Raelene Cooper v NOPSEMA and Chevron - Federal Court of Australia
(Filed 2026, FCA, ongoing)
Financial Review, 20 August 2026 (page 2)
Johnson Legal is acting for Mardathoonera elder and Traditional Custodian Raelene Cooper in judicial review proceedings against the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) and Chevron Australia Ltd. Ms Cooper brings the proceedings as a member of the Mardathoonera (or Mardudunera) family group.
Ms Cooper is challenging NOPSEMA’s acceptance of Chevron’s proposal to install a subsea compression station and associated infrastructure in the Indian Ocean off the north-western coast of Australia for the purposes of extracting petroleum gas to feed Chevron’s gas processing plant on Barrow Island, a Class A conservation reserve.
Ms Cooper says that Chevron’s Environment Plan for the project failed to identify, measure and assess the climate impacts of the project, which extends the extraction and processing of offshore gas out to 2066. As a result, Ms Cooper and the Mardathoonera family group were denied critical information about the impacts of the project on their traditional lands, sea and waters arising from the greenhouse gas emissions that would be generated by the project.
Chevron estimates that the project will generate more than 2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent over its lifetime (or two ‘carbon bombs’).
Counsel Robert White, Matthias Thompson and Priyanka Banerjee will appear for Ms Cooper.
The case is scheduled for first directions on 28 August 2026.
The Federal Court file is accessible here. Media and third parties seeking to obtain access to documents on the file can make an application through the Court.
