An attempt by the operators of a $34bn gas project to walk away from environmental commitments has stalled, as the federal government waits for it to provide “sufficient evidence” in support of the request.
The company, Inpex, claimed the originally assessed environmental risks of its Ichthys project were “no longer relevant and extremely unlikely to be realised in the future”. It had therefore requested the federal government vary its agreement and scratch offset obligations.
The Northern Territory Environmental Defender’s Office on Friday described the move as “radically premature”.
In a statement to Guardian Australia on Monday, the federal environment department said it had not yet made a decision on Inpex’s request, first lodged in October, because it was yet to receive further documentation it had requested from Inpex.
“A decision will be made on the application when there is sufficient scientific evidence to evaluate Inpex’s request,” it said.
The project was given environmental approval under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act in 2011 on the basis of its $91m environmental offset program.
The offsets ranged from research projects to large conservation areas and spanned both construction and the 40-year operational lifetime.
That operational phase is yet to begin but Inpex has said its impact is less than projected and some offsets – reported to be worth more than $30m – were no longer needed.
“This is due to world-class environmental management and a significant investment of time, money and people resources,” said Sean Kildare, Inpex’s Darwin general manager.
Among the projects believed to be at risk are the establishment of large conservation areas and a Western Top End marine megafauna project that would have created jobs, training and expertise for Indigenous residents.
The Northern Territory government, a partner in the project, is refusing to comment on whether it supports Inpex’s proposal.
The deputy chief minister, minister for business and minister for employment and training, Peter Styles, on Monday said he was not across the agreement made between Inpex and the government because of its size.
“There’s two years’ worth of consultation in those contracts, 29 different financial institutions across the world and probably the volumes would fill half of this room,” he told media in Darwin.
Styles dismissed concerns that the agreement could allow Inpex to walk away from environmental commitments just five years into a 45-year project.
“I believe that everyone has the right to make applications for all sorts of things,” he said. “What comes out of that is a different story altogether. As a government I don’t think we should stop anyone from actually putting forward ideas.”
He said the Country Liberal Party had offered bipartisan support when the project was first proposed under the previous Labor government, a claim Labor immediately refuted.
Styles referred multiple questions to the NT environment minister, Gary Higgins. Higgins declined to be interviewed but said in a statement it was a matter for the federal government “and we trust they will assess the proposal based on the facts and the science”.
“The Ichthys project has and continues to deliver a range of benefits to the Territory,” he said. “The project has invested in world-class environmental monitoring and practices to ensure that any environmental impacts are monitored, mitigated and prevented.”
The NT government was made aware of the Inpex proposal through media reports.
The NT opposition leader, Michael Gunner, said it was his hope that Inpex would stick to its original agreement.
“The community expectations are that Inpex would protect the environment like they promised,” he said.
