from The Wilderness Society: Court rules James Price Point approval unlawful.

Dear Andrew, I have some exciting news to share with you. In December last year, the Wilderness Society with Walmadan (James Price Point) Traditional Owner, Richard Hunter, took the Western Australian Environmental Protection Agency to the Supreme Court over their approval process of the proposed gas plant at James Price Point. Today, we received confirmation that our case was successful! The development at James Price Point is now dead and buried. Firstly, I need to let you know that we could not have achieved this without your support. We received countless generous donations that funded this ambitious case, and today we stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of James Price Point, Broome, the Kimberley and Australia who opposed this destructive project – vindicated and elated. The court found that the Western Australian Environment Minister and the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority had acted unlawfully in the assessment and approval process. As a result, a precedent for future approval processes in Australia has been well and truly set. A strong and clear message has been sent to any future federal government that plans to hand final environmental approval powers to the states. Tony Abbott has made his party’s position clear that they intend to do this if elected. As seen today, all this will achieve is years of prolonged and tangled up legal action while eroding business confidence and creating a nightmare for investment in our country. Without federal powers to override the irresponsible decisions of the states, the Great Barrier Reef, the Franklin River, the Daintree Rainforest and Fraser Island would all have been destroyed by now. To the Walmadan people, James Price Point has been home and an irreplaceable cultural resource for thousands of years. Today, they have shown that they will not be bullied into a corner by a money-hungry state government. And of course, the incredible wildlife that defines the Kimberley that would have suffered at the hands of this outrageous development can now continue to exist in peace: Humpback whales that make the yearly pilgrimage to the waters off James Price Point will not be disturbed by dredging and supertanker ships barging through the middle of their sanctuary Endangered bilbies won’t become truck roadkill or have their habitat cleared by bulldozers This is a victory for all of us who stood up for James Price Point and its people and wildlife. This is a victory for the people of Broome and the Traditional Custodians who bravely opposed the Western Australian Government and some of the world’s biggest resource companies and won. But most of all, this is a victory for nature. Thank you. For Wilderness, Lyndon Schneiders National Campaign Director