Wheatstone one step closer

Final environmental approval from the State Government for Chevron’s Wheatstone LNG Project near Onslow is another step towards building the town, according to Ashburton shire chief executive Jeff Breen.

Picture Ben Crabtree / WA News: The Town of Onslow

Environment Minister Bill Marmion granted approval with 25 conditions protecting marine fauna, including whales, turtles and dugongs last week.

Some of the environmental conditions include an immediate suspension to dredging if coral outside defined zones is damaged.

Approval for the project includes a number of environmental offsets, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions through offsetting about 2.6 million tonnes per year of reservoir carbon dioxide emissions.

The gas plant still has to pass federal environmental approval before a final investment decision is made by Chevron, expected sometime this year.

Mr Breen said from the shire’s point of view it was another step in the certainty of the project.

“There has been a lot of work happening in Onslow in the past couple of months,” Mr Breen said.

“The next big step is to build the airport… that will be underway shortly.”

Population in Onslow is expected to increase significantly to about 2200 in the next three to four years according to Mr Breen.

“There is going to be a big change in Onslow, obviously what we’ve tried to do is retain as much of the character and nature of Onslow as we can; we’re trying to keep it very much a community town not a resource town,” he said.

“The public consultation we have been undergoing in recent months has been really about that, getting people’s view on how the town should grow and what it is going to look like and how much of the nature of the town we can retain through this growth process.”

Mr Breen said the services the extra population would provide and demand would be “outstanding” for the town.

“As far as health, schooling and other opportunities like that, which perhaps people don’t have ready access to at the moment, those sort of things will certainly be enhanced and built upon,” he said.

Chevron welcomed the decision, which will pave the way for its liquefied natural gas and domestic gas plant.