Community groups have condemned the WA Cook Government for encouraging the dangerous fracking industry in the state’s Kimberley, after it revealed an export exemption would apply to the Canning Basin which covers the iconic region.
Premier Roger Cook confirmed an export exemption would apply to the “first mover” in the Kimberley when revealing the state’s updated Domestic Gas Policy today.
Texan company Black Mountain Energy is the most advanced of several petroleum ventures hoping to gain a foothold in the state’s north, and recently lodged an application under federal environment laws for its “Valhalla” project.
The proposal is located in the heart of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River catchment, stronghold of threatened species like the Bilby and critically endangered Freshwater sawfish.
Black Mountain wants to build a total of 20 fracking wells. If approved, the company would frack these wells up to 70 times each, and use up to 100 million litres of groundwater for each well.
Black Mountain plans a 1,000km pipeline to the Pilbara if the fracking shows vast amounts of gas and this would require thousands of wells across the sensitive Kimberley environment.
Martin Pritchard, from Environs Kimberley, said Black Mountain and its Valhalla fracking project posed an unacceptable risk to the Kimberley’s culture, stunning landscapes, and intact nature.
“The Cook government is sleepwalking into allowing the world’s biggest fracking province in the iconic Kimberley by giving a green light for this gas to be sold overseas. The Kimberley is home to the largest, most intact tropical savannah in the world and fracking is proposed in the National Heritage listed Martuwarra Fitzroy River catchment, a global hotspot for threatened species and recognised for its rich Aboriginal cultural heritage.
“We’re calling on the Cook Government to protect the Kimberley’s world-renowned landscapes, clean water and air from being turned into an industrial wasteland."
Lock the Gate Alliance WA Coordinator Claire McKinnon said the Cook Government’s gas policy update risked locking the state into dangerous, polluting fossil gas at a time when the world needed to urgently decarbonise.
“Parts of the Kimberley are at risk of becoming unliveable as the climate crisis intensifies. Yet the Cook Government is sacrificing this amazing region to the dirty, polluting fracking industry.
“Western Australia just recorded its hottest summer in history, yet the Cook Government is throwing more fuel on the fire.
“Black Mountain's fracking project would trash the Kimberley's natural landscapes, pollute the precious water that communities rely on, and would supercharge the climate crisis at a time when the region is already experiencing record-breaking heatwaves."
ENDS
Background:
Last year, ASIC fined Black Mountain $39,960 on three counts of greenwashing - the company had claimed gas from Valhalla would be “net-zero emissions” with no evidence.