Premier Cook on election trail in the Kimberley – community calls for fracking ban commitment

West Australian Premier Roger Cook is on the election trail in Broome and has been greeted with a strong community call to extend the ban on fracking in the southwest of the state and the Dampier Peninsula to cover all the Kimberley.

While the WA Government under Premier Mark McGowan’s leadership promised veto rights for Traditional Owners and farmers over fracking in 2018, the promise has not been fulfilled and the whole process is creating significant division in communities across the region.

“There’s a simple answer to the whole question of the destructive industrialisation of the Kimberley through oil and gas fracking and that’s a ban on the industry like there is in the Southwest of the state,” said Environs Kimberley Executive Director Martin Pritchard.

The community protest at local Kimberley MP Divina D’Anna’s office called for the ban in light of the proposal by Texan fossil fuel company Black Mountain, to drill and frack 20 oil and gas wells in the Martuwarra Fitzroy River catchment.

The WA EPA is currently assessing the proposal and a decision will be required of the WA Government after the election.

The Kimberley community has vehemently opposed fracking for the past 12 years and concerns have been heightened recently with Black Mountain proposing a pipeline to an LNG refinery in the Pilbara.

“A recent report by climate scientists has shown the potential for 8,700 oil and gas wells across the region that would seriously undermine Australia's ability to meet its climate goals, surely the Premier Roger Cook doesn’t want to open the Kimberley to that,” Mr Pritchard said.

“What we have now is a completely different proposition to what the WA government based its lifting of the ban on fracking in the Kimberley in 2018. What we’re facing now is turning the Kimberley into Texas,” Mr Pritchard said.  

“The community wants a commitment from the Premier and the Labor party that the already existing ban on fracking in the Southwest of the state and the Dampier Peninsula be extended to cover the whole Kimberley,” Mr Pritchard said.

Surveying of over 1,000 people in the seat of Fremantle revealed 92% of voters want a ban on fracking and 72% are willing to change their vote for it.

“If its too risky for the Southwest then we shouldn’t be discriminated against in the Kimberley just because it’s been a safe Labor seat,” Mr Pritchard said.

You can send a message asking Premier Cook to ban fracking in the Kimberley here. 

Photo: Damian Kelly.

The Australian Government’s Threatened Species Commissioner Ms Fiona Fraser was in Broome recently and visited Environs Kimberley to hear about the important work we are doing to protect threatened species in the Kimberley.

We invited partners Rangelands NRM, Karajarri and Nyangumarta Rangers as well so they could also present their important work in the area. We presented the history of Environs Kimberley and our efforts supporting rangers with threatened species and ecosystem management in the Kimberley for over 16 years - from getting Monsoon Vine Thickets listed as a federally endangered ecosystem, to building capacity and supporting regional surveys and conservation of the Vulnerable Greater Bilby and Endangered Night Parrot.

We finished with important discussion about how the Australian Government plans to better prioritise two-way science projects and Indigenous leadership.

Photo (inset) L to R: Jessica Bolton (Nyangumarta Rangers), Julie Quinn (DCCEW), Chris Curnow (Rangelands NRM), Fiona Fraser (Threatened Species Commissioner, DCCEW), Malcolm Lindsay (EK) and Jesse Ala'i (Karajarri Rangers).

- Article by Dr Malcolm Lindsay, EK's Kimberley Nature Projects Director

Oil and gas companies are on notice following Buru Energy’s latest disastrous drilling project in Western Australia’s Kimberley region.

The company revealed today that its recently drilled oil exploration well, 'Rafael Shallow', near the Manguel Creek system that flows into the National Heritage listed Martuwarra Fitzroy River, has found no oil. 

Buru Energy's Rafael Shallow well site.

The announcement today that the $5 million plus well was dry, as well as no social license for oil and gas, serves as a warning that the Kimberley is too risky to invest in.

Environs Kimberley Acting CEO, Martin Pritchard said: “The time for oil and gas in the Kimberley is over, the community doesn’t want it, it’s too damaging to the environment and climate and the financial risk is not worth it.”

"The Kimberley can be powered through renewable energy, this is the future where there are guaranteed returns on investment.

This dry well serves as a warning to oil and gas companies and investors, don’t even think about bringing this polluting industry here, move to renewables, make a safe bet and don’t ruin the Kimberley."

Manguel Creek – a culturally and ecologically significant creek system with springs that flow into the National Heritage listed Martuwarra Fitzroy River.

Today marks the close of the EPA’s eight week public comment period on Black Mountain Energy’s proposal, via subsidiary Bennett Resources Ltd, to drill and frack 20 exploratory gas wells in the Kimberley (the ‘Valhalla’ project).

If approved by the Cook government, the project would be the first fracking project in the Kimberley since the lifting of the WA fracking moratorium in 2018 and the largest fracking proposal the region has seen.

Environs Kimberley (EK) as well as Seed Mob, Lock the Gate, Conservation Council of WA and the ACF have handed over several thousand public submissions opposing the fracking project, as well as our own detailed submission with accompanying expert reports on water, hydro-geology and greenhouse gas emissions.

EK Acting CEO Martin Pritchard said, “This proposal is the precursor to a catastrophic, landscape–scale onshore oil and gas fracking takeover of the Kimberley's globally–renowned tropical savannah, the largest and most intact in the world.

“Our research into Black Mountain’s fracking proposal is backed by robust, detailed science and it demonstrates the many serious impacts, risks and uncertainties associated with the project – which the company has sought to downplay or ignore in its environmental reports.

“Given what we, and other groups, have documented and submitted we believe the EPA will have to recommend against the proposal.  Then it’s up to the Cook government to make the final decision.

“We have documented significant threats to the National Heritage–listed Martuwarra Fitzroy River; to the uncontaminated groundwater aquifers relied upon by communities and the environment, and the project’s climate impacts – these 20 fracking wells alone would pollute equivalent to 1.6 million cars a year.

“Ultimately, thousands of wells and a huge pipeline would be required if the gas was to be exported through the North West Shelf, as is the current plan.

“Once fracking occurs its impacts are irreversible. When fracking companies become established, the expansion of impacts is inevitable. This has been the experience in multiple comparable fossil gas basins in the US, where Black Mountain is based.

“We're again calling on the Cook government to avert this disaster by banning fracking in the Kimberley as it has done in the Southwest, Peel and Perth Metropolitan areas. There is no good reason to allow fracking in the Kimberley while other parts of the State are protected.”

You can call on the WA Cook government to ban fracking here

Photos:

Submission handover at the EPA office Joondalup - Martin Pritchard

US fracking fields - Ecoflight

Martuwarra Fitzroy River - Martin Pritchard

The Broome peninsula has a magnificent coastline.

Stretching back through geological time, the Broome sandstone harbours 130-million-year-old dinosaur footprints with profound meaning to traditional custodians. Then there are the 2,000-year-old human ones. Cultural treasures that feature in ancient stories are embedded in the rock and coastline. Registered Aboriginal heritage sites abound along the coast, middens attesting to the food riches sustained over millennia.

The reefs, with more than 40 species of coral, are gems of colour, shape and size, home to Clownfish, octopuses and anemones. Stand at Entrance Point at the right time and you can see Humpback Whales steaming past, Snubfin Dolphins hunting the Roebuck Deeps and, around the corner at Simpson's Beach, endangered sawfish skim for food and schools of salmon swim for their lives along the shore.

Recent photographs of previously undocumented animals (undoubtedly known to First Nations people), such as an unusual crab and poisonous anemone, show how little we know and how rich this tropical coastline is. During a recent visit to Reddell Beach (remember the marina planned for it?) with a marine biologist, we saw a Leopard Ray shoot off from our feet, a turtle pop its head up and birds dive-bomb fish balls – “It's so good to see this ecosystem is healthy; down south they're trashed,” was the comment.

With such a rich natural and cultural history, wouldn't we be protecting it? 'No' appears to be the answer from the state government, with its support for the plan to build an industrial floating jetty that would cut through the popular, rich reef of Entrance Point.

Just around the corner, plans for a unique Broome beach, bookended by sandstone headlands, are to cover it in 10 metres of concrete. In front, where we can now see Gourdon Bay across the turquoise waters of Roebuck Bay, would rise a 12-metre rock wall to serve as a breakwater. The estimated costs to taxpayers three years ago - $77 million. Inflation and a tradie shortage make it more than $100 million now. The purpose - to allow tinnies a few extra hours in the day to launch and for inexperienced boaties to bring in vessels when they haven't checked the weather and tides and find they're in trouble.

As locals born and bred here keep saying, if you can't launch and retrieve a boat safely now, you shouldn't be in the ocean without an experienced hand with an understanding of tides and wind around Broome. Instead of destroying one of Broome's most beautiful recreational beaches full of marine life and geological treasures, a memorial site for loved past residents of Broome, for $100 million, let's spend it on looking after Country and people.

You can help protect Entrance Point Reef by sending a message to Premier Roger Cook and Minister for Ports David Michael here.

Photos of Entrance Point Reef life: Sharmaine Donnelly. Photo of Broome locals protest: Damian Kelly.

Help Cable Beach turtles survive – send a quick submission in support of a longer beach-safety period

Flatback Turtles only nest on northern Australian beaches and are listed as a threatened species. Only 1 in 1000 hatchlings survive to adulthood.

The Cable Beach turtles face threats such as animals digging up nests and eating the eggs and young - but in addition they also face the threat of vehicles being driven over nests, and tyre-ruts blocking access to the ocean for hatchlings.

You can help here in less than a minute of your time, by submitting a quick submission, before 4pm Friday 30 August 2024, stating your support for extending the vehicle ramp closure through February.

Hatchlings get trapped in tyre-ruts on the beach and fail to make it from the nest to the sea.

If we want the Flatback turtle population to survive, then we need to do all we can to help them, including keeping vehicles off the beach during nesting and hatching times.

A happier hatchling. Photo: Allysha Cartledge.

Instructions:

• Click this link, it will take you to the Shire of Broome's webpage.
• Scroll down.
• Fill in your name and post code (make sure there is not a space at the start of your postcode).
• Fill in your email.
• Select "YES" to the question: "Do you support extending the vehicle ramp closure through February?"
• Add a comment if you wish (optional).
• Click the box next to the words "I'm not a robot".
• Click "Submit".
• Note: If at this point you don't receive a "Submission complete" message and a receipt number for your submission, try scrolling back up to see if it specifies where an error may have occurred, then fix the error.

Environs Kimberley recommends that Cable Beach be closed to vehicles during the whole nesting and hatching season from October to April. On the table right now is a step towards that - the option to expand vehicle restrictions into the month of February.

Flatback Turtle - threatened species. Photo: Dave and Fiona Harvey

If you would like to provide optional comments, here are some points you could include:

• Flatback turtles are a threatened species
• The Flatbacks at Cable Beach hatched there, and feed in Roebuck Bay
• We have a great opportunity to provide more protection by keeping cars off the beach during nesting and hatching times
• There should be a ban on vehicles during nesting and hatching time, from October to April – including all of February
• According to the Shire of Broome’s website, data from Department of Biodiversity Conservation and Attractions compiled from six years of its turtle monitoring program at Cable Beach showed that: “on average, 20 per cent of turtle nests hatch in February and that Cable Beach turtles only nest at Cable Beach. The Council accepted this compiled data as valid scientific evidence to justify extending ramp closures through February until March 1 to protect the unhatched turtle nests after January.”
• Also according to the Shire of Broome’s website, “… the Yawuru Parks Council has requested that the Shire of Broome consider extending the existing December and January closures to include all of February to ensure that the 20 per cent of nests that remain unhatched in February remain protected from vehicles and ruts caused by vehicle tyres.”
• The Shire takes serious reputational risks if it supports vehicles on the beach rather than a threatened species.

In our 102nd edition, our Director of Strategy discusses the shocking new proposal to frack the Kimberley, and the community’s swift, united response, as well as the threat of the industrialisation of our region. He also stresses why Yinarra Entrance Point Reef must be protected.

Our Chair writes about the exciting potential of EK's new headquarters for expanding our efforts in protecting the nature of the Kimberley. 

The Campaigns team provides an update on the rise of renewable energy in the Kimberley, critiques a dubious new fossil fuel player, and alerts to carcinogen contamination in Kimberley water from oil and gas activities. They also call on the federal government to assess the fracking proposal and recap a recent Frack Free Kimberley info session in Broome.

The KNP team highlights a National Tree Day planting event, the Threatened Species Commissioner’s visit, and how desert ranger groups are studying changing fire patterns. Plus, we recap and share great photos from our annual art auction.

We pay tribute to two remarkable Kimberley champions we’ve sadly lost and give updates on recent staff changes.

The Environmental Protection Act Amendment Bill 2024 introduced into WA Parliament today will compromise the independence of the Environment Protection Authority and exacerbate WA’s climate and nature crises.

“The Premier’s assertion that reforms are needed due to ‘green tape strangling development’ is disingenuous in the extreme. Delays have come about due to the lack of resources and staff in the EPA and the WA government should take responsibility for that.”

“This is the darkest day in the 50 year history of environmental laws in WA,” said Environs Kimberley Director of Strategy Martin Pritchard. 

“Increasing the EPA Board from 5 to 9 to stack it with mining, oil and gas and property development interests does not pass the pub test; we need environmentally-focused people whose primary interest is protecting the environment, not facilitating its destruction.”

“We understand that the government will also issue the EPA with what it calls ‘Statements of Expectation’, effectively directing the EPA to follow the government's priorities. This undermines the independence of our most important environment watchdog.” 

“Removing the community’s right to appeal an EPA decision not to assess a project is a retrograde, anti-democratic step to appease industry and only benefits big business.”

The government’s changes will effectively strip the EPA of its independence at a time when we need to strengthen WA’s nature laws to defend nature and the places we love because of the unfolding climate change and extinction crisis.

“The Environmental Protection Act Amendment Bill 2024 is the Cook Labor government caving in to the mining, oil and gas and real estate industries instead of looking after WA’s nature which has a spiralling number of threatened species getting closer to extinction.”

Places like the Kimberley’s National Heritage-listed Martuwarra Fitzroy River and animals like threatened Bilbys, threatened turtles and whales, and the critically endangered Freshwater Sawfish are already at severe risk of extinction and need more protection, not less.

“We need a stronger EPA and environment laws. What is currently being proposed is exactly what Liberal Premier Colin Barnett wanted and we can’t believe the Labor Government is willing to gut our environmental laws to fast track damaging projects which will supercharge the multiple environmental crises we are facing.”

Woodside’s Browse oil and gas drilling plan for Scott Reef rejected by EPA

Oil and gas multinational Woodside’s Browse Basin project at Scott Reef with joint venture partners BP, Japan Australia LNG and PetroChina has suffered a huge blow after being rejected by the WA Environmental Protection Authority (EPA).

Congratulations to the EPA for a sensible first step in rejecting a terrible proposal.

Scott Reef. Pic: Alex Westover

The EPA have said the company’s plans to drill 50 oil and gas wells around the globally significant Scott Reef off the Kimberley coast has unacceptable impacts on endangered Blue Whales, be a threat to endangered Green Turtles, and risk pollution and oil spills at the highly biodiverse and fragile reef, according to reports made public today. The EPA considers these risks too high.

Scott Reef is a marine biodiversity hotspot that supports 29 marine mammal species including endangered Blue Whales. Nine hundred species of fish have been found at the reef and 1,500 species of invertebrates, including soft and hard corals, sponges and crustaceans. It is also a hotspot for sea snakes, including the elusive Dusky Sea Snake, which hasn’t been seen since 2002.

Save Scott Reef protest in Broome. Pic: Alex Westover.

“This proposal to drill 50 oil and gas wells around Scott Reef off the Kimberley coast, one of the most important marine hotspots in Australian waters, would be rejected out of hand at the Great Barrier Reef and Ningaloo, so it’s not surprising the WA EPA has rejected it,” said Martin Pritchard, Director of Strategy at Broome-based conservation group Environs Kimberley.  

The WA EPA has been assessing this proposal for 5 years and, in a letter to Woodside, it has been reported that there could be unacceptable impacts on endangered Blue Whales, Green Turtles and the reef itself,” said Mr Pritchard.  

Woodside withdrew its controversial plans for $80 billion LNG refineries on the Kimberley coast at James Price Point in 2013 after fierce opposition from locals and protests across the nation.

“The risks of destroying one of the world’s great coral reefs with oil and gas drilling are clearly too great, and we’re calling on Premier Roger Cook and Environment Minister Reece Whitby to also reject the threat to Scott Reef,” said Mr Pritchard.

It is understood that Woodside now has an opportunity to respond to the EPA, which will make its recommendation to the State Government. Both the State and Federal Governments will then make final decisions on whether or not the Browse project and drilling at Scott Reef can go ahead.