Woodside gas expansion plans – and approvals – face fresh legal challenges

Woodside’s plans to continue gas extraction on the Burrup Peninsula in the far north of Western Australia are facing fresh legal challenges including an eleventh-hour bid to challenge approvals to extend the life of the North West Shelf gas processing facility.

The federal court has ruled that a legal challenge brought by Raelene Cooper, a Mardudhunera woman and founder of the organisation Save Our Songlines, will be heard the week of 14 July.

Cooper is seeking to compel Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt to make a decision on a Section 10 application under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act.

She has asked the federal government to investigate whether the area around Woodside’s proposed gas plant warranted special heritage protection owing to risks to the Murujuga rock art. The application was filed in 2022 but has not been decided.

Coopers’ legal team wrote to the Environment Minister in April to ask her application to be resolved before any final decision on the North West Shelf extension, a request that was renewed following Watt’s appointment to the role.

The federal court noted that the minister had previously promised to give Cooper three business days’ notice before giving final approval to extend the life of the North West Shelf gas processing plant.

Watt quickly cleared the way for the approval soon after his appointment to the office, giving Woodside ten days to review conditions placed upon the project.

The detail of these conditions have not been made public and until they are accepted, final approval to the project has not been given – meaning Cooper has an opening to seek an injunction.

Cooper said on Sunday the minister had been careless in his approach to the situation.

“If the minister approves the North West Shelf extension before addressing my application, he will be locking in the very threat that I have sought to prevent,” she said.

“The Minster does not even have the respect to come and see for himself what he will be allowing Woodside to destroy.”

Extending the life of the gas processing facility on the Burrup Hub is a critical step by Woodside to opening up the development of the $16.5bn Scarborough gas field and the $30bn Browse development off the Scott Reef.

These gas fields would feed the facility which needs to process a constant supply of gas to remain functional.

The decision follows another ruling by the Federal Court on Friday in another case that would limit the damages Doctors for Environment (DEA) may face if they lose a legal challenge against approvals for Woodside’s Scarborough gas development.

DEA is seeking a judicial review of the decision of the National offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) to wave through environmental approvals on the project, which DEA has described as a “box ticking exercise” by the regulator.

The federal court decision imposes a maximum costs order of $80,000 to the amount the regulator and Woodside could seek in legal costs if the group is unsuccessful.

DEA’s Executive Director Kate Wylie says the decision recognises the group is seeking to address “important public-interest questions concerning NOPSEMA’s decision-making.”

“It means the court will now scrutinise NOPSEMA’s handling of the Scarborough Gas Project’s environment plan and decide whether the regulator’s approval of the plan was lawful,” she said.

“The Scarborough Gas Project will result in the release of about 878 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent into the atmosphere, adding to the immense health burden climate change is already putting on the community.  

“Fossil fuels are the primary drivers of climate change, which is recognised by the World Health Organization as the single biggest health threat facing humanity.”

Hearings into the matter are scheduled for July 14 and 15.