Brisbane, Australia
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Etched onto rocks on a remote peninsula in Western Australia are millions of images drawn tens of thousands of years ago by the country’s original inhabitants, including the earliest known depictions of the human face.
This open-air display of some of humanity’s oldest works is being slowly erased by industrial pollution from a nearby gas plant, according to scientific studies that have been swept up in an almighty clash of competing ambitions for the region’s future.
At the center of the dispute is whether oil and gas company Woodside should be allowed to operate its Karratha Gas Plant until 2070, and on Wednesday Environment Minister Murray Watt gave “proposed” approval for the extension, with “strict conditions” relating to air quality. Woodside has 10 days to respond before Watt makes a final decision, he said in a statement.
Environment groups and climate campaigners were quick to condemn the decision, which they say will pave the way for dozens of gas wells off the coast of Western Australia that will generate billions of tons of carbon emissions and make a mockery of the government’s promises to act on climate change.
Opposition to the extension – known as the North West Shelf – has also emerged from Pacific nations, which are co-bidding with Australia to host the COP31 climate talks in 2026. In a statement issued Tuesday, Tuvalu’s Climate Change Minister Maina Talia urged Canberra to reject the proposal.
“Pacific leaders have made it clear: there is no future for our nations if fossil fuel expansion continues,” he said. “This goes beyond politics; it is about the moral clarity to stand with those most affected by climate change.”
Ancient rock art under threat
The Karratha Gas Plant has kept the town of Karratha in work since it opened in the 1980s, but centuries earlier the region’s original inhabitants told stories through images etched into the patina of rocks in Murujuga, the area’s Indigenous name.
Their depictions of the human face can’t be published due to cultural protocol, but experts say the existence of the artwork is of exceptional value to humankind.
Local Indigenous custodians Raelene Cooper and Josie Alec have fought for years to preserve their cultural heritage and found an ally in Benjamin Smith, president of the International Scientific Committee for Rock Art, who has framed the final call on the extension as “perhaps the most important environmental decision of our lifetime.”
“What will be approved here is the biggest carbon bomb in the southern hemisphere and the extension of a plant that is actively damaging the most important rock art site in the southern hemisphere, if not the world,” said Smith, a professor of archaeology at the University of Western Australia.
Smith told CNN in 2022 that sulfur and nitrogen oxides emitted from the industrial plants on Murujuga were mixing with moisture in the air to form acid rain that was damaging the rocks – findings later proven in a lab.
He’s accused the Western Australian government – which supports the gas extension – of trying to bury the results of its own monitoring programs that he says prove that emissions from the gas plant are damaging the rocks. CNN has reached out to the Western Australian government for comment.
In response to the government’s proposed approval, Cooper, Murujuga’s traditional custodian, issued a short statement that began with: “See you in Court.”
Acidic emissions from industrial plants near the Murujuga rock art already appear to have thwarted attempts to gain World Heritage protection for the site, according to advice from an advisory body to the World Heritage Committee.
The draft decision released this week advises the application be referred back to the government, so it can “ensure the total removal of degrading acidic emissions,” along with other requirements.
Watt said in a statement the draft decision was disappointing, but his office would work with the World Heritage center to “ensure the factual inaccuracies that influenced the draft decision are addressed.”
Woodside welcomed the proposed approval of the Karratha Gas Plant extension, and said it believed that “long-term co-existence between cultural heritage and industry is possible.”
The company has rejected suggestions that emissions from the Karratha plant are damaging the rock art, and says it will work with the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation (MAC) and state and federal governments to support the World Heritage listing.
An eye on Scott Reef
Climate campaigners fear approval for the North West Shelf extension will pave the way for what they say would be an even bigger environmental disaster – the drilling of Browse, Australia’s largest untapped conventional gas reserve off the Western Australian coast.
“The North West Shelf project itself is for processing gas, and the gas has to come from somewhere,” said Joe Rafalowicz, Greenpeace Australia Pacific’s climate and energy lead. “Greenpeace and many other environmental groups have an eye to Woodside’s real intentions, which is drilling for gas at Scott Reef.”
Scott Reef is a remote ecosystem millions of years old that’s home to a diverse array of marine life including endangered dusky sea snakes and migratory pygmy blue whales. The drilled gas would be sent to the Karratha plant for processing via a 900-kilometer (560-mile) pipeline.
Western Australia’s Environmental Protection Authority rejected Woodside’s Browse proposal last year due to unacceptable risks, but the company recently altered its plan and it’s once again open for public consultation.
“They’ve come back with a new proposal, which, on the face of it, seems as though it’s a much more reasonable proposal, but when you actually look at the detail … they’re still talking about extracting the same gas from underneath Scott Reef,” said Matt Roberts, executive director of the Conservation Council of Western Australia.
Campaigners fear drilling will compromise the seabed supporting the reef and Sandy Islet, a breeding ground for vulnerable populations of green turtles.
By extending its lifespan, Woodside sees an opportunity to profit from demand for LNG from Asia, as countries seek alternatives to coal-fired power.
But the picture is complicated by conflicting forecasts about how much gas customers in Asia will need – and whether the gas will be ordered in high enough volumes and at a price that justifies the huge financial costs of new gas projects.
“Industry forecasts such as those from Shell and Wood Mackenzie often paint a rosy picture for future LNG demand in Asia, partly due to coal-gas switching,” said Josh Runciman, from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA),
“However, what we’re seeing on the ground is that LNG is unlikely to be competitive with both coal and renewables, and this is largely because LNG is relatively expensive,” he said.
The United States remains the world’s largest gas exporter, and Woodside recently confirmed a $17.5 billion investment in its Louisiana LNG project, which it’s called a “game changer” for the company.
If the Australian government ultimately approves the North West Shelf, Runciman said developing the Browse gas field will pose daunting technical and financial challenges.
“The natural question is, does Woodside have the scope and the capacity to develop two major LNG projects effectively at the same time?” he said.
Critics say regardless of the financials, if it goes ahead, the project will come at an extensive cost to millions of people most vulnerable to climate change. And they’ve made it clear the fight isn’t over.