The Kimberley is under threat

Black Mountain Energy wants to drill and frack 20 oil and gas wells in the heart of the National Heritage-listed Martuwarra Fitzroy River catchment. If it gets the green light, it would open the door to hundreds, if not thousands, of wells across the Kimberley, industrialising this world famous cultural and natural landscape.

Fracking threatens our water

The fracking would take more than 2 billion litres of fresh groundwater from the local aquifer and use it to pump 18,000 tonnes of chemicals into the ground to extract oil and gas. This puts the National Heritage listed Martuwarra Fitzroy River, groundwater, wildlife and local communities at risk.

Let's stop fracking before it starts

The Kimberley is too precious to turn into a Texas style oil and gas fracking field. Call on the WA Labor Government to reject Black Mountain Energy’s fracking proposal and protect the Kimberley's globally recognised landscapes and the Martuwarra Fitzroy River.

Image: Endangered Greater Bilbies. Image by: Damian Kelly 



WA Labor Government can reject Texan frackers’ proposal.

    Dear Premier Cook and Minister Swinbourn,

    The Kimberley hosts the largest, most pristine tropical savanna in the world, and its wetlands, rivers and rainforests are of global significance.

    I am calling on your government to reject the 20-well ‘Valhalla’ fracking project, submitted by Bennett Resources Ltd, a subsidiary of Texas-based Black Mountain Energy.

    Black Mountain’s proposal is in the heart of the National Heritage-listed Martuwarra Fitzroy River catchment, including wells within 2 km of the ecologically significant tributary, Mount Hardman Creek. It puts groundwater dependent ecosystems and aquifers in the catchment as well as surface water at an unacceptable risk of pollution.

    Image: National Heritage-listed Martuwarra Fitzroy River By: Wendy Mitchell

    The company has failed to demonstrate detailed understanding of the local hydrogeology, including faults and seals, giving rise to concerns, highlighted by independent scientists, of serious contamination risks to pristine aquifers, vital springs and the river itself. Although the WA EPA has recommended approval, after a seriously flawed assessment process, the federal Independent Expert Scientific Committee on oil and gas development (IESC), has identified fundamental failures in the company’s proposal. 

    Numerous threatened species rely on these river systems and wetlands for their survival. The drawdown of fresh groundwater for fracking activities (100 million litres per well) could have a significant impact on waterways and the species that depend on them during the dry season including prized Barramundi and endangered sawfish.

    Opening the Kimberley to fracking would also lead to a huge new source of greenhouse gas emissions at a time when reducing emissions is of paramount importance for the Kimberley to be liveable.

    Black Mountain’s ‘Valhalla’ proposal and expansion plans also pose a direct threat to the Kimberley’s recognised global destination status. It puts at risk an established nature-based tourism industry that earns hundreds of millions of dollars annually, employing hundreds of local people.

    I urge you to reject the ‘Valhalla’ fracking project and protect the globally significant Kimberley from fracking and fossil fuel industrialisation. I also call on you to extend the Southwest, Peel, Perth and Dampier Peninsula fracking ban, across the Kimberley. 

    Yours Sincerely,
    [Your name will be automatically added]

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