Legal challenge against Woodside gas project fails
A new court case has begun against WoodSide’s plans to increase natural gas production, and the other failed.
The regulatory approvals for the development of the North -West shelf extension of Woodsyide and the development of the Scarborough Gas Project are opposed by the environment and domestic groups in court.
On Friday, at Perth, friends of Australian rock art launched a legal difficulty for the Western Australian government to approve the extension.
The Group wants the court to overthrow the decision, arguing that the Minister of Environment Reece Whitby did not properly follow the state’s environmental protection law regulations.
The group said that the impact of the project on the environment, including Murujuga Rock Art Landscape, is not appropriate.
“We were very unhappy that Minister Whitby approved the North -West Shelf extension in December last year,” Farak spokesman Judith Hugo said to the court.
“We are particularly worried about the effects of climate change.”
The issue was briefly mentioned at the WA Supreme Court on Friday and will return to the same court for an instruction hearing on October 21st.
Later on Friday, a federal judge in Melbourne rejected doctors for the struggle of Australia’s Woodsyide’s Scarborough plans for regulatory approval.
The Doctor Group argued that Nopsema, a national open marine gas editor, was illegal in approved Woodsyide’s environmental plan without fully understanding how to manage the impact of the project.
Justice Shaun Mcelwaine said that the regulator moves properly and that Woodside did not need to measure environmental impact for “high level of sensitivity”.
“This is a matter for the court, not for the court to determine whether a higher sensitivity is necessary to address the environmental effects and risks defined from an activity under certain conditions.” He said.
“The regulatory scheme does not prescribe the methodology to be adopted to address the ‘reasonable and acceptable level’ criteria, even if the applicant requires the prescribed degree of specification and sensitivity.
Environmental defenders representing doctors in the court, the Office of the Open Sea Gas arrangements did not represent the interests of the public, he said.
“Everyone needs a safe climate for health and prosperity, so we are interested in the effective arrangement of industries that make our climate more dangerous,” Executive Director Kate Wylie said. He said.
“Nopsema’s decision to approve this environmental plan seems to fly in the face of this common sense expectation.”
Woodsyide said that the environmental plan of the operation was the environmental approval of the last nations community required for connecting, assigning and operating the Scarborough Floating Production Unit.
“This result strengthens the Scarborough Energy Project, which produces thousands of businesses during the construction phase and creates important supply chain opportunities.” He said.
“The project is expected to contribute more than 50 billion dollars to the Australian economy and to be one of the lowest carbon density sources delivered to North Asian markets.”
WA will also supply the domestic gas market.
The Scarborough Gas Project is a gas space and coastal gas processing plant that is expected to produce up to eight million tons of LNG per year.
The first LNG cargo is expected in the second half of 2026.
