Western Australia’s peak environment and conservation group have called on the McGowan Government and Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to ensure a thorough assessment of carbon pollution from the expanded Scarborough gas field and Burrup Hub project, following today's announcement by Woodside of a 52% increase in the size of the Scarborough field.
CCWA Director Piers Verstegen said the Council was concerned by what appeared to be a lack of assessment of lifetime carbon pollution resulting from the development of new gas fields that make up the giant Burrup Hub expansion.
“Woodside has claimed that that the new gas fields would not increase annual emissions from their LNG processing facilities, however, we consider this to be grossly misleading.
“The huge new gas fields Woodside plans to bring online would extend highly polluting LNG processing, export and burning for decades releasing hundreds of millions of tons of additional pollution until at least 2070 – well past the date when the Paris Agreement requires net-zero emissions to be achieved globally.
“It is basic physics that processing more gas will lead to more pollution and the expanded size of the Scarborough field announced today simply adds to that problem.
“The impact on your health is very different if you smoke a pack of cigarettes every day for a year, or for ten years, and the same goes for the climate damage done by carbon pollution.
“We are seeking assurances that lifetime carbon pollution will be assessed as part of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process for all elements of the Burrup Hub including the expanded Scarborough field," said Mr Verstegen.