Lock the Gate Alliance is calling for the NT CLP Government to come clean about an apparently hidden 34 page-long draft briefing concerning the potential prosecution of a fracking incident, uncovered through Freedom of Information laws.
The Freedom of Information request, obtained by Lock the Gate Alliance in March, appears to suggest that a draft departmental briefing provided to then Environment Minister Kate Worden in July 2024 recommended prosecution or potential prosecution of a fracking incident by Imperial Oil & Gas (a subsidiary of Empire Energy) on Exploration Permit 187 near Borroloola (FOI document available here).
Media has reported the breach notice relates to three separate incidents. The department has since released information about two of the incidents, but has chosen not to release information about the third.
The revelations come after a series of “recordable” environmental incidents, committed by fracking companies active in the Northern Territory, were recently made public including spills and leaks of drilling fluids. The recordable incident reports are available here and here.
Lock the Gate Alliance spokesperson and Darwin local Pete Callender said “The FOI document we have obtained suggests that there has been, at the very least, some sort of very serious investigation into a fracking incident on EP 187 in mid 2024.
“There does not seem to have ever been any public notification of at least one of the incidents and this raises serious questions about why it is being hidden.
“We’re calling for the NT Government to urgently release a full incident statement about what has occurred in relation to a potential prosecution and what they are going to do about it.
“It is worrying that we have incidents like this apparently being kept secret from the public.”
ENDS