A transcript.
I'm in two minds about this.
$35 billion is without question a lot of money, and would clearly benefit the Australian economy. With the resources boom coming to an end this is certainly a way for the economy to help transition into alternatives. However, a palaeontological find like this is extremely historical, and no doubt any development in the region would put future finds at risk. The coast is also world heritage listed for the traditional land owners.
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3604118.htmRecord dinosaur print found in Kimberley
MARK COLVIN: A palaeontologist may just have discovered the world's biggest dinosaur footprint in Australia. The scientist, working on WA's Kimberley coast, has uncovered what he believes to be a sauropod print measuring an astonishing 1.7 metres long.
The fossil is embedded in rock at James Price Point, within the proposed precinct for the world's biggest liquefied natural gas project.
Winsome Denyer reports.
GUIDE: Over here, look at this one, it's giant.
WINSOME DENYER: It's a unique glimpse into an ancient ecosystem, unmatched anywhere in the world.
STEVE SALISBURY: See, I reckon that's a trackway, just that one, and this is a second one.
WINSOME DENYER: Palaeontologist Dr Steve Salisbury, guided by local Aboriginal elders and dinosaur enthusiasts, has been scouring the rocky terrain of James Price Point in Western Australia for the past 12 months.
They're researching and documenting 130-million-year-old dinosaur tracks. Recently, the group found something big - possibly the biggest dinosaur footprint on earth.
STEVE SALISBURY: That's large, a large footprint.
WINSOME DENYER: What Dr Salisbury found was a 1.7-metre print of a sauropod, a giant brachiosaurus-like herbivore.
STEVE SALISBURY: You can actually see where the wet sand has bulged up around the edges of the track. And it's eroded a little bit, but it is a footprint. This is the original surface that the animal walked upon and it's immense, it was pretty exciting to find it.
WINSOME DENYER: The group had passed the site before, but storms and severe weather have exposed the fossils, making them easier to identify.
STEVE SALISBURY: With some of these gigantic sauropod footprints, I mean, they're beyond what your search image is for a footprint. I mean, you know, you walk past them, they're the size of a bathtub. You don't initially think that it could be a footprint.
WINSOME DENYER: The team is now going through the formalities of having the discovery made official. The largest dinosaur footprint recorded until now is in France, measuring 1.5 metres.
STEVE SALISBURY: We know that in the southern continents in Gondwana, around this time in the Cretaceous, there were really big dinosaurs.
In South America we've got at least two giant sauropods that probably exceeded around 35 metres in length, and the animal that made these tracks at Broome was probably that big, if not bigger.
So they were here, and they walked around north of Broome, and their tracks are preserved in the stone at James Price Point.
WINSOME DENYER: James Price Point may harbour the world's largest dinosaur footprint, but it may also become home to one of world's largest proposed gas hub developments. The project to be developed by Woodside has proved divisive, opposed by members of the local community and environmentalists.
But the West Australian Premier, Colin Barnett, says the LNG plant is a win for the region. In July, the WA Environmental Protection Agency recommended Woodside's proposal proceed, with strict conditions.
The State Government has since received more than 200 appeals to that decision, which are now being reviewed. The State Government says it's inappropriate to comment while the appeals process is underway.
Woodside won't make a final investment decision until the first half of next year. In a statement, the company says:
WOODSIDE STATEMENT (voiceover): The studies to date show there are a series of separate locations along the 200-kilometre stretch of the Dampier Peninsula that have dinosaur footprints and trackways that vary in intensity and quality.
In response to studies undertaken by the WA Museum and two internationally recognised palaeontologists, the port facilities for the LNG precinct will be constructed in an area to avoid the identified dinosaur footprints.
We believe that the proposed Browse LNG development can successfully coexist with the heritage values of the Dampier Peninsula.
WINSOME DENYER: Dr Salisbury fears that even with strict conditions, development in the area could lead to the loss of the ancient dinosaur footprints.
STEVE SALISBURY: It will be under sand if the development goes ahead, regardless of how careful they are during the construction process.
WINSOME DENYER: The entire coastline is currently listed as National Heritage, protected for its cultural significance to the local Aboriginal people.
STEVE SALISBURY: We have to decide now, and the Western Australian Government and the Federal Government need to decide, what's more important, spectacular fossil evidence of some of the biggest animals to have ever walked the planet, or a $35 billion gas processing plant?
MARK COLVIN: Palaeontologist Dr Steve Salisbury from the University of Queensland ending that report from Winsome Denyer. And you can watch that discovery on ABC TV's Catalyst program at 8pm tonight on ABC1.
I'm in two minds about this.
$35 billion is without question a lot of money, and would clearly benefit the Australian economy. With the resources boom coming to an end this is certainly a way for the economy to help transition into alternatives. However, a palaeontological find like this is extremely historical, and no doubt any development in the region would put future finds at risk. The coast is also world heritage listed for the traditional land owners.
