Has Kimberley environment dodged a bullet?

ONE thing the Browse gas project has inadvertently brought about, without even getting off the ground, is a greater understanding of the Kimberley region's environmental significance.

Initially, it was only a handful of locals and greenies who opposed the project, some 60km north of Broome in Western Australia's far north.

Before too long, however, the threat of industrialising the unique coastline - just like the Pilbara to the south - became big news.

Musicians such as John Butler and Missy Higgins didn't look out of place on the anti-hub bandwagon, nor did former Greens leader Bob Brown in highlighting the fact the waters off James Price Point are a major humpback whale migration zone.

Former prime ministerial consultant turned eco-warrior and outspoken businessman Geoffrey Cousins was also in the "no way" camp, as was retired Federal Court judge Murray Wilcox, QC, who was so impassioned about the issue that he published a book on it.

Perhaps the most compelling argument against the hub - aside from the likely disruption of Aboriginal heritage sites including graves - was the possibility of causing damage to dinosaur footprints on the shoreline at James Price Point.

Leading palaeontologist, the University of Queensland's Steve Salisbury, feared that near-shore geotechnical surveys being undertaken by Woodside for the project could encroach on nearby dinosaur tracks.

Most were exposed only at extreme low tide in the intertidal zone that marks the boundary of the West Kimberley National Heritage site.

While Woodside claimed it would be able to work around the tracks without damaging them, it would have been tricky work, given all the marine pile-driving and dredging that would have been involved.

WA's environmental watchdog, in granting approval for Browse last year, warned that turbidity from dredging, oil spills, industrial discharges, noise, light and vessel strikes could adversely affect whales, dolphins, turtles, dugong and fish.

There were also concerns about surrounding monsoon vine thicket vegetation.

And it of course remains to be seen how benign the floating gas processing approach - still in its early days and likely to be the way Browse will eventually be developed - will be on the environment.