Oz Producers Urge WA to Go Easy on Rules
The Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (Appea) has urged the Western Australian (WA) Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to reconsider its Background Paper on Greenhouse Gas Assessment Guidance. It said in a submission published September 2 that national and international emissions reduction policies should take precedence over ad-hoc regional measures.
WA is home to five LNG projects: the North West Shelf project, Woodside’s Pluto project, the Gorgon Gas project, the Wheatstone project and, most recently, Shell’s Prelude Floating LNG project.
Appea CEO Andrew McConville said national climate change policies that reduced emissions at least cost and facilitated investment decisions consistent with an international price on carbon were enough. Therefore Appea supports the Australian government leading on climate change policy responses, as the signatory to Australia’s Paris Agreement commitments.
By the same token, there is no need for "duplicative and inconsistent requirements" imposed by a "single regulatory agency (such as the EPA) in a jurisdiction (such as WA) to a limited number of large projects," he said.
“When new WA EPA guidelines are released, they should acknowledge the actions that are underway at a national and a state level, and that direct involvement by the EPA in mitigation policy would be duplicative, inconsistent and impractical.”
McConville said the original EPA guidelines – released in March 2019 – would have sent a worrying signal to prospective investors. “The oil and gas industry has invested billions of dollars in the WA economy in recent years, developing projects to supply cleaner energy to both the WA and our Asian trading partners. With billions of dollars in future investment under consideration, clarity on the policy approach in WA is vital,” he said.
“WA projects can play a key role in lowering global emissions and our LNG exports are contributing to a cleaner energy sector in Asia," McConville said. "We believe that it would make more sense for the EPA to only complete its guidelines when the state government completes its review of climate change policy.”