Woodside to ‘vigourously defend’ second WA Supreme Court challenge to its $16B Scarborough project

Environmentalists have launched a second legal action against the Scarborough to Pluto LNG project adding to uncertainty about its construction a week after Woodside approved the $16 billion investment.

The Conservation Council of WA will argue that an approval to expand the Pluto LNG plant granted in May by WA’s Department of Water and Environmental Regulation was unlawful as it did not consider greenhouse gas emissions.

In a statement to the stock exchange, Woodside said it had complied with all requirements and processes in seeking and receiving its environmental approvals and would “vigorously defend its position.”

Woodside plans to build an additional LNG train that will emit about 1.6 million tonnes of direct greenhouse gases a year. Over the life of the Scarborough to Pluto project, direct greenhouse emissions from Woodside’s facilities and indirect emissions from its customers burning the gas will total about 878 million tonnes.

The serving of papers on DWER on Tuesday is another step in a long-running campaign against the Scarborough project by environmental groups that has attempted to warn off investors and both highlight and increase uncertainty about regulatory approvals.

Tim Macknay, managing lawyer for the Environmental Defender’s Office representing the CCWA, said it was well established that any additional CO2 emissions take the world beyond what is considered acceptable for a safe climate.

“That is why governments and regulators … should be doing everything in their power to properly assess and control any additional greenhouse gas emissions,” Mr Macknay said.

The department’s report on the Pluto works approval said it did not consider greenhouse gas emissions as they had been dealt with in a separate ministerial statement reviewed by the Environmental Protection Authority.

In WA, the environmental impact of major projects is assessed by the independent EPA that makes non-binding recommendations to the Environment Minister, who then tasks the EPA with drafting a ministerial statement documenting the project’s high-level environmental conditions.