BP questioned on Pay, #climatechange and Bight project at BP AGM

BP board had a torrid time at their AGM with 59 per cent of shareholders rejecting the executive remuneration package and questions on climate change, and the new project in the Great Australian Bight that has been described as a carbon bomb.

Inside the AGM, BP were grilled by shareholders, including big institutional investors, about their reckless plans to drill in the Bight. Wilderness Society national campaign director Lyndon Schneiders and Catherine Howarth from partner organisation ShareAction were in the meeting and asked pointed questions about the Bight.

It was reported that members of the board appeared to distance themselves from the Bight proposal, pointing the finger at the Australian government for enticing oil companies to drill in the region. The CEO also remarked, quite rightly: "Gosh this investment in Australia is not very popular today."

Oil spill at BP Melbourne a #FightfortheBight

Original story at storify, then posted at nofibs.com.au

Activists from the Wilderness Society, Sea Shepherd, Friends of the Earth and others came together this morning outside BP Australia's headquarters on Bourke Street Melbourne to stage a mock oil spill. They are highlighting the massive risks from BP oil exploration in the Great Australian Bight.

These risks are considerable and multiple including the climate risk of exceeding the 2C temperature limit agreed to at the Paris UN climate talks, and the risk of an oil spill damaging the pristine marine and coastal environment from Western Australia to Victoria and Tasmania.

The mock oil spill provided effective street theatre on Bourke Street outside BP's Melbourne offices. Some people dressed in decontamination suits with 44 gallon drums as props containing the BP insignia. Protestors chanted "BP has no right, no right to risk the bight".

BP refuses to release #oilspill models for deep sea drilling #SouthAustralia coast

Pristine beaches along Eyre peninsula under potential threat if an oil spill occurs Photo: John Englart This original article was published at nofibs.com.au

The fifth anniversay of British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon oil spill has just passed. Could such a devastating oil spill happen in Australia? Conservationists with the Wilderness Society and other environmental groups say it is a distinct possibility, off Australia's southern shores in the Great Australian Bight. And it is British Petroleum (BP) again in the hot seat with exploration licences about to do some deep sea exploratory drilling.

On Monday April 20th activists from the Wilderness Society converted the statue of Colonel Light in Adelaide to a sea of black to imitate an oil spill. They were highlighting that BP is refusing to release oil spill modelling or emergency plans for their exploratory drilling in the Bight and the potential for catastrophic environmental damages to pristine ocean ecosystems and beaches on the South Australian coast.

Wilderness Society director, Peter Owen, told the ABC: "The potential of oil all over South Australia's beaches was not Colonel Light's vision for South Australia," he said. "This is high risk. Why are the people of South Australia being asked to carry the risk for these big companies whilst they refuse to disclose their oil spill modelling, their plans to respond to an emergency?"

"In order to get that approval they [BP] have to consult with the community yet they are refusing to disclose any oil spill modelling, they're refusing to disclose any oil spill emergency planning. They are not being transparent with the people of South Australia." said Owen.

#Adelaide statue converted into oil spill during environmentalists' protest http://t.co/lVBEcGUlzw pic.twitter.com/qepeedG8r1

— ABC News Adelaide (@abcnewsAdelaide) April 20, 2015

"We are confident that when we publish the clear, complete and accessible summary, it will satisfy the needs of our stakeholders and inform discussion," a BP spokesperson told the ABC.

But oil spill modelling and emergency response plans still remain unavailable to the general public to assess.