Greenpeace wants Woodside gas approval delayed for Browse

Greenpeace has made a last-minute pitch to Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to consider the effect of Woodside's Browse gas project when deciding whether to approve the North West Shelf gas plant operating until 2070.

The environmental group is arguing that Woodside's development of the Browse gas fields near the pristine Scott Reef would be a consequence of letting its NWS plant continue to operate, so Plibersek must consider that environment as well.

**Gas from Browse will be pumped 1000km to the North West Shelf gas export plant.** *Woodside*p

Currently, Plibersek is only considering "national heritage values" around the NWS plant - particularly the more than one million examples of ancient rock art on the peninsula called Murujuga by traditional custodians.

The oil and gas industry, Federal Coalition opposition and conservative media outlets have been pressing her to make a decision ever since her WA counterpart granted approval in December 2024 after a six-year assessment.

The tempo rose in February after Plibersek pushed the decision out to March 31 to allow her department to consider the latest science about the effect of industrial emissions on the World Heritage-nominated rock art.

On Wednesday Greenpeace wrote to Plibersek requesting she reconsider a 2019 decision that narrowly defined the scope of the Federal Government environmental assessment due to "substantial new information" about the impacts of the decision.

**Green turtles mating at Scott Reef.** *Wendy Mitchell / Greenpeace*

Greenpeace has presented two legal arguments to Plibersek.

The first is that Browse is a direct consequence of the life of the NWS plant being extended because they are both managed by Woodside, which describes them as a single project. Alternatively, Browse is an indirect consequence of the NWS plant staying open, as there is no other way the gas can be economically developed.

In May 2024, Woodside chief executive Meg O'Neill confirmed the strong link between the two projects after news reports that Browse gas may instead be sent north to the Ichthys project run by Japan's INPEX.

"Our focus with Browse is sending the gas to the North West Shelf," she said, according to Energy News Bulletin.

"We've worked on environmental approvals for that concept for over five years,

"We view that as the most efficient use of capital."

In 2023, Woodside told a WA parliamentary inquiry that if Browse gas could not be processed at the North West Shelf plant, the project was "commercially challenged."

If either of Greenpeace's arguments are valid, then under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, Plibersek will have to consider a range of issues that last year saw WA's independent Environmental Protection Authority close to recommending Browse not go ahead.

The EPA wrote to Woodside a year ago saying its preliminary view was that Browse was unacceptable. It cited concerns over pygmy blue whales, the possible subsidence of a sand bank where endangered turtles nest, and the risk of an oil spill.

**Scott and Seringapatam reefs 270km off the WA coast**. Alex Westover / Greenpeace

Any further delay to Plibersek's decision would almost certainly push it past the calling of the next federal election when under caretaker conventions, the issue would be parked for the new government.

Greenpeace sent its letter on the same day Federal opposition leader Peter Dutton vowed that if elected, a Coalition government would make a decision on the North West Shelf within 30 days of taking office.

Resources Minister Madeleine King called the move "reckless and moronic" as not following the required processes would open up any decision to legal challenges.

Greenpeace Australia Pacific head of climate and energy Joe Rafalowicz said Australians expect their elected representatives to make decisions following due process, independent of pressure from vested interests, and based on the best evidence.

"Woodside plans to fuel its North West Shelf gas facility out to 2070 by drilling up to 50 gas wells near Scott Reef as part of its proposed Browse project," he said.

"Woodside’s reckless plans risk threatened species like Green Sea Turtles and Pygmy Blue Whales, while also jeopardising fragile coral reef habitats with noise, light pollution, and the potential for oil spills."

The WA EPA is still considering its recommendation on the Browse project that will inform the decision of WA's new environmental minister, Matthew Swinbourn.

In the Federal system, a decision on Woodside's original Browse proposal may be clos.. However, the addition of capturing the high level of carbon dioxide in the Brose gas and storing it under the seabed has requires new approval that was only lodged in October 2024.