Legal action launched over Woodside gas plant extension
The first legal challenges to federal approval of the extension of Australia’s largest gas project have been launched.
The Albanian government is facing two court cases seeking to cancel Woodside’s 40-year extension of the North West Shelf gas center in Western Australia in a bid to protect nearby ancient Aboriginal rock art.
The Australian Conservation Foundation has launched proceedings in the Federal Court in Melbourne to challenge Environment Minister Murray Watt’s approval last month of the extension to 2070.
Friends of Australian Rock Art have also launched a Federal Court appeal against Senator Watt’s decision to prevent further damage to the Murujuga rock art and other cultural heritage values in the area.
From the resource giant’s gas plant to 40,000-year-old World Heritage-listed rock art in WA’s Pilbara, the risks posed by industrial emissions have been a source of debate.
The Australian Conservation Foundation and its legal team argue that in explaining his reasons for approving the North West Shelf expansion, the minister incorrectly assessed the economic benefits of an unapproved Eye gas project, a separate Woodside proposal to develop a gas field off the Kimberley coast.
They argue that the approval omitted critical details and that the minister gave the green light without knowing the details of the gas the project would process and what type of pollution it would cause.
The foundation also noted that Mr Watt did not consider the physical effects of climate change to be an “impact”.
“We challenge the lawfulness of Minister Watt’s approval of this gas hub expansion, which is the centerpiece of the most polluting gas project in the Southern Hemisphere,” said Adam Beeson, the Foundation’s General Counsel. he said.
The foundation said research published in 2024 showed lifetime emissions from the North West Shelf gas hub would be more than 13 times Australia’s annual emissions from all sources.
Friends of Rock Art Australia (FARA) said the Federal Court case was brought in addition to an ongoing WA Supreme Court challenge to state approval of the North West Shelf.
His lawyers argue that the approval for the center expansion is invalid because the minister failed to properly take into account the economic and social harm that would result from continued damage to the Murujuga heritage.
They said the Minister accepted that the proposal would affect heritage values but considered these impacts to be acceptable given the economic benefits claimed by Woodside.
FARA co-convener Susan Swain said the Murujuga rock art is a UNESCO World Heritage site containing the oldest and most extensive rock art on the planet, including the oldest recorded depiction of the human face.
“It is quite disappointing that this time we have a decision at the federal level that does not comply with the requirements under the law,” he said Monday.
Woodside has been approached for comment.
