Thousands of Western Australians have supported a submission by the Conservation Council of WA (CCWA) calling for the rejection of Woodside’s Browse to North West Shelf (NWS) Development.
CCWA lodged a submission with the WA Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today in response to Woodside’s application under s.43A of the Environmental Protection Act 1986 to amend its proposal to drill for gas around Scott Reef off WA’s north west coast.
The EPA will make a decision on whether to accept the proposed revisions or not before making a final decision on the project.
CCWA Executive Director Matt Roberts said he expects the EPA will accept the revisions as they do in almost every s.43A application. “Our submission and expert advice confirm that the revisions do not address the fundamental issues with the project and risks to endangered species and the reef system overall,” Mr Roberts said.
“More than 3,020 people have signed-on to CCWA’s submission as of 2.30pm Tuesday, with almost 750 people filing individual submissions.
“The Browse amendment is little more than “tinkering around the edge” of what would be Australia’s biggest, dirtiest gas field development.
"In addition to the thousands of WA people who supported our submission, we know there are thousands more across Australia who took the time to show their rejection of Woodside's plans for gas expansion at Scott Reef,” he added.
“We've seen over the past few weeks Australians respond furiously to the conditional approval of the NWS extension until 2070. It's clear there's no public appetite for expansion of the gas export industry at the expense of our climate and nature.
“Woodside’s revised Browse project does not change the risks of oil spills, subsidence or reduce carbon emissions. The threat to the pristine ecology and the endangered pygmy blue whale, green sea turtle and dusky sea snake remains.
“The EPA made the preliminary decision to reject the Browse project because of threats to nature which have not been adequately addressed by Woodside. Alongside marine experts, we are of the firm view that the EPA should reject the revised proposal.
“The proximity of this project to the Scott Reef system – being an area of incredibly high conservation value - will cause serious environmental harm, that will be both significant and irreversible.”
Mr Roberts said the EPA had already found the Browse proposal poses unacceptable risks to endangered pygmy blue whales, the green sea turtle and other threatened marine species.
“The only acceptable outcome here is for the EPA to reject the Browse to North West Shelf Development and Woodside’s ‘smoke and mirrors’ Proposal Amendment,” he said.
“Ironically, Environment Minister Murray Watt spoke at the United Nations Ocean Conference in France yesterday, boasting about Australia’s marine conservation, while our north west reef systems suffered yet another major coral bleaching event.
“Browse gas will be supplied via pipeline through marine waters which goes directly past the Kimberley Marine Park and Rowley Shoals Marine Park, in proximity to other ecologically important migration paths for threatened marine species.
“The NWS gas facility on Murujuga currently releases approximately 6.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per annum, more than any other industrial facility in the country, equating to 1.9% of the global carbon budget.
“Minister Watt is set to make a final decision on the proposed extension of the NWS any day now, which will rely on gas from sources including the Torosa oil field underneath Scott Reef.
“The gas processed through the NWS extension will be a source of ongoing emissions, to which there is an established link to climate change and damage to the ancient Murujuga rock art it operates alongside.
“Self-reported pollution data by industry suggests that current pollution levels around the NWS are higher than historic emission levels, which are known to have degraded the rock art,” Mr Roberts added.
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