A record number of people have lodged appeals against a 50-year extension to Australia’s biggest emitting fossil fuel development, citing its contribution to the climate crisis and potential impact on the largest collection of rock art in the southern hemisphere.
Western Australian authorities received 759 appeals against a recommendation by the state Environment Protection Authority (EPA) that oil and gas giant Woodside Energy been given the green light to operate the North West Shelf gas processing facility on the Burrup peninsula, in the Pilbara, until 2070.
The previous record number of appeals lodged against a development in WA was 170, for the Bunbury Outer Ring Road last year.
It comes amid wider concern about the industrial development on the Burrup peninsula near the town of Karratha. Work on a $4.5bn urea plant planned by multinational company Perdaman has been paused while the federal environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, considers a request that she intervene to protect ancient petroglyphs that some Traditional Owners say are at risk.
The EPA recommended the North West Shelf gas extension be approved, with a condition that Woodside must agree to reduce the projected net greenhouse gas emissions from it by two-thirds. The company could meet those targets by either actually cutting emissions or buying carbon credits to offset its pollution.
It also recommended requiring Woodside reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide and volatile organic compounds by at least 40% by 2030 to prevent damage to rock art, some of which is believed to date back nearly 50,000 years. The Murujuga cultural landscape has been submitted for a Unesco world heritage listing.
Opponents were given three weeks to lodge an objection to the EPA’s advice with the state appeals convenor. The unprecedented response included objections from Indigenous activists, conservationists and farmers.
Dr Hugh Finn, Dr Bill Hare and Prof Peter Newman – academics working in environmental law, climate change and environmental science – argued in their submission that the EPA’s recommendations failed on eight grounds, including that it had not independently checked Woodside’s emissions estimates, or whether the proposal was consistent with the goals of the Paris climate agreement. The academics found it was not.
They claimed the authority had also misapplied the precautionary principle when considering the risk to rock art, and called for its advice to be quashed.
“The EPA is supposed to take a thorough and objective examination of such proposals and it failed comprehensively on a number of counts,” Hare, the chief executive at Climate Analytics, said.
Josie Alec, a Kuruma Mardudhunera woman from the group Save our Songlines, said the impact of the plant on both global heating and the longevity of the collection of 1m petroglyphs could lead to the potential extinction of ancient cultural practices.
“It’s about the sustainability of our country, it’s about the sustainability of our story and the sustainability of mother nature and our environment,” she said.
The executive director of the Conservation Council of Western Australia, Maggie Wood, said the large number of appeals should be seen as a referendum on the future of fossil fuels within Western Australia. She said the North West Shelf was one of the “oldest and dirtiest” fossil fuel facilities in the country and it was “simply absurd” that Woodside was seeking to extend its life for half a century.
Woodside declined to comment on Friday. When the EPA made its recommendation last month, the company’s executive vice-president, Fiona Hick, said the North West Shelf project had an important role to play in delivering natural gas to local and international customers at a time of heightened concern around energy security, and could provide energy “that can support their decarbonisation commitments”.
Federal government emissions data shows the North West Shelf development emitted more than 6.7m tonnes of carbon dioxide in the 2020-21 calendar year, more than any other Australian industrial facility.
The extension would allow the processing of gas from Woodside’s controversial $16bn Scarborough development, and potentially other new gas fields, mostly for export. Scarborough has been described by opponents as a “carbon bomb”, with analysts estimated it could add 1.37bn tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere across its lifetime.
The WA government, which is a strong supporter of an expanded liquified natural gas (LNG) industry, did not comment on the appeals. The state appeals convenor will now investigate the objections, including seeking responses from the EPA and Woodside, before reporting to the environment minister, Reece Whitby.
The WA government has also supported Perdaman’s plan for a urea plant near the gas plant, with officials last week granting final works approval.
Perdaman says the plant will create up to 2,000 jobs and produce fertiliser for the agricultural industry. The development involves relocating three Indigenous heritage sites with the consent of the local Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation.
Work on the development has paused for 30 days while Plibersek considers the plant’s impact, after a request from Save Our Songlines. The minister said she was “carefully considering” the request under section 9 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act.
“I can’t say anything further. This is a legal process. As such it’s important that I consider the application without bias and without making public comment,” Plibersek said.
Alec said she and other traditional custodians have invited Plibersek and the minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, to visit the Burrup during the pause. She said there had been no response to a previous invitation last month.
Burney told the ABC on Thursday that the government would do its “very, very best” to ensure there was not a repeat of the catastrophic destruction of cultural heritage at Juukan Gorge.
“I can assure you, absolutely, that the environment minister, myself and our government is taking this absolutely seriously, particularly in the wake of Juukan,” she said.
She said she has not had any direct contact with the traditional owners opposing the development but the invitation to visit “obviously” should be accepted.
Perdaman declined to comment.
