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."
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