Greens MLC Robin Chapple said that Woodside’s decision to sell $1bn of the Browse LNG project was an opportunity for the company, its partners and prospective buyers to find a better location for the gas hub.
“Woodside’s decision for a $1 billion-plus auction of most of its 50 per cent stake in the Browse gas project is a tremendous reprieve for the ecological and cultural integrity of the Kimberley and a great opportunity for the Joint Venture partners to re-assess the location of the project”, Mr Chapple said.
“There are locations along our vast coastline that are less environmentally and culturally significant than James Price Point – which the Browse JV partners are very much aware of.”
“It is common knowledge that the James Price Point site was not the preferred location for several of the partners.”
“Woodside’s financial woes represents a chance for the partners and potential purchasers to more fully assess the huge social, heritage, and environmental impacts of a gas hub on the current site, as highlighted by the committed West Kimberley community who have opposed this project from the start.”
“I am fully confident that a comprehensive examination of the impacts of a gas hub at James Price Point would render an alternative site the more attractive option.”
Mr Chapple said that in any re-assessment of the Browse project, the Greens would demand that fugitive greenhouse gas emissions from the project – estimated to be up to 8 million tonnes per annum – be taken into account.
“The EPA and the Federal government must account for the massive carbon footprint of this project, and its impact on the State’s emissions targets to 2020 and beyond ahead of any final approval for gas processing”, Mr Chapple said.
For more information please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263
