Labor accused of propping up gas projects with carbon pollution permits
By Mike Foley
Greens and teal MPs have warned that the Albanese government’s move to legislate the import of carbon pollution will throw a lifeline to gas projects facing an uncertain future due to climate change, as the industry welcomes the proposed reform.
Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek’s Sea Dumping Bill, which would permit Australia to export, import and store carbon pollution in Australian waters, was approved by the House of Representatives on Thursday. It is expected to be made law by the Senate with support from the Coalition in coming weeks.
Australia’s offshore oil and gas industry primarily operates off north-west WA, the NT and Victoria’s Gippsland.
The bill would amend current rules banning international export and import of marine pollution, formed under an international treaty called the London Protocol, and create an exemption for carbon.
This would enable companies that operate offshore gas fields to take shipments of greenhouse gases captured in overseas factories and pump them into the underground reservoirs where gas was extracted. Gas producers could also store their own emissions generated during gas production and processing.
Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson said carbon capture and storage technology was a “naked attempt to facilitate more oil and gas development in our oceans”.
“The Greens are incredibly concerned that this legislation appears to be motivated to primarily facilitate the Santos Barossa project, its related Bayu-Undan CCS projects and other fossil fuel projects off Australia’s northern coastlines,” Whish-Wilson said.
However, Plibersek said carbon pollution can already be imported under the current regime, regardless of Australia’s participation in the international treaty, and argued her reform provided a framework to regulate imports, which is “at risk of happening in an unregulated manner”.
“The amendments in this bill are necessary to ensure we have a comprehensive regulatory framework that protects our oceans,” Plibersek said.
Independent Mackellar MP Sophie Scamps unsuccessfully proposed amendments to Labor’s bill to prevent gas projects using carbon capture.
“The Sea Dumping Bill is being rushed through parliament in an attempt by the government to enable new gas projects, such as the Barossa mine, to proceed,” she said.
Warringah MP Zali Steggall said the bill “opens the door for gas companies to expand ... by the false promise of carbon capture and storage”.
Fossil fuels projects are controversial for the Albanese government as the party’s environment movement, which forms a large chunk of the party’s membership, is calling for new projects to be ruled out.
Climate policy was a major factor in the 2022 election and former prime minister Scott Morrison granted himself secret ministerial powers in the resources portfolio to refuse a gas project development off Sydney’s coastline following campaigns by teal MPs, including Scamps and Steggall.
The United Nations has said no new fossil fuel projects can be opened if the world is to have any hope of meeting the objective of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.
Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association chief executive, Samantha McCulloch, welcomed the support from the government and the Coalition for the Sea Dumping Bill, which she said would enable the energy sector to develop a new industry in emissions capture.
“Carbon capture, utilisation and storage is a proven and viable technology recognised by the International Energy Agency, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Australia’s own leading science organisation, the CSIRO, as being critical to net zero,” McCulloch said.
Questions remain about the viability of carbon capture and storage at scale, given the continued underperformance of Chevron’s Gorgon carbon capture and storage plant in Western Australia – the world’s biggest commercial-scale project.
Opening up international carbon imports and using gas reservoirs for carbon storage offers three potential positives for gas producers.
It could create a new revenue stream with third parties paying them to offset emissions; gas producers could use the large-scale import projects to comply with the federal government’s requirement for all new offshore gas projects to operate with net zero emissions, and; carbon capture operations would extend the life of projects beyond the depletion of their gas resources, potentially delaying billions of dollars in decommissioning requirements for huge offshore rigs.
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