Strict emissions curbs have been loosened on a major gas plant harming nearby ancient rock art after Woodside warned they amounted to an “effective refusal” of the project.
New federal documents also reveal Environment Minister Murray Watt agreed industrial emissions from the resources giant’s gas plant were harming the World Heritage-listed rock art in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
The risks posed by neighbouring industrial activity to the 40,000-year-old Indigenous petroglyphs have been a source of debate, though the minister has concluded from the scientific evidence collected so far that emissions “are adversely affecting the rocks of Murujuga”.
His assessment goes further than the argument that a decommissioned Dampier gas power plant is largely to blame for the damage already done to the rock art, as spelled out in the summary of a contentious monitoring report prepared for the West Australian government.
“The Dampier Power Plant is also a likely driver of the increase in porosity, but there is evidence that the Karratha Gas Plant would likely have also been a significant or equivalent contributor to historical impacts,” the minister wrote in the Statement of Reasons document.
In granting provisional approval to Woodside to continue operating the North West Shelf project through to 2070 back in May, the minister proposed a condition of “no emissions above the detectable limit of air emissions that impact rock art” by 2030.
Documents released on Monday show Woodside pushed back on the federal minister’s restrictions on pollution, particularly nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide, as not technically feasible and amounting to an “effective refusal” of the project’s ability to keep operating beyond 2030.
In the months between provisional approval in May and the final decision in September, Senator Watt assessed the gas giant’s evidence for the claim and concluded emissions below detection were “not possible” with existing technology.
The minister ultimately landed on a weaker set of emissions-curtailing conditions that he still described as “stringent”, and that would have no “unacceptable impact” on the site’s heritage values.
A Woodside spokesperson said the North West Shelf Joint Venture took seriously its responsibility to protect and manage cultural heritage, and that the research to date on the impacts of industrial emissions on rock art “has not been conclusive”.
In a statement, the company’s spokesperson said it had assessed the work needed to meet the conditions, and that they posed “no material increase” to the expected forecast capital expenditure needed to maintain ongoing North West Shelf production.
“The federal conditions provide clarity on the modifications required at the Karratha Gas Plant that will support processing of other resource owners’ gas,” the spokesperson said.
Murujuga traditional owner and Mardathoonera woman Raelene Cooper, who has been campaigning to protect the rock art from industrial harms, said the federal environment minister was “effectively blowing the whistle on his own government”.
“This is an absolutely extraordinary document that admits every major point the government has been covering up and denying about the impacts of Woodside’s Burrup Hub on Murujuga’s sacred rock art,” she said.
“It is absolutely sickening that the minister has allowed ongoing impact to the Murujuga rock art so that Woodside can make a quick buck selling more gas overseas.”
Conservation Council of WA executive director Matt Roberts said the document confirmed Australia’s environmental laws were clearly failing to protect nature and heritage.
“The Statement of Reasons clearly identifies that the conditions are not what best practice calls for, yet after 15 weeks of lobbying by Woodside, minister Watt rolled over and weakened the conditions before final approval was given.”
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