The Kimberley is under threat! Call on the WA Environment Minister to reject the Texan frackers’ proposal.

The Kimberley is a very special place. People travel here from all over the world. Its cultural history, vast undisturbed landscapes, and abundance of wildlife leave many visitors wanting to return time and time again.

Texan fracking company Black Mountain Energy is putting all that at risk by proposing a polluting fracking project to drill and frack 20 oil and gas wells in the heart for the National Heritage listed Martuwarra Fitzroy River catchment. This would be the thin end of the wedge; the company’s own plans show it would open the door to hundreds if not thousands of oil and gas fracking wells, turning the Kimberley into a Texas-style gasfield.

The plan is to pump 18,000 tonnes of chemicals, much of it toxic, into wells that pierce aquifers for fracking. This is a massive pollution risk to water and local communities. Fracking would also require more than 2 billion litres of fresh groundwater pumped under extreme pressure to crack open gas-bearing rocks. Wastewater coming back to the surface in this area has been found to be radioactive.

The WA EPA recently recommended that the proposal go ahead. This is outrageous. We have appealed this decision alongside more than 8,000 community members, delivering a strong message to the WA Environment Minister that we oppose fracking in the Kimberley!

Sign this petition to call on WA Environment Minister Matthew Swinbourn to reject this destructive and polluting fracking proposal!

Image: Endangered greater bilbies. Image by: Damian Kelly

Call on the WA Environment Minister to reject the Texan frackers’ proposal.

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Dear Minister Swinbourn,

Yours Sincerely,
[Your name will be added automatically]

To the Honourable Matthew Swinbourn, WA Environment Minister,
The Kimberley remains one of the most intact landscapes on Earth. Its woodlands form part of the largest remaining, most intact, tropical savanna in the world, and its wetlands, rivers and rainforests are of global significance.
I am calling on you, WA’s Minister for the Environment, 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 catchment of the National Heritage-listed Martuwarra Fitzroy River, including wells within 2 km of the ecologically significant Mount Hardman Creek. It puts groundwater dependent ecosystems and aquifers across the catchment at an unacceptable risk.
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 documented fundamental failures in the company’s assessment documentation. 
Numerous threatened and endangered species rely on these river systems and wetlands for their survival. The drawdown of fresh groundwater for fracking activities (100,000,000 litres per well) would have a significant impact on waterways and the species that depend on them during the dry season.
Opening the Kimberley (Canning Basin) to fracking would also lead to a huge new source of greenhouse gas emissions at a time when reducing emissions is of paramount importance.
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.

Read the message you will send

Dear Minister Swinbourn,

To the Honourable Matthew Swinbourn, WA Environment Minister,

The Kimberley remains one of the most intact landscapes on Earth. Its woodlands form part of the largest remaining, most intact, tropical savanna in the world, and its wetlands, rivers and rainforests are of global significance.

I am calling on you, WA’s Minister for the Environment, 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 catchment of the National Heritage-listed Martuwarra Fitzroy River, including wells within 2 km of the ecologically significant Mount Hardman Creek. It puts groundwater dependent ecosystems and aquifers across the catchment at an unacceptable risk.

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 documented fundamental failures in the company’s assessment documentation.

Numerous threatened and endangered species rely on these river systems and wetlands for their survival. The drawdown of fresh groundwater for fracking activities (100,000,000 litres per well) would have a significant impact on waterways and the species that depend on them during the dry season.

Opening the Kimberley (Canning Basin) to fracking would also lead to a huge new source of greenhouse gas emissions at a time when reducing emissions is of paramount importance.

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.

Yours Sincerely,
[Your name will be automatically added]

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