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Urge Minister Watt to consider climate impacts of Browse gas exports

Woodside’s gas drilling plans would come at the cost of our oceans, our climate and our communities — all so multinational gas exporters can profit.

For the first time in eight years, the federal government has opened up public consultation on Woodside’s Browse gas export proposal.

Woodside wants to drill up to 57 wells around Scott Reef, home to endangered whales and turtles. And damning new science shows it's not just Scott Reef under threat: the project's climate pollution would have disastrous impacts on the Great Barrier Reef too — making bleaching events more frequent and severe, and killing nearly 30 million more corals each time they occur.

Following a legal request from the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), Environment Minister Murray Watt is considering the new evidence and deciding whether the project's climate pollution should be assessed under federal nature laws.

Submissions close Tuesday 21 July. Add your name to show Minister Watt just how unacceptable — and how controversial — Woodside's proposal is.

Prefer to make your own submission with additional points? Use the EPBC online portal.

Will you sign?

Add your name to the submission below before 21 July.

Dear Minister Murray Watt,

Thank you for opening public consultation on the Browse gas export proposal.

We consider there is substantial new information about the impacts of this project on a matter protected under Part 3 of the EPBC Act — the Great Barrier Reef. That new information shows the original referral decision should be changed to take these climate impacts into account.

This new science is substantial because:

  • The 1.6 billion tonnes of climate pollution from Browse is likely to be a disaster for the Great Barrier Reef — killing nearly 30 million more corals in every future mass bleaching event; and
  • It shows these bleaching events and coral deaths are likely to happen more often, with less recovery time and a growing cumulative threat to the Reef's survival.

You should be concerned about the climate and nature impacts of the Browse gas export proposal because:

  •        Almost all of the gas from the Browse proposal would be exported overseas. It doesn't matter where in the world gas is burnt. The climate pollution from burning fossil fuels will do damage to communities and nature everywhere, including in Australia.
  •     The Browse gas export proposal risks unacceptable harm to threatened species and the iconic Scott Reef ecosystem in Western Australia. This includes the risk of catastrophic oil spills, the seabed sinking and destroying critical green turtle nesting grounds, and direct impacts on endangered pygmy blue whales.

We support the request that you reconsider how Browse is being assessed, and include the consequences for the Great Barrier Reef in that assessment.

Signed,