA government to forcibly escort its bulldozers through a blockade of Broome community members who were engaged in lawful and peaceful protest. FAILED TO CONDUCT PROPER ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES Environmental studies carried out by Woodside and the WA Department of State Development at James Price Point have been widely criticized by independent scientists. Woodside and DSD have been unsuccessful in attempts to downplay the disastrous impacts of building a massive industrial facility in one of the worlds most pristine coastal and marine environments.

What you can do

To help prevent Woodsides environmental, social and economic disaster on the Kimberley coast

Premier Barnetts police squad flown in to help Woodside June 2011

James Price Point (Josh Coates)

(Rod Hartvigsen)

Write to Woodside CEO, Peter Coleman: GPO Box D188, Perth 6000. Tell him that Woodside risks irreparable damage to its corporate reputation if it pushes on with such a costly and damaging project. Write to Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke: PO Box 6022 House of Representatives Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Fax: (02) 6273 6101; Email: Tony.Burke.MP@aph.gov.au Ask him not to approve Woodsides and Premier Barnetts monument to political and corporate egos at James Price Point.

Join The Wilderness Society: 1800 030 641 To help protect the beautiful Kimberley from Woodsides bulldozers, visit:

www.wilderness.org.au/kimberley www.woodsideinvestors.com www.environskimberley.org.au www.facebook.com/BroomeNoGas www.handsoffcountry.blogspot.com/

The Kimberley too precious to destroy!