EPA accepts Woodside's amendments to proposed Browse Basin gas project
The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) published its acceptance of oil and gas company Woodside's amendments to its Browse Basin project on Thursday, determining it was of the "same character" as its earlier proposal.
The EPA has been assessing Woodside's plan to extract gas from the Torosa reservoir on the Browse Basin, 430 kilometres off the Kimberley coast, since 2019.
But in May, Woodside lodged five amendments to the application, which it "expected to result in lower risk of impact to the West Australian environment".
The amendments reduced the size of the project's footprint from 1,220 square kilometres, and the company said it would no longer include shallow water near the heritage-listed Scott Reef.
Woodside said the amendments would also bring drilling operations away from key habitats critical for marine turtles.
The planned extraction has long been met with resistance from environmental groups, who say industry at Browse would cause irreparable damage to marine environments, particularly the Scott Reef.
Following Woodside's application, the EPA took the "unusual" step of re-opening public consultation, with the four-week process attracting more than 17,000 additional submissions.
EPA chair Darren Walsh said submissions raised concerns over environmental impacts to marine environments and the use of "unproven" technologies.
He said the EPA concluded "the amendments don't change the previously identified key environmental factors".
The agency will now finalise its assessment of the proposal and will provide a report to WA's environment minister, which will then be subject to a three-week public appeal period.
A Woodside spokesperson welcomed the decision and said since lodging the application in 2018, the company had "continued to collect scientific data and monitor advances in industry best practice environmental measures".
"This work informed the proposal amendments, which demonstrate our commitment to further avoid and minimise potential environmental impacts from the proposed Browse development," the spokesperson said.
The ABC has contacted the Conservation Council of WA for comment.
The EPA's decision comes amid a big week of discussion over the impacts of fossil fuel extraction on WA's north-west coast.
Last week, the Australian Institute of Marine Science published a report detailing "unprecedented" coral bleaching on WA's north west coast, which spurred anti-Woodside protests in Perth over the weekend.
This week, Pilbara traditional owner Raelene Cooper appeared in federal court, calling on the federal government to make a decision on the protection of rock art on the Murujuga Cultural landscape, which borders Woodside's North West Shelf project.
The North West Shelf project is a major extension of the lifetime of gas processing facilities on the Pilbara coast, and is where gas extracted from the Browse Basin would be processed.
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