Mark McGowan says EPA has withdrawn recommendation and will consult more with sector

Western Australia’s environmental watchdog has abandoned a recommendation to the state government that new emissions-intensive projects should be carbon neutral following widespread criticism.

The Environmental Protection Authority last week released updated guidelines on mitigating emissions from new or expanding projects, suggesting proposals with emissions higher than 100,000 tonnes a year should be fully offset.

Western Australia environment watchdog plans tougher curbs on emissions Read more

The idea was shot down by the oil and gas industry, which warned it could jeopardise billions of dollars worth of new liquefied natural gas projects, and the WA government swiftly rejected the advice.

After meeting with industry associations on Thursday, the premier, Mark McGowan, told reporters the EPA had withdrawn its recommendation and would consult more with the sector.

“I think that’s a good outcome for the state,” McGowan said. “I think it will provide more certainty and allow us to be part of a bigger national solution on this issue.”

The WA government was not bound to accept the advice and has gone against EPA recommendations before. But convincing the EPA to withdraw was “more about the message it sends”, McGowan said.

Last week, the authority’s chairman, Tom Hatton, told reporters in WA the move was necessary because Australia was not on track to meet its Paris targets and the policies of the federal government were “not going to deliver the outcomes as currently applied that are necessary for Australia to meet its international obligations under the Paris agreement”.

Hatton knew there were “serious concerns” about the advice and it was good he was prepared to listen, McGowan said. He insisted he had confidence in the EPA.

“Not everyone is perfect – it’s a big issue and countries around the world have grappled with this,” he said. “It’s not easy to get it right.”

The opposition environment spokesman, Steve Thomas, said it was concerning the premier and the environment minister, Stephen Dawson, were briefed on the proposal two weeks before it was made public, and appeared surprised by the reaction.

There were concerns the guidelines, if adopted, would have been challenged in court for years.

Last week, the EPA had also expressed concern about the trajectory of WA’s emissions, which had increased by 27% from 2000 to 2016.

“Western Australia has the second highest per capita emissions of all Australian states and territories, with emissions per capita well above those of other developed economies, including resource-based economies such as Canada,” the guidelines said.

The Wilderness Society had described last week’s decision as “a huge step forward”, with state director Kit Sainsbury saying: “It’s really going to a limit a lot of projects going forward, particularly LNG [liquefied natural gas] and, potentially, also fracking.”

Australia’s emissions continue to increase and the federal government faced criticism last week week for suggesting the opposite, based on one particular measurement of data from a single quarter.

Much of the increase has been attributed to rising emissions associated with the LNG industry, particularly WA’s Gorgon LNG plant.