A record number of appeals have been lodged against the WA Environmental Protection Authority’s (EPA) decision to recommend approval of Black Mountain Energy’s fracking project in the Kimberley, signaling widespread community opposition.

More than 8000 community members and groups made submissions ahead of the appeals period closing on Tuesday 10 February, making it the most highly contested EPA decision in Western Australia’s history.

Environs Kimberley Executive Director Martin Pritchard said the community’s outrage reflected serious risks posed by the proposal. Many Traditional Owners and Custodians whose countries are in the Martuwarra Fitzroy River catchment would be impacted by the project and have called for it to be rejected.

“The Kimberley is home to the most pristine tropical savannah woodlands anywhere in the world, spectacular waterfalls and gorges, and wildlife seen nowhere else on earth,” Mr Pritchard said.

The Kimberley's Martuwarra Fitzroy River under threat. Photo: Alex Westover.

"Black Mountain Energy’s application to the EPA admits that the chemicals they would pump into the ground can cause severe burns, genetic mutations and organ toxicity to name a few." 

“Thousands of community members are standing up to say the Kimberley is worth protecting, and we won’t allow Texan-owned Black Mountain Energy to destroy its unique splendor.”

Lock the Gate WA State Campaign Coordinator Simone van Hattem said: “We’re campaigning in six WA electorates and the results from door-knocking are very clear — more than 90% of voters want Premier Cook and Environment Minister Matthew Swinbourn to act urgently to ban fracking in the Kimberley. Fracking is a vote-shifting issue. We don't want to take it to the next election, but if we have to we will.

Community members at the EPA Appeals Convenor's office call for a Minister Swinbourn to reject the proposal.

“The EPA has failed to do its due diligence in approving Valhalla, so the people of Western Australia have made their voices heard. We trust Minister Swinbourn will hear the evidence – that this project cannot go ahead without polluting waterways and damaging the local environment.”

The previous WA EPA appeals record was 727 for Woodside’s Northwest Shelf project. More than 800 of the Valhalla project appeals are from the Kimberley.

Kimberley Traditional Owners Rally with Hundreds at WA Parliament Demanding the Cook Government Expand Fracking Ban to the Kimberley as EPA Decides

More than 500 West Australians have rallied outside WA Parliament in Perth today with Kimberley Traditional Owners, demanding the Roger Cook Government permanently ban fracking in the state’s Kimberley.

Hundreds rallied to ask the Cook Government to ban fracking in the Kimberley. Photo: Wendy Mitchell.

The community is also calling on the Cook Government to urgently reject Texan company Black Mountain Energy’s twenty-well “Valhalla” fracking project in the West Kimberley near Derby, which is undergoing state and federal environmental assessment. 

“Valhalla” is the most progressed of any fracking proposal in the state and would involve the drilling of 20 test wells in the heart of the Kimberley’s Martuwarra Fitzroy River catchment. Black Mountain Energy has stated they want to send fracked gas from the Kimberley to the Pilbara. This would lead to thousands of oil and gas wells across the globally famed natural landscapes of the region.

A photo at the rally showing Mt Hardman Creek, a Kimberley waterway in the vicinity of proposed fracking. Photo: Nick Doyle.

The WA EPA has decided on its recommendation to the Minister for the Environment, Matthew Swinbourn, and is currently preparing its advice to send to him.

Today’s rally is the most significant show of opposition to fracking since 2018, when the McGowan Government permanently banned fracking in the Perth, Peel, Southwest, and Dampier Peninsula areas of the state, but inexplicably not the rest of the Kimberley. 

Hundreds rallied at WA Parliament. Photo: Martin Pritchard.

Mangala Martu Traditional Owner Nuriah Jadai said:

“We have a responsibility to look after our Country in the Kimberley. When the Country is alive, our culture is alive. The land means so much more to us than money.”

“Fracking for oil and gas threatens everything that’s important to us. We do not want to risk our springs and waterways with toxic chemicals and radioactive wastewater, and we don’t want to see our Country cut up and industrialised.

“The Labor Government keeps saying there’s a veto for Traditional Owners, this is not true. There is no veto for test fracking, and the government hasn’t put any legislation in place for a veto.

“We’re calling on the Premier Roger Cook to ban fracking on our Country in the Kimberley, like his government has done in the southwest of WA. Are we not as important as the people of the southwest?”

Mangala Martu Traditional Owner Nuriah Jadai holds a frack free Kimberley sign at the rally. Photo: Nick Doyle.

Janet Holmes á Court, prominent West Australian and supporter of the arts said:

“The Kimberley is a place like no other, cherished by West Australians and the nation. To allow it to be turned into a fracking gasfield would be sacrilege. The Premier Roger Cook needs to ban fracking in the Kimberley, it’s the most destructive industry I’ve seen proposed for the place.”

Janet Holmes á Court addresses the rally. Photo: Reifanzo Photography.

Environs Kimberley Executive Director Martin Pritchard said:

“There’s never been an opportunity like this for Premier Roger Cook and his Labor Government to ban fracking in the Kimberley. The community doesn’t want it, the vast majority of Traditional Owners don’t want it, and with fracking banned in the southwest of the state, it would be easy to extend the ban to the Kimberley.

“Surely the Labor Government is not going to open the Kimberley to this polluting and highly destructive industry and threaten the $500 million tourism industry, which supports hundreds of jobs in the remote region?

“If the Cook Government doesn’t ban this industry, then we’ll have no choice but to campaign hard in the seat of Fremantle again and extend that to other seats across the metro area at the next election.

“We’re not going to sit idly by and let the Kimberley be industrialised.” 

Voters urge the Cook Labor Government to ban fracking in the Kimberley. Photo: Nick Doyle.

Lock the Gate Alliance WA spokesperson Simone van Hattem said:

“West Australians love the Kimberley: its stunning waterfalls, gorges, beaches, and unique wildlife. People come from all around the world to visit the majestic Kimberley, generating hundreds of millions for a thriving tourism industry. 

“Destructive gas fracking poses a serious threat to the Kimberley. Full-scale gas fracking would mean thousands of gas wells, sucking billions of litres of water and risking catastrophic pollution and contamination.

“We’re calling on the Cook Government to ban fracking in the Kimberley. This is the moment for Premier Roger Cook to protect one of WA’s greatest natural and cultural treasures from being transformed into a frack-well pockmarked wasteland, like the gas and oil fields of the ruined Texan landscapes where Black Mountain is from.”

Photo: Reifanzo Photography.

Background:

Black Mountain Energy's 20-well Valhalla project proposal would be the first fracking operation anywhere in WA since the WA Government lifted the moratorium on fracking in 2018. If approved, it could open the door to thousands of gas wells across the region. Black Mountain Energy is comparing the Kimberley’s Canning Basin to the Permian Gas Basin in the US. The Permian has more than 190,000 oil and gas wells (see BME website here).

Photo: Nick Doyle.

Rally partners: 

The rally was organised by Environs Kimberley and Lock the Gate Alliance, in partnership with Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network, Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Conservation Council of WA, and the Australian Conservation Foundation.

First shale gas fracking plan in Australia under Federal Environment Laws released - Faces Staunch Community Opposition in the Kimberley

A new plan to drill and frack six oil and gas wells in the heart of the Kimberley’s National Heritage-listed Martuwarra Fitzroy River catchment will face fierce widespread community opposition in the Kimberley to the environmentally destructive plan. 

The fracking project plans were released on 24th July by Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water for public comment.  

“This is the first shale gas fracking proposal referred under Federal environment laws. It will be the first test of the water trigger since amendments were made to include shale gas in December last year,” said Environs Kimberley Director of Strategy Martin Pritchard. 

Kimberley residents protest the fracking plan in Broome. Pic: Danny Estcourt.

Black Mountain subsidiary Bennett Resources, owned by Texan billionaire Rhett Bennett, plans to turn the Kimberley’s Canning Basin into a US style oil and gas field.

While this proposal is for six wells, the ultimate goal is to develop a global scale oil and gas field using the highly polluting fracking technique pioneered in the 1990s in the US.

“Black Mountain have said they need a pipeline to the Pilbara. If they got such a pipeline they’d need thousands of oil and gas wells to feed it and pay for it. We’d be looking at a landscape industrialised by the oil and gas industry like they have in Texas and across North America,” said Martin Pritchard, Director of Strategy at Broome-based conservation group Environs Kimberley.

“Fracking uses vast quantities of water laced with poisonous chemicals pumped at extreme pressures through wells that pierce groundwater aquifers. Wastewater returned to the surface has been found to contain radioactive materials as well as a legion of carcinogenic compounds. This industry is incompatible with the globally significant natural values of the Kimberley,” Claire McKinnon from Lock the Gate said.

Three wells have been test-fracked in the Kimberley over the past 14 years and all have had problems, including documented well-integrity failures.

Wastewater ponds have overflowed in the monsoon season, spilling onto floodplains and endangering the plants and animals of the Kimberley.

The wells are close to tributaries of the National Heritage-listed Martuwarra Fitzroy River, the last stronghold of the critically endangered Freshwater Sawfish, and is a highly popular Barramundi fishing mecca.

“The community is outraged that this is being inflicted on the Kimberley particularly given the climate crisis we are living in. If we want a safe climate future we know it is vital not to open new oil and gas fields especially at the scale we could see in the Kimberley,” said Yisah Bin Omar from Seed, Australia’s first Indigenous youth-led climate network.

Oil and gas company Woodside abandoned plans to build gas refineries costing $80-billion at James Price Point in 2013 after national protests and community backlash in the Kimberley.

“We don’t want to see a James Price Point situation unfolding again here, The Albanese and Cook Governments must take action now and rule out fracking gasfields in the Kimberley,” said Mr Pritchard.

Photo: Danny Estcourt

The National Heritage-listed Martuwarra Fitzroy River in the Kimberley is a step closer to being protected from Murray–Darling style irrigation. A policy position released by the Cook Government this week states clearly that no new extraction of surface water will be allowed.

“We welcome this historic announcement by the Cook Government, which supports what the community has been calling for over several decades: protection of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River from massive water extraction, and dams for agribusiness to irrigate cotton and other broadacre crops,” said Environs Kimberley Director of Strategy Martin Pritchard.

The Fitzroy River catchment has the most intact tropical savannah in the world and the Martuwarra Fitzroy River has been recognized as the last stronghold for the critically endangered Freshwater Sawfish. It also supports a major Barramundi population as well as Freshwater Prawns and other important fish species. The cultural heritage values of the river have been recognized by the Commonwealth Government, which put the river on the National Heritage list in 2011.

Martuwarra Fitzroy River - Damian Kelly

Environs Kimberley was formed to protect the river and adjacent tropical savannah from large-scale cotton crops, and has worked in partnership with Aboriginal groups since 1996 to keep it running free.

“More than 43,000 people called for the Martuwarra Fitzroy River to be protected from industrial agriculture and big pumps. The health of the river system depends on uninterrupted flows. It’s great to see that the Cook Government recognizes this. We know that any water pumped out reduces Barramundi and critically endangered sawfish populations.”

“We are still concerned about groundwater extraction. 100 billion litres are mooted as being available, which would allow the irrigation of 10,000 hectares. That is an unacceptable scale of land-clearing in such an intact and biodiverse landscape.”

We are keen to see more detail on the policies, including those concerning heritage and cultural rights, and we’ll support Aboriginal groups to ensure they obtain all the rights due to them as First Nations.

Work already completed shows that other, more profitable and less damaging industries are possible in the Fitzroy Valley. Such industries should be encouraged and supported.

We know that there are limited opportunities for jobs in large-scale irrigation, which causes massive damage, including complete destruction of tropical savannah by bulldozing and burning to grow cotton.

“The new economy provides the potential for sustainable jobs, including conservation of the world-class landscapes, which Aboriginal rangers are successfully working on. Carbon abatement, cultural tourism, bush foods and renewable energy are all industries that can work in the Fitzroy Valley, and there’s a strong interest in developing them.”

“We need to get behind these new industries, which are more appropriate for the landscapes and culture of the Kimberley,” Mr Pritchard said.

The Cook government is opening up spectacular parts of the Kimberley to the oil and gas industry at a time when the science says we have to reduce carbon emissions. See petroleum release announcement here.

“We’re calling on the Cook government to withdraw this petroleum release and not put places like the spectacular Edgar Ranges and Martuwarra Fitzroy River at risk from the oil and gas industry.” Said Environs Kimberley Director of Strategy Martin Pritchard.

Edgar Ranges Photo: Environs Kimberley

“It’s like the Premier Roger Cook and Minister for Mines Bill Johnston don’t accept the science of climate change because we know that to have a safe climate, the International Energy Agency is saying we can’t open new oil and gas.”

The petroleum release areas cover the spectacular Edgar Ranges which have been proposed as a Nature Reserve by the WA government since 1991. The Edgar Ranges are of very high conservation value and culturally important.

According to the WA Government –

The Edgar Range is biologically and culturally extremely significant, it has a spectacular landscape and for decades has been recommended for conservation as a Class A Nature Reserve.

It is significant habitat for many mammal, insect and plant species and is known for Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby, Greater Bilby and Forrest’s Mouse, and is the only location for the endangered Edgar Range

Pandanus (Pandanus spiralis var. flammeus)21. It is where Torresian (sub-humid Kimberley) and desert species mix.

One hundred and twenty-one species of birds have been recorded there, including three of special significance to conservation – Princess Parrot, Peregrine Falcon and Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo.

Source: Department of Conservation and Land Management (1991) Nature Conservation Reserves in the Kimberley

Martuwarra Fiztroy River Photo: Damian Kelly

The Martuwarra Fitzroy River is National Heritage listed and is a Registered Aboriginal Heritage site.

“If the Cook government won’t withdraw this petroleum acreage release then the oil and gas industry must take a responsible approach and not bid for these areas.”