Reports that the WA EPA is poised to recommend against Woodside's massive polluting Browse gas project make clear the choice for the Albanese Government: will it protect our environment and a safer future for our kids? Or back in one of the country's biggest carbon bombs?
Woodside wants to drill more than 50 gas wells around the Scott Reef off the coast of the Kimberley in WA, and pump gas along the ocean floor to the North West Shelf / Karratha Gas Plant at the Burrup Hub for export. If built, the proposed mega gas project would be the Southern Hemisphere's largest and Woodside estimates it could add up to 1.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent over its lifetime, or more than three times' Australia's annual climate pollution.
Climate Council Head of Policy and Advocacy Dr Jennifer Rayner said: "Browse will destroy habitats for protected species like whales and turtles in the short term, and unleash billions of tonnes of climate-wrecking pollution in the decades ahead – it's an environmental disaster in the making.
"The answer couldn't be clearer here: the Albanese Government needs to say no to this mega-polluting project so our precious places are protected against further harm. This decision is the litmus test for the government's approach to gas and Australians are watching closely."
