Art activists in legal bid to kill massive Woodside gas project
Friends of Australian Rock Art are challenging the West Australian government's environmental approval to extend the life of Woodside Energy's massive North West Shelf venture on the Burrup peninsula in northwest WA, an area known as Murujuga.
The Supreme Court action against the WA government and Woodside will argue the state did not consider the impact of climate change that would result from the project, including its effect on Indigenous rock art in the area.
'Woodside's proposed North West Shelf extension is one of the most polluting fossil fuel projects in the world, and will have severe consequences both for the Murujuga rock art and for the environment of Western Australia as a whole,' the group's spokeswoman, Judith Hugo, said on Tuesday.
Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt gave provisional approval to push out the life of the project from 2030 to 2070 in May, following WA's approval in December.
Woodside is currently considering the strict federal conditions on cultural heritage and air quality, which Senator Watt said would ensure the 60,000-year-old Murujuga Indigenous rock art was not destroyed.
A final decision has not been made.
The activists say their case in the WA court could impact the Commonwealth approval, which relies on the state assessment in order to satisfy federal laws.
The rock art is nominated for UNESCO World Heritage listing as it contains the world's largest collection of Aboriginal rock art, but UNESCO is poised to defer its long-awaited decision over concerns about the impact of industrial emissions on the area.
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