Australia has approved two major fossil fuel projects that proponents in the climate change-vulnerable nation say would create badly needed jobs, despite growing concerns over emissions.
Authorities in New South Wales (NSW) state on Wednesday announced the conditional approval of a A$3.6 billion (US$2.6 billion) coal seam gas development that has generated widespread local opposition.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said that she was “relieved” that an independent commission had given energy firm Santos the green light to proceed with the project, adding that gas was a “central part of our energy security into the future.”
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The project is a keystone of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s initiative for a “gas-fired recovery” of Australia’s COVID-19-hit economy, as the country grapples with its first recession in almost 30 years and large job losses.
Up to 850 wells would be drilled on 1,000 hectares of a 95,000-hectare site, Santos said, with the potential to supply half the gas needs for the country’s most populous state.
Conservationists have raised fears over the impact on vast tracts of forest and farmland near Narrabri, northwest of Sydney, as well as Morrison’s doubling down on carbon-emitting fuels.
“With this approval, we risk becoming a fossil fuel pariah as the world transitions to renewable energies and countries strengthen their commitment to climate action,” NSW Legislator Cate Faehrmann said.
Approval of the gas project came a day after the Queensland State Government gave a final go-ahead for the state’s third-largest coal mine, which officials say is expected to have an 80-year lifespan and employ 1,000 workers once operational.
The sprawling project, which would provide steel-producing metallurgical coal, has proved less contentious due to lower expected emissions than nearby thermal coal operations, but is nevertheless set to raze a swathe of koala habitat.
“Clearing those forests pushes this species closer to extinction,” Gavan McFadzean, a program manager at the Australian Conservation Foundation, told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Resource-rich Australia has in the past few years emerged as one of the world’s largest exporters of fossil fuels, trailing only Russia and Saudi Arabia by some estimates.
The new fossil fuel projects come despite initiatives for the COVID-19 crisis to spur a “green recovery” and just months after Australia emerged from its most severe bushfire season in recorded history.
Almost 90 percent of Australians believe that climate change is a critical or important threat, a poll by Sydney’s Lowy Institute found.
Drought and water shortages — worsened by climate change — are seen as the most serious threat facing the country, above even the COVID-19 pandemic and the global economic crisis, the poll found.
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