Court overturns Woodside’s Scarborough seismic approval
The Federal Court has overturned a regulatory approval obtained by Woodside Energy to carry out seismic testing for its $16.5 billion Scarborough gas project in Western Australia in the latest blow to the controversial fossil fuel venture.
In a ruling on Thursday, Justice Craig Colvin determined that the offshore petroleum regulator did not have the statutory power to grant the approval because consultation had been inadequate. The approval of the environment plan for the seismic work is one of several Woodside needs to advance the huge LNG project.
Climate protesters outside Woodside’s AGM in April. Tony McDonough
The decision delivers a win to traditional custodian Raelene Cooper, who filed a judicial review in August, arguing that the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority made a legal error in approving the seismic survey and that Woodside had not met a condition of the approval that she be properly consulted.
Ms Cooper argues the seismic work could have harmful impacts on her Sea Country and Songlines, including on whales and turtles, which are of high cultural importance.
NOPSEMA gave Woodside conditional approval for the seismic survey on July 31, after the company was forced to redo and expand Indigenous consultation on several environmental plans for Scarborough. This was a result of a landmark court ruling last year which overturned an approval by the same regulator for a Santos gas project in the Timor Sea.
Woodside said in early September that the conditions on consultation had since been met, and it intended to commence the work. But Ms Cooper obtained an injunction preventing any work going ahead before the hearing of her appeal.
Woodside’s 1196-page environment plan for
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