It’s vital that as many people as possible send a submission to the WA EPA so they hear loud and clear the depth of opposition to fracking the Kimberley. Please send a submission to the EPA here. 

Left: Mt Hardman Creek, 2km from proposed fracking. Right: US oil and gas fracking fields. Photo: Ecoflight.

Texan oil and gas company Black Mountain plans to drill 20 new gas wells, frack them up to 70 times, using up to 100 million litres of water per well, and a cocktail of poisonous chemicals.

They want to drill vertically to a depth of between 2km–4km and then, under the ground, drill horizontally for 3km or more.

While the current plan is to drill and frack 20 wells, this is just the beginning.

The first oil and gas fields opening in the heart of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River catchment could proliferate to tens of thousands of wells, each requiring 100 million litres of water and tonnes of chemicals forced through pipes at extreme pressures to shatter rocks to release fossil fuels.

Wastewater returned to the surface from test wells fracked in 2015 has been found to be radioactive. Wastewater holding ponds in the Kimberley have previously overflowed in the wet season flooding into the surrounding environment.

Danggu. Photo: Adam Monk.

Oil and gas companies compare the Kimberley’s Canning Basin to the Eagle Ford basin in the US. The Eagle Ford had no wells in 2008, now, thanks to fracking, it has 27,000.

Black Mountain have said they want to produce up to 900 terajoules of gas.

To do this would require thousands of wells on land surrounding Mount Hardman and Mount Wynne creeks, which flow into the National Heritage Listed Martuwarra Fitzroy River.

For the 20 wells the company would bulldoze 112 hectares of native vegetation to create access tracks, build accommodation camps and fracking operation sites, including toxic wastewater storage ponds and flaring pits.

The fracking is proposed over seven years, but if they get a foothold they could be fracking thousands of wells for decades to come, industrialising the region.

We are facing a climate change and biodiversity crisis; we cannot allow this project to happen.

Please make your submission to the EPA here, and ask your friends and family to do the same.

Broome protest for a Frack Free Kimberley. Photo: Danny Estcourt.