Canberra, May 28 (Reporter) The Australian government has approved a 40-year extension to the operating lifespan of the country's biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) project. Murray Watt, the Minister for the Environment and Water, on Wednesday announced that the federal government has granted environmental approval for the operating life of Woodside Energy's North West Shelf gas processing plant to be extended from 2030 to 2070 subject to conditions. The proposal from Woodside, which is headquartered in Western Australia (WA), to extend the life of the facility in northwest WA, has been under assessment since 2019. The North West Shelf gas processing plant in Karratha, over 1,000 km north of Perth, has been exporting LNG to international customers since 1989 and supplied 14 percent of WA's total domestic gas supply in 2024, according to Woodside. In a statement, Watt said that the decision was made following consideration of "rigorous scientific and other advice" and that the approval was subject to "strict conditions", particularly relating to air pollution. He said he was required to consider economic and social matters concerning the proposed extension and the potential impacts of extending the life of the plant on the national heritage values of nearby ancient Aboriginal rock art. Under current environmental laws, Watt was not required to consider the impact of the extension on climate change. David Ritter, chief executive of Greenpeace Australia-Pacific, said in a statement that the approval was a "terrible decision" that brings "destructive" offshore gas drills closer to the Scott Reef marine ecosystem off WA's northwest coast. "The North West Shelf facility is one of Australia's dirtiest and most polluting fossil fuel projects," Ritter said. Woodside has been given 10 business days to respond to the government's proposed conditions before the decision is finalised...////...