Overview of the Browse CCS EPBC Act Decision
On 23 June 2024, Acting Federal Minister for the Environment and Water, Senator the Hon Murray Watt, made a landmark administrative determination that Woodside Energy’s proposed Browse Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Project in Western Australia will be assessed wholly under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (EPBC Act). This decision, centred on EPBC Project Referral 2024/10028, ends the fragmented regulatory approach that previously divided offshore CCS project components across separate state and federal assessment regimes. For environmental consultants, project proponents, financiers, and regulators engaged in the energy transition sector, this determination sets a substantive precedent for how large-scale offshore carbon infrastructure will be evaluated in Australia going forward.
In a parallel but distinct development on the same date, a departmental delegate accepted a reconsideration request lodged by the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) regarding a 2019 referral decision on the Browse to North West Shelf (NWS) Development Project (EPBC Referral 2018/2319) as valid. This acceptance reopens the controversial Browse Gas Project, estimated at approximately $30 billion, to public comment for 20 business days at the federal level for the first time in eight years. The basis for reconsideration is updated climate science and new marine ecological data that was not available when the original referral decision was made in 2019.
Taken together, these two administrative decisions signal a clear directional shift in how Australia’s federal environmental law framework will treat major offshore energy and CCS proposals. For practitioners advising developers, financiers, and resource companies, the implications extend well beyond Woodside’s specific projects. They point to a regulatory environment where consolidated federal oversight is becoming the norm, historical decisions remain contestable as science evolves, and the thoroughness of environmental assessments will be tested against a significantly higher bar than applied even five years ago.
Key details of the Browse CCS and EPBC Act consolidation decision
The Browse CCS Project (EPBC Referral 2024/10028) proposes to capture carbon dioxide associated with Browse Basin gas processing and inject it into geological storage formations offshore Western Australia. Prior to the Acting Minister’s 23 June 2024 determination, offshore CCS developments of this nature were assessed under a patchwork of regulatory instruments, with components falling variously under Commonwealth offshore petroleum legislation, state environmental processes, and the EPBC Act depending on the nature of the specific activity or matter of national environmental significance triggered. The Acting Minister’s determination consolidates the entirety of this project’s environmental assessment under the EPBC Act, meaning a single, comprehensive assessment process will apply to all components of the proposed development.
The Browse to North West Shelf Development Project (EPBC Referral 2018/2319) is a separate proposal, distinct from the CCS project, that involves the development of Browse Basin gas resources and their connection to existing NWS infrastructure. The ACF’s reconsideration request, accepted as valid by the departmental delegate on 23 June 2024, triggers a 20-business-day public comment window. This is the first time in eight years that the project has been open to federal-level public scrutiny. The accepted basis for reconsideration is material that was not before the decision-maker in 2019, specifically updated climate impact data and revised understanding of marine ecological conditions in the Browse Basin region.
Under Australia’s reformed EPBC Act framework, which the current federal government has been progressively strengthening under its Nature Positive legislative agenda, consolidated assessments carry substantially greater analytical obligations than legacy fragmented approvals. Cumulative impact assessment, long-term carbon storage integrity over geological timeframes, and potential impacts on listed marine species and ecological communities are all squarely within scope under a unified EPBC pathway. Matters of national environmental significance that are likely to be engaged by a project of this scale include impacts on threatened and migratory species, Commonwealth marine areas, and potentially world heritage values in adjacent regions. Each of these requires a rigorous, evidence-based assessment that must withstand both departmental scrutiny and potential third-party legal challenge.
The acceptance of the ACF’s reconsideration request is also technically significant from a procedural standpoint. It demonstrates that referral decisions made under the EPBC Act are not necessarily final when material new information emerges after the original decision. Environmental and planning law practitioners should note that the EPBC Act contains provisions allowing for reconsideration of referral decisions in defined circumstances, and that the federal department has now applied these provisions in a high-profile, commercially significant context. The 20-business-day public comment window that flows from this acceptance is a formal statutory process, not a discretionary consultation exercise.
Australian context: EPBC Act reform, CCS regulation, and implications for energy transition projects nationally
Australia’s EPBC Act has been the subject of sustained reform pressure following the 2020 Samuel Review, which found the Act was not delivering effective environmental protection outcomes and that its processes were neither efficient nor certain for proponents. The current federal government’s Nature Positive reform agenda has sought to address both of these critiques, with a stated commitment to strengthening environmental standards while streamlining assessment pathways for proponents who engage early and comprehensively with the process.
References and related sources
- Primary source: minister.dcceew.gov.au
- jamstockex.com
- environment.gov.au
- woodside.com
- EPBC Act
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This is an iEnvi Machete news summary. Prepared by iEnvi to summarise the source article for contaminated land, groundwater, remediation, approvals and site risk professionals.
Published: 28 Jun 2026
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