North West Shelf Venture: Reece Whitby rules on appeals over life extension at Karratha

State environmental approval to extend the life of the Karratha Gas Plant is looking more likely after Environment Minister Reece Whitby finalised the almost-900-day appeal process. Mr Whitby this week broadly accepted the Environmental Protection Authority’s recommendations in favour of the project, but is yet to issue a full green light. Woodside Energy wants the 40-year-old export facility to run until 2070. The Perth-based business previously declared the approval was crucial to advance its $30 billion plans to pipe gas from the Browse field off the State’s north coast to Karratha. The proposal was mired in delays for years. Woodside first lodged the life extension bid with the State’s Environmental Protection Authority in 2018. The pandemic, volatile gas prices and red tape meant the final sign off has come a full six years later. The West Australian revealed in July that the plan had been waiting 749 days for review by the State’s Office of the Appeals Convenor, after securing a recommendation to go ahead from the EPA. Mr Whitby’s decision on Tuesday resolves that appeal process. “The NWS Project Extension has been under assessment and appeal for six years and we look forward to resolution of this process to support the ongoing delivery of a reliable supply of energy locally and globally,” a Woodside spokeswoman said. The bid was heavily scrutinised for the impact on the climate, with exports of natural gas producing about 8 per cent of Australia’s carbon emissions. WA Greens leader Brad Pettitt said the plant was “a climate bomb in the making that could ultimately result in billions of tonnes of climate pollution being released into the atmosphere over the next few decades”. He labelled the decision “absolutely devastating”. “The Cook Labor government has relied on the federal safeguard mechanism to wash their hands of any responsibility to cut down WA’s rising emissions or mitigate the impacts of climate change, leaving the door open for climate disaster,” Mr Pettitt said. One of the five processing trains at Karratha was permanently shut down in recent weeks as the existing gas fields which feed the plant run low. Woodside has been working to bring new sources of fuel online, including talks with third parties and progressing Browse. The Burrup Peninsula plant was the first LNG export facility built in Australia and is operated by Woodside. Chevron, Shell, BP, Mitsui & Co and Mitsubishi are also shareholders.