SYDNEY (Reuters) -The Australian government said on Tuesday it was reviewing an emergency application filed by an indigenous group seeking to block pipeline construction for Santos Ltd’s $3.6 billion Barossa gas project off northern Australia.
Six indigenous elders on the Tiwi Islands have urged Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to make a declaration to protect their heritage, which they said was at immediate risk of desecration from the construction of the pipeline.
“Applications are considered in order of urgency and have different assessment requirements,” a spokesperson for the environment department said in an e-mail. “The department is considering the short-term emergency application.”
Santos, which aims to start producing gas from Barossa in the first half of 2025, did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.
In a quarterly update issued last week, Santos said an independent expert concluded that there were no specific underwater cultural heritage places along the planned Barossa pipeline route.
But the Tiwi people said the pipeline will cause significant damage to ancient burial grounds, aboriginal art and other sacred ancestral sites.
“This will impact our spirituality and destroy our health, our home and our lives,” elder Molly Munkara said in a statement.
Santos was informed about the concerns of the indigenous elders but the company had plans to begin the pipeline construction soon, the group said. If the government grants urgent protection to the area, Santos might be forced to halt its plans.
The decision of Tiwi elders to seek government intervention could pose another hurdle for the project after the offshore regulator in January ordered Santos to evaluate the environmental risks to underwater indigenous cultural heritage before starting pipeline works.
The order did not prohibit the start of work on the pipeline installation, but the regulator had said it expected Santos would not begin any work that may result in impacts that “haven’t been adequately identified, evaluated and managed.”
(Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
