The Conservation Council of WA (CCWA) has said that Mike Nahan and the WA Liberal opposition should get their facts straight and put the interests of Western Australians and the environment ahead of the profits of Chevron.
The Council was responding to the Liberal Leader’s claim that reviewing the carbon pollution controls on Chevron’s Wheatstone LNG project presented a ‘sovereign risk’.
Nahan ignoring facts
CCWA Director Piers Verstegen said the sovereign risk argument ignored the facts, and could see Western Australia once again lose out on jobs and investment in order to improve the profits of Chevron.
“Chevron’s Wheatstone project is Western Australia’s largest polluter, responsible for over 10 Million tonnes of pollution per year.
“It was totally unacceptable that the controls on this pollution were removed by the previous Liberal Government at the cost of the environment and jobs for Western Australians, and it remains unacceptable now.
“When Chevron decided to go ahead with the Wheatstone LNG project, the decision was made in the full knowledge that carbon pollution offsets would be required by the State Government.
“Chevron made its Final Investment Decision for Wheatstone in September 2011 on the understanding it would have conditions in place to offset about 2.6 million tonnes per year of carbon pollution from the facility.
“These conditions were later removed by the Barnett Government in January 2013 against the advice of an independent economic analysis into the issue[1]. This decision cost Western Australia jobs and investment in carbon farming, renewable energy and clean technology industries – money which has instead gone straight to Chevron’s profit line.
“Clearly there is no sovereign risk in this situation. By making this claim on behalf of Chevron, Mike Nahan is failing Western Australians and our environment.
“We call on Mike Nahan and the WA Liberal Party to stand up for the interests of Western Australians rather than Chevron’s profits.
Misleading claims
“Chevron have separately claimed that their carbon pollution is adequately controlled by the Commonwealth Government.
“This is also misleading, as conditions placed on the facility requiring carbon pollution to be controlled under Commonwealth Legislation have also been revoked.
Chevron called on to cooperate
“Chevron pays no royalties to the WA Government and pays little to no tax to the Commonwealth.
“Chevron cannot simply take all the profits from LNG developments offshore and leave WA taxpayers with the pollution problem.
“Once again we call on Chevron to live up to its claims about being a good corporate citizen, by cooperating with the review of their carbon pollution conditions, rather than continuing to block action on climate change and pollution which would create jobs and benefit Western Australians.”
[1] Carbon price complementarity of WA EPA GHG requirements: Review of obligations on Chevron's Wheatstone project, and implications for the West Angelas project (Meta Economics, August 2012)