The gas and oil company Woodside’s plan to conduct seismic blasting for a major fossil fuel development in northern Western Australia has been stopped indefinitely after a court found it had not properly consulted traditional owners.
Mardudhunera woman Raelene Cooper, a founder of the organisation Save Our Songlines, had applied for a judicial review of a decision by the offshore petroleum regulator to allow Woodside to start seismic blasting for the controversial $16.5bn Scarborough gas development.
Cooper argued the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (Nopsema) made a legal error when it approved the plan despite having found Woodside’s consultation with traditional owners was inadequate.
In a judgment on Thursday, federal court justice Craig Colvin agreed.
An emotional Cooper said she was elated. She described the legal win as more than a personal victory.
“I want my mob back home to be empowered by this day today. This is bigger than me,” she said. “It’s about my people and our history. We’ve been forgotten and treated so badly.”
Cooper said she was concerned about the impact of seismic activity on her people’s songlines. She said that included its impact on turtles and endangered whales that would be affected by the blasting.
“Woodside just came and told us what was happening,” she said.
“They never bothered to sit down and listen to Murujuga traditional custodians about the full impacts of their Burrup hub operations on our culture and our sacred songlines.”
It is the second significant win by traditional owners against fossil fuel companies in a little over a year. Tiwi Islanders won a landmark victory in the federal court last September that overturned drilling approval for Santos’s Barossa gas project off the Northern Territory.
Nopsema approved Woodside’s seismic blasting plan but included a condition that more consultation with traditional owners was needed before work began. Colvin found the additional consultation should have been required before approval was granted.
The managing lawyer for the Environmental Defenders Office, Brendan Dobbie, who represented Cooper, said: “Nopsema should never have accepted Woodside Energy’s environment plan knowing these requirements had not yet been met.”
#BREAKING: The Federal Court has thrown out Woodside Energy’s approval to conduct seismic blasting for its Scarborough Gas Project, after a legal challenge by Traditional Custodian Raelene Cooper.
— Environmental Defenders Office (@EDOLawyers) September 28, 2023
This means Woodside no longer has an approval to conduct the seismic blasting.
A Woodside spokesperson said it would continue to work with the regulator to have an accepted environment plan in place before starting its seismic survey. They said the decision “did not in any way criticise any action by Woodside”.
“We have consulted extensively on our environment plans, dedicating time and effort so our approach to environmental management and … consultation meets our current understanding of regulatory requirements and standards,” the spokesperson said.
Seismic blasting involves airguns firing compressed air at the sea floor. The air creates sound patterns that give a picture of the geological structure beneath the seabed, including oil and gas reserves.
Environment groups including Greenpeace have raised concerns about the blasting for the Scarborough project affecting marine life. They say it can deafen whales, which depend on hearing to communicate, feed and locate themselves in their habitat.
The court had granted Cooper an injunction earlier this month preventing Woodside from starting blasting until the case was heard. Woodside has argued that the delay to starting its seismic survey has caused it a significant financial cost.
A Nopsema spokesperson said it was reviewing the court’s reasons “to ensure future regulatory actions are in accordance with the decision”. They said the regulator could not comment on the specifics of Woodside’s seismic plan as it would return to the assessment process.
AFL sponsorship extended
Woodside announced on Wednesday that it had extended its multi-million dollar sponsorship of the AFL club the Fremantle Dockers for two years.
Some Fremantle members had campaigned for the club not to extend its partnership with a company that was “aggressively pursuing new oil and gas projects all over the world”, including in Australia, Mexico and Senegal.
Announcing the deal, Fremantle’s president, Dale Alcock, said Woodside had provided the club with “great strength and stability for more than a decade”.
“The decision to extend our partnership with Woodside takes into account the significant and positive long-term relationship we have together. This includes a shared commitment to addressing complex challenges such as climate change,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of supporters who wanted the sponsorship dropped, Greenpeace campaigner Sophie McNeill said it was “a sad day in Freo’s history”.
“Woodside are just in the business of buying mates here in WA through sponsorship deals, hoping they will be fooled into believing they are good guys when they are actually pursuing incredibly harmful projects,” she said.
Woodside chief executive Meg O’Neill said the company was “excited to continue our longstanding partnership with the Fremantle Football Club”.
