The Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has delivered its final assessment of the proposed James Price Point Liquefied Natural Gas precict, recommending the project for approval.

 

EPA’s Chairman Dr Paul Vogel said the assessment of the project was the largest and most complex it had ever conducted in the agency’s 40 year history.

 

“The assessment has been incredibly thorough and included wide consultation with community members and scientific experts, site visits and meetings with interest groups,” Dr Vogel said.

 

“After carefully considering each environmental factor, I have recommended a rigorous set of 29 conditions and offsets to ensure the EPA’s environmental objectives are met.”

 

The project is expected to produce up to 50 million tonnes of LNG per year from the Browse basin site 60 kilometres north of Broom upon completion. Dr Vogel said one of the site’s main draw cards was that it allowed a number of operators to work from a single site, meaning that the area was spared the proliferation of a number of large scale projects.

 

“The numerous conditions recommended will guide the ultimate development plan, as well as apply to specific, future LNG projects within the precinct,” Dr Vogel said.

 

“Future proposals will still need to be carefully scrutinised by the EPA to ensure that they were identified in the strategic proposal and fit within the strictly defined precinct footprint.”

 

The establishment of the James Price Point was born from the recommendations of the Northern Development Taskforce (NDT) which shortlisted over 40 sites for multi-user LNG precincts. The EPA recommended that the James Price Point site be selected, arguing that any environmental risks and impacts were likely to be manageable based on the available data.

 

The proposal will now be sent for Commonwealth approval.

 

The report will be open for public consultation for a 14 day period.

 

The full finding from the EPA can be found here