The Cook government is meeting in Albany this week and will be discussing the WA carbon emissions policy which is the weakest of any jurisdiction in the country after the Northern Territory.

Community members and environment groups are calling on the Cook government to ban fracking in the Kimberley to match the 2018 McGowan government ban on fracking in the South West.

“The McGowan government banned fracking in the South West, correctly stating it wasn’t an appropriate industry for the region given how invasive and polluting gasfields are. Fracking in the Kimberley would be even more disastrous and the Cook government can instigate a ban at the strike of a pen with no cost to taxpayers and a huge saving in preventing massive carbon emissions,” said Environs Kimberley Director of Strategy Martin Pritchard.

“A plan by Texan company Black Mountain Energy to frack an initial 20 wells in the Kimberley is being assessed by the EPA. Over 1.6 million tonnes of CO2 would be released if approved and hundreds more wells would be required to make it financially viable.

“We’re already feeling the impacts of climate change in the Kimberley, with record floods and heatwaves, and fracking the Kimberley would add a significant amount of climate polluting emissions.

“The Cook government has an opportunity and responsibility to prevent a huge amount of carbon emissions from fuelling climate change by banning fracking in the Kimberley. We’re keen to hear a statement about this from the Albany meeting,” said Mr Pritchard.