Climate and nature
Environment Minister's first major decision
This week, newly appointed Environment Minister Murray Watt indicated his intention to approve a 40-year extension to Woodside’s massive North West Shelf gas project.
The decision came after the proposal had sat on ice for six years, and is new Environment Minister Senator Watt’s first major approval.
“This is a real climate bomb,” said Christine Carlisle, President of the Environment Council of Central Queensland (ECoCeQ), a volunteer community group represented by Environmental Justice Australia. “It’s an act of wilful environmental vandalism and a betrayal of future generations.”
Days earlier, Senator Watt refused to act on a legal request ECoCeQ that asked the Minister to properly assess the climate impacts of the North West Shelf extension on thousands of nationally significant species, places and ecological communities.
ECoCeQ also ran a related series of landmark court cases, known as the Living Wonders climate cases.
What is the North West Shelf project?
Woodside’s North West Shelf project, located near Karratha in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, is the country’s largest gas development. It consists of vast offshore extraction operations and extensive onshore infrastructure for gas processing, storage and export as liquified fossil gas (LNG).
Originally due to close in 2030, Woodside has now been granted approval to continue operating the project until 2070. It is projected that the project will contribute almost 4 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over the life of the extension, most of it released when the gas is eventually burned.
“We’re devastated that our new Environment Minister’s first big move will be to sign off on forty more years of fossil fuels. Senator Watt has just told Australians that protecting our climate and our iconic wildlife isn’t his job.”
– Christine Carlisle, President of the Environment Council of Central Queensland (ECoCeQ)
Legal challenges ignored, community voices sidelined
EJA’s client ECoCeQ was alongside other environmental groups who separately called for proper scrutiny of this mega-project before the approval was given. Greenpeace Australia Pacific and the Conservation Council of Western Australia, who were not represented by EJA, also took formal steps.
In addition to ECoCeQ’s request from 2022 seeking to have the project’s climate impacts properly scrutinised, reconsideration requests were filed seeking to expand the Minister’s assessment to include the broader Burrup Hub vision – which encompasses Woodside’s $30 billion Browse gas field proposal, and plans for a new carbon capture and storage facility.
In response, the government delayed the decision deadline from March 31 to May 31. But just days before the final call, the each group’s reconsideration request was rejected – clearing the way for Watt’s approval.
What about the Safeguard Mechanism?
The government has pointed to the Safeguard Mechanism as a climate accountability measure. But this mechanism only applies to on-site emissions, ignoring the pollution that occurs when gas is ultimately burned.
Under the current scheme, companies can buy carbon credits to “offset” their emissions. But experts and community groups agree: fossil gas releases carbon stored underground for millions of years; trees only store it for a fraction of that time.
What happens next?
In signing off on this project, our client is concerned that the Australian government has gone against advice from scientists, Traditional Owners, international bodies, and environmental groups: it has sidestepped its own “nature positive” promises.
Environmental Justice Australia stands with ECoCeQ. We are proud to represent a courageous client demanding a future built on justice, not gas.
