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Conservationists in Australia have taken on the country’s largest gas producer in a landmark court battle that will decide the fate of a giant fossil fuel project.

The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) and Friends of Australian Rock Art (FARA) challenged the government’s approval of plans to extend the Woodside North West Shelf gas export project.

The permit allows Woodside to operate its Karratha gas plant, on the Burrup Peninsula, 1,260km (783 miles) north of Perth, until 2070. The plant sits next to the sprawling Murujuga Indigenous rock art complex, a World Heritage site which is home to around two million rock engravings dating back 50,000 years.

FARA claims emissions are degrading the ancient artworks while ACF says
environment minister Murray Watt failed to consider “devastating climate change impacts” when he approved the scheme.

ACF estimates the extension will spew 4bn tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere, and both groups also accuse Watt of being biased towards Woodside, a relationship described in court as ‘chumminess or cosiness’ between his department and the fossil fuel giant.

Justice Catherine Button will decide the outcome at a later date. “Depending on what the Court says, this could involve reassessment of impacts on a huge range of protected parts of nature across Australia,” said the ACF.

Image: The ‘Future Man’ rock carving at the Murujuga Indigenous rock art complex. Credit: Marius Fenger