Environmental watchdog calls for fresh public feedback on massive Woodside gas project

Public consultation on a controversial multi-billion-dollar gas project near a heritage-listed reef off the coast of Western Australia has been re-opened in a “not usual” step by the state’s Environmental Protection Authority.

Woodside Energy has proposed a $30bn Browse joint venture to drill Australia’s largest undeveloped offshore conventional gas resource near Scott Reef, a remote coastal atoll about 260kms off the Western Australian coast.

The atoll is what remains of a coral reef system that once rivalled the Great Barrier Reef and is home to hundreds of species of marine life that have evolved largely in isolation.

When Woodside first proposed its plan to drill within 3km of Scott Reef, an eight-week consultation process received 20,000 responses from members of the public.

The company has since revised the plan to reduce the size of the development so it no longer overlaps with Scott Reef, efforts to avoid drilling in green turtle habitats and the use of technology to “minimise the risk of a loss-of-well control event”.

WA EPA Chair Darren Walsh conceded the decision to re-open consultation was unusual but said the decision was made to give the public a chance to respond to changes proposed by the company.

“We think a four-week public review of this latest proposed amendment is appropriate for such a complex assessment of multiple environmental factors across a very sensitive project area,” Walsh said.

“The volume of new technical information accompanying this proposed amendment is also considerable.”

“Public consultation on a proposed amendment is not usual process for the EPA, but we believe that in this case the circumstances warrant it.”

Walsh said the agency would consider feedback relevant to the amendments before deciding if the proposal should be amended.

“If these changes are accepted, than the EPA will continue with its assessment of the amended proposal,” he said.

A spokesperson for Woodside said projects such as Browse are “needed to deliver domestic gas for Western Australians” as gas is “increasingly used to replace coal in generating electricity” in the state and for the industrial production of bricks, aluminium and fertiliser.

“Since we referred the Browse Project to environmental regulators in 2018, we have continued to collect scientific data and monitor advances in industry best practice environmental measures,” they said. “This work has informed the amendments to the proposal, which demonstrate our commitment to further avoid and minimise potential environmental impacts from the proposed development.”

Greenpeace Australia Pacific’s Geoff Bice welcomed the decision to re-open public consultation, describing Woodside’s revised plan as “merely tinkering around the edges of what is a fundamentally problematic proposal” that relies on “untested technology” and which does not address risks such as subsidence.

“It is incompatible with the protection of the fragile Scott Reef,” Bice said. “It’s unthinkable today that we would allow a multinational fossil fuel company to drill for gas on the Great Barrier Reef — we must not accept this at Scott Reef, home to vibrant coral, threatened species like pygmy blue whales and a critical green sea turtle rookery.”

The decision will be a fresh test for Western Australia’s troubled EPA that has been at odds with the state government on industrial expansion into sensitive environmental areas and the threat posed by climate change.

Prior to his appointment, Walsh worked as an environmental consultant particularly in the property sector.