Woodside’s last-minute decision to pull its application for carbon dumping (carbon capture and storage) near Scott Reef further highlights the dangers of the Browse gas export proposal, according to the Conservation Council of WA (CCWA).
The gas giant is expected to resubmit the application under the Federal Government’s new Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.
But according to CCWA Executive Director Matt Roberts, “it's unlikely to be the end of their attempts to get this increasingly risky, highly polluting, and expensive proposal through”.
“This proposal now “looks increasingly risky, highly polluting and expensive. In 2022, Woodside itself stated that offshore carbon dumping was ‘high risk and high cost’, Mr Roberts said.
“In fact, the 2019 Browse Environmental Impact Statement saying ‘technical feasibility as offshore geosequestration at the required scale is unproven’. In the intervening years we’ve seen the rhetoric around carbon dumping ramped-up, but there is no evidence the technology has improved in any material way since Woodside made these statements.
“Woodside quickly backflipped on this position and put forward its Browse carbon pollution dumping proposal in a last ditch bid to try to offset enough carbon from the proposed Browse gas export project to make it seem viable.
“As Chevron’s attempts to develop the technology at Gorgon have shown, carbon dumping is unproven, costly and fails to offset emissions – in fact, these schemes enable increased emissions. Scott Reef is not worth sacrificing for a fantasy technology that will only enable fossil fuel expansion.
“These carbon dumping plans would pose a range of environmental threats to Scott Reef, including the risk of catastrophic oil spills, ongoing seismic blasting that can destroy and deafen marine life, and potential leaks that could cause ocean toxicity and acidification.
“The WA EPA previously told Woodside its Browse project would pose ‘unacceptable’ risks to Scott Reef, one of Australia’s most biodiverse coral reef systems.
“We’re calling on Woodside to withdraw the entire Browse gas export proposal — not just this carbon dumping scheme — to protect climate and marine life from generational impacts of fossil fuel expansion.
“We know that cyclones are more likely to increase in severity because of climate change caused by fossil fuels. We only need look at the devastation caused by Cyclone Narelle to see we cannot keep supporting the fossil fuel industry - we need a rapid transition to renewables.”
ENDS
Media contact: John Cooke – 0433 679 780