The WA Government has approved an airborne survey over the Fitzroy River to look for oil and gas. This area includes Jubilee and Quanbun pastoral leases and the culturally important Alexander Island. There should be no fracking in the Kimberley and around the Fitzroy River floodplains.
The first company to submit a fracking proposal since the WA Government announced an overhaul of regulations says delays to their proposal are a "moratorium by stealth".
Key points:
- The WA Environment Minister says fracking proposals will not proceed on existing petroleum leases before an industry code of practice is completed
- The only company to have submitted a proposal has labelled the delay as a "moratorium by stealth"
- An indefinite fracking moratorium exists over the remaining 98 per cent of WA
Bennett Resources, a subsidiary of Texas-based Black Mountains, said last month that it had submitted the first fracking proposal to WA's Environmental Protection Authority since the Government announced it was lifting its moratorium on fracking in November 2018.
But last week the West Australian Environment Minister, Stephen Dawson, said that while Bennett Resources were welcome to submit a proposal the regulations were still not in place to provide approvals.
The Minister said the project would be assessed along the same criteria and timeframe as any other submitted to the state's environmental watchdog.
"I understand with [Bennett Resource's] project, it's been referred to the EPA and … I've got a future role as a decision maker so I won't talk about that project," Mr Dawson said.
"But certainly no project is going to get off the ground before the code of practice has been agreed on. That work still continues. I imagine it'll take some months yet."
Even though the Government announced the moratorium had been lifted on existing petroleum titles in 2018, all fracking remains effectively banned in Western Australia until the code of conduct and traditional owner and private landowner consent requirements can be implemented.
Black Mountain chief operating officer Ashley Zumwalt-Forbes said Bennett Resources invested in petroleum titles in the Kimberley's Canning Basin with the understanding that the moratorium had been lifted.
"But what [the Minister's] comments imply is that the Government of Western Australia is enforcing a fracking moratorium by stealth."
In June this year Mines and Petroleum Minister Bill Johnston said the plan to implement the new regulations had been delayed by the coronavirus pandemic with a draft "expected in the third quarter of this year".
At the time Mr Johnston was uncertain if the proposed code of practice would require legislative changes, but confirmed the requirement for fracking companies to obtain the consent of landowners, including Indigenous native title holders, would require legislation.
The ABC asked the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) when the draft code of practice would be ready, whether it would require legislative changes, and when the code of practice would be finalised.
DMIRS responded with a statement that did not answer any of these questions, saying in part:
"Work on the Hydraulic Fracture Stimulation Implementation Plan is ongoing, and no approvals for hydraulic fracturing will be granted until mechanisms are in place to ensure the Government's policy objectives are met."
With the legislative agenda already full ahead of the March 2021 election, the Government has previously confirmed any legislative changes cannot pass through the WA Parliament before the election.
"This blockade for approvals of course hurts Black Mountain," Ms Zumwalt-Forbes said.
"But it devastates the local Noonkanbah community that genuinely wants to develop the resources on their native land."
In a statement to the ABC, chairwoman for the community's Yungngora Association Jayna Skinner said the community was concerned about delays in assessing fracking on their country.
"The Community understands the need for strong environmental protection but wants to see economic development opportunities and employment for its people," Ms Skinner said.
"So the Community would like the Government to hurry up its review of the regulations."
Indefinite moratorium
Bennett Resources is also working with the only company to have fracked gas wells in the Kimberley — Buru Energy — to conduct an aerial geophysics survey on a special prospecting title over an area adjacent to where Bennett Resources has proposed to drill and frack six wells.
The application for the special prospecting authority was made by Buru in 2016 to investigate the possibility that the shale gas Bennett Resources have proposed to frack, extends into this area that straddles the Fitzroy River, downstream from the town of Fitzroy Crossing.
The survey area was not an existing petroleum lease when the State Government announced their fracking policies in 2018.
Mr Dawson confirmed the State Government had no plans to lift an indefinite fracking moratorium on areas not under pre-existing petroleum title when the current policies were announced in 2018.
"There's no proposal from State Government to change policy," Mr Dawson said.
Two cattle stations recently purchased by mining billionaire Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest in the Kimberley overlap with roughly one third of the area of the proposed aerial geophysics survey.
Mr Forrest has previously told the ABC he intended to continue the past landholder's tradition of being "environmentally sensitive'" on Jubilee Downs and Quanbun Downs Stations.
It was reported last year that Mr Forrest's private company Squadron Energy bought a 5 per cent stake in Buru Energy.
Squadron also holds 75,000 square kilometres of exploration permits in the Kimberley's Canning Basin with joint venture partner Goshawk Energy.
One of these exploration permits lies immediately adjacent to the area where Buru Energy has proposed their aerial survey.
Mr Forrest's investment company Tattarang declined to comment for this article.
Open to public comment
Ms Zumwalt-Forbes said Bennett Resources was unlikely to start fracking in the next 12 months as it waited for its proposal to go through the EPA process and for results from their 3D seismic survey.
"The concern is that we will go through these initial project hurdles deploying considerable capital … getting ready for drilling and fracking, with really no guarantee from the government that we'll be able to conduct those programs," she said.
It is understood Bennett Resources are expecting their fracking proposal will be released for public comment in the coming weeks.
Kimberley environmentalists gathered in Broome last week to protest against the proposal to frack wells on Noonkanbah Station.
In a statement to the media, executive director of Environs Kimberley Martin Pritchard called on the State Government to permanently ban fracking.
"We are extremely concerned that experienced frackers from Texas have arrived in the Kimberley and have been welcomed with open arms by the McGowan Government," Mr Pritchard said.
"The overwhelming public sentiment is that fracking should not be allowed in the Kimberley."
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