ABC News reports today that the Shell oil company are requesting permission to commence exploratory drilling for oil and gas 50 km from Ningaloo reef. As a Shell spokesperson, John D’Agostino, trots out the usual reassurances, I find myself in the strange situation of almost feeling sorry for him.
Here’s the Shell line: “Shell has a very strong commitment to the protection of biodiversity and we meet this commitment by applying a high standard of operating practices and adhering to strict environmental management plans in all our operations”.
You probably haven’t read this before, but I bet it sounds familiar. Its the same sort of spin-doctored drivel we have become used to hearing from major corporations.
Compare and contrast the Shell words with these: “[We] take a systematic and disciplined approach to operations, using management systems and standards to minimize its environmental impact.” Guess who? BP, whose systematic and disciplined approach failed to prevent the catastrophe of the Deepwater Horizon sinking, and whose systematic and disciplined approach seems to be more concerned with putting the company’s interests first than with putting things right following that incident.
If I’m sounding cynical then you’re quite right: I am. Which is why I feel strangely sympathetic to John D’Agostino.
You see, there is nothing he or anyone else at Shell could say that would reassure me that what Shell proposes would never damage Ningaloo reef. No matter what words the spin-doctors come up with, they will be hampered by the reality that what they say, and what their company does, are two entirely different things.
Does John D’Agostino really believe that his commitments will be ringing in the ears of an overworked rig manager twenty years down the track when the pressure’s on and he’s at the end of a long shift? Hardly. The reality is that offshore oil drilling is risky, and if the company were fair dinkum about transparency, they would admit as much. But I’m sure Mr D’Agostino would not be allowed to do that.
Sometimes, words can never be enough.
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