Sawt Falasteen - Australia approves 40-year extension for contentious gas plant

The North West Shelf is a sprawling industrial complex of offshore rigs and processing factories pumping out more than 10 million tonnes of liquified gas and petroleum each year.

Run by resources giant Woodside, it is one of the world's largest producers of liquified natural gas -- and one of Australia's biggest polluters.

Originally slated to close in five years' time, Environment Minister Murray Watt on Wednesday approved an extension to keep it running until 2070.

In a statement, Watt said he approved the extension "subject to strict conditions" designed to limit the impact of emissions.

Neighbouring Pacific islands, already seeing their coastlines eaten away by rising seas, had urged Australia to shut down the plant.

"Pacific leaders have made it clear -- there is no future for our nations if fossil fuel expansion continues," said Tuvalu Climate Change Minister Maina Talia.

"The North West Shelf extension would lock in emissions until 2070, threatening our survival and violating the spirit of the Pacific-Australia climate partnership," he said ahead of this week's decision.

Australia insists that extending the plant -- which each year emits millions of tonnes of greenhouse gas -- does not tarnish a pledge to reach net zero by 2050.

But it poses an awkward diplomatic problem as Australia seeks to host next year's UN climate conference alongside Pacific island nations.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said liquified natural gas -- a fossil fuel -- would bridge the gap while more renewables were plugged into Australia's power grid.

"You can't have renewables unless you have firming capacity. It's as simple as that," he said this week.

"You don't change a transition through warm thoughts."

The Woodside plant straddles Western Australia's Burrup Peninsula, a region home to some of the country's best-preserved Aboriginal rock art.

- Spewing 'toxins' -

A monitoring program is still trying to determine if industrial air pollution was degrading the engravings, some of which are thought to be 40,000 years old.

Watt said "adequate protection for the rock art" was central to his decision.

Aboriginal leaders have tried in vain to stop the extension.

"The toxins that spew out, we see this on a daily basis," Raelene Cooper said ahead of the government's decision.

"No one had a say when all this happened. Government never come to us. Woodside never come to us."

The project consistently ranks among Australia's five largest emitters of greenhouse gas, according to figures from the country's Clean Energy Regulator.

Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane trap heat as they collect in the atmosphere, fuelling climate change.

T.Ibrahim--SF-PST