State Environmental Approval Granted for Australia's Browse LNG Project

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources Australia (Sugar Land, Texas)--Western Australian Environment Minister Bill Marmion and the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) have consented to the development of the Browse liquefied natural gas (LNG) project on 1,528 hectares of land within the James Price Point Natural Gas Precinct.

Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke will make the final environmental decision in the coming months.

The Browse LNG project is operated by Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX:WPL) (Perth). The project is well-known in Australia and internationally. The Browse foundation project proposal is a substantial 12 million-metric-ton-per-year LNG production plant, and production capacity could potentially reach a massive 25 million metric tons per year.

The EPA granted conditional environmental approval for the Browse LNG project on July 16, 2012. A record number of appeals against the project were assessed by Marmion, and he made a formal response to the appeals in November 2012. Marmion issued Woodside, the project operator, tougher regulations to strengthen environmental protection and sustainability and promote social well-being by requesting that Woodside offer greater involvement in the site development to the aboriginal people native to the area.

Dr. Paul Vogel, the EPA Chairman, has stated that the appeals issued against the proposed project have been addressed where the public had made valid points, and there have been no further environmental issues raised that hadn't already been addressed previously. The decision for go-ahead of the project at the James Price Point site cannot be appealed any further.

The EPA has declared Woodside's Browse LNG precinct a "derived proposal." This term is explained in "Strategic Assessment for the Browse LNG Precinct," written by the Department of State Development for Western Australia: A Strategic Assessment under the EP Act allows the State Minister for the Environment to approve certain future proposals and apply implementation conditions to future proposals at the completion of the Strategic Assessment. A future proposal assessed by Strategic Assessment can be declared a Derived Proposal by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) provided it meets certain statutory requirements. If a proposal is declared to be a Derived Proposal, the EPA cannot further assess the proposal.

The Western Australian state government seems to be doing everything in its power to have a large-scale natural gas development, with one or multiple site users, built at the James Price Point site. This approval by the state government fundamentally allows for other companies to submit further development plans at the James Price Point precinct as derived proposals, and be allowed to bypass the standard environmental permitting approval processes and therefore fast-track their projects.

For more information, see December 14, 2012, article - Browse LNG Project Hits Another Hurdle; November 5, 2012, article - Public Appeals Against Browse LNG Project Result in Tougher Regulations; September 19, 2012, article - Browse Liquefied Natural Gas Project Update - Western Australia's Premier Defends Controversial Approval; and August 3, 2012, article -Australia's EPA Conditionally Approves Browse Liquefied Natural Gas Project.

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