Fourteen Australian environment groups have mobilised more than 70,000 people to back ACF’s request for Environment Minister Murray Watt to consider the climate impacts from Woodside’s proposed Browse gas project at Scott Reef.
“In just four weeks, a whopping 70,000 Australians have asked Minister Watt to consider the climate impacts of Woodside’s proposed Browse gas drilling at the Scott Reef,” said Australian Conservation Foundation campaigner Piper Rollins.
“Woodside proposes to pipe the Browse gas drilled from under Scott Reef back to the highly controversial North West Shelf export facility, which the Albanese government faced enormous public backlash over when it approved its extension to 2070.
“Woodside’s Browse gas export plan would be catastrophic for nature, climate and communities, pushing Australian icons like the Great Barrier Reef closer to the brink.
“At one end of the pipeline is the NW Shelf and at the other end is the Browse drilling at Scott Reef, an ancient coral atoll that is home to endangered whales and turtles.
“Australians have sent a clear message to the minister today: we do not want our precious Australian reefs sacrificed for Woodside’s gas export profits.”
In February ACF, represented by Environmental Justice Australia, wrote to Minister Watt with a ‘reconsideration request’ citing substantial new scientific information about the damage that will be caused if Woodside exploits the Browse gas. In June, Minister Watt accepted ACF’s request as valid.
ACF commissioned research from IPCC lead author, Professor Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick of the ANU, who found the emissions from the Browse gas project would result in the death of an additional 29.35 million individual coral colonies in every future mass bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef.
If Minister Watt accepts the substance of ACF’s reconsideration request, these significant impacts would be a relevant consideration for government in deciding whether to approve the Browse gas project.
Supporters of ACF, the Australian Marine Conservation Society, the Conservation Council of WA, Greenpeace Australia Pacific, Environs Kimberley, Surfers for Climate, the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change, GetUp, the Wilderness Society, the Conservation Council of SA, 350, the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Climate Action Network Australia and Environment Victoria have petitioned the Minister through the department’s formal submissions process.
Scott Reef photo by Nush Freedman, courtesy Conservation Council WA