The Cook Government’s doubling down on speculative carbon capture and storage shows it is more interested in supporting the unsubstantiated and unscientific claims of the gas industry than protecting its citizens from out of control climate change.
The government today introduced the Petroleum Legislation Amendment Bill 2023 and the Petroleum and Geothermal Energy Safety Levies Amendment Bill 2023, which would open up the state to the large-scale underground dumping of waste carbon.
Lock the Gate Alliance spokesperson Claire McKinnon said, “Fossil fuel companies and fossil fuel-friendly governments like the one we have in WA would love carbon capture and storage to work at scale, but it simply doesn’t.”
“We know from his previous comments that Roger Cook and WA Labor don’t give a damn about meaningfully reducing greenhouse gas emissions here or overseas. As if that wasn’t bad enough, this government is now trying to hoodwink West Australians into believing in the fossil fuel industry’s carbon capture and storage scam. The fossil fuel industry pushes this scam in an attempt justify its polluting existence.
“Perth has just endured a record breaking severe heatwave with temperatures above 35 degrees for multiple days, while fires have raged on the city’s urban fringe, destroying homes. Extreme weather events like this will only worsen unless governments in charge of big fossil fuel exporting states like WA recognise and respond to the urgent need to stop approving new gas projects.
"As much as the Cook Government and gas companies want to believe otherwise, gas is not a transition fuel, and is as bad as coal as a global heating agent when factoring in fugitive emissions.
“We fear that this legislation will make it easier for onshore oil and gas company Buru Energy and fracking company Black Mountain to greenwash the massive polluting projects they want to build in the Kimberley.
“Chevron’s Gorgon carbon capture and storage venture is the only industrial-scale project of its kind operating in Australia, and it doesn’t work. Despite receiving $60 million in federal funding, Chevron has only injected five and a half million tonnes of CO2 since 2016, less than a third of the agreed amount.
“Even if carbon capture and storage worked, it would do nothing to reduce the growing problem of fugitive methane emissions from the extraction, processing and transport of fossil fuels. Fugitives already account for about 11 percent of Australia’s entire national greenhouse gas inventory, and would continue to grow with new fossil fuel projects even if carbon capture and storage worked at scale, which it doesn't.”
ENDS