Woodside sold the project to an insubstantial company to avoid a few hundred million in decommissioning costs: now it and its competitors will pay the price.
Fortescue and Mitsui appear to have agreed massive emissions cuts with WA's environmental watchdog that is now looking at Woodside and Chevron LNG projects.
WA Premier Mark McGowan has extended WA's successful gas reservation policy to all onshore gas - except Waitsia that is backed by a powerful media boss Kerry Stokes
The first cut at planning WA power's future ignores carbon costs that Woodside would estimate at many billions and comes nowhere near the WA Government's target of net-zero emissions by 2050.
Santos is now the biggest supplier of gas to WA and the future may depend on the Perth Basin after the State's almost four decades of reliance on Australia's first LNG plant.
Woodside's Pluto LNG plant has delivered less that one per cent of its gas to WA due to a 2006 WA Government deal that appeared generous then and looks feeble now.
As Environment Minister in 2006 Mark McGowan led the way to ensure gas projects offset some of their emissions. Now as Premier he may need to choose between climate credibility and the interests of WA's most powerful man.
Building a gas pipeline from WA to the east to help the the economy recover from COVID-19 is such an extraordinarily bad idea the judgement of Nev Power and others pushing it has to be questioned.
