American company Black Mountain Energy, via subsidiary Bennett Resources, has submitted to the Federal Government its “Valhalla” fracking project in the world-renowned Kimberley region.
Their proposal claims the project will have “no significant impact” and does not require Federal assessment - despite posing huge risks to threatened wildlife in the area like the Greater Bilby, and to local groundwater and our climate.
The proposal is now up for public comment - can you call on Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to conduct a full national assessment - and then reject the project?
Without an assessment, the Minister cannot reject it - and it will just get waved through! We can't let this happen.
>>Make a submission<<
Steps to making a submission:
1. Head to the government’s EPBC portal linked here
2. Provide a title for your comment, here are some suggestions:
- Fully assess Black Mountain’s frack wells;
- Don’t let Black Mountain frack the Kimberley;
- Keep the Kimberley frack free;
- Don’t Frack the Kimberley,;
- Assess Black Mountain!
3. Click ‘YES’ ✅ - to ‘Do you consider this is a controlled action?’
4. Add your reasons below, here are some ideas for key points you can make:
- This project should be declared a ‘controlled action’ for its impacts on threatened species, in particular the Greater Bilby, and water resources, and undergo a full assessment at the bare minimum.
- The updated water trigger laws must be applied to this project to ensure a high-quality, independent analysis of the risks to groundwater.
- This project referral should be rejected outright as it is clearly a split referral. The Federal referral is for just 6 frack wells while the project was submitted to the WA EPA for 20 frack wells and neither is indicative of the company’s full plans or impacts.
- Fracking for unconventional gas in the Kimberley will worsen climate change, which is already heating up northwest Western Australia. Australia can’t afford to open up the Kimberley to fracking.
- The project will have unacceptable impacts on the internationally renowned Kimberley, including the National Heritage-listed Martuwarra Fitzroy River.
Want to add more info? See additional points at the end of this page!
5. Follow and fill out the proceeding prompts and when you are finished make sure to hit ‘Submit your comment’.
You have until Wednesday August 7th to make a public comment, make yours today!
Additional points you might like to add:
- The risks that fracking poses to water are unacceptable with 100 million litres being wasted per well, and massive volumes of toxic chemicals being pumped underground at high pressures, risking pollution.
- Black Mountain have split their project, only including 6 wells in this proposal to the Federal Government compared to the 20-well project currently being assessed by the WA EPA. The department should rigorously assess the project in its entirety.
- We cannot afford any new fossil fuel projects - fossil gas is fueling the climate crisis and the International Energy Agency (IEA) has made it clear we can’t afford new gas projects if we want to protect communities from extreme climate impacts.
- The proposal fails to consider cumulative impacts on Matters of National Environmental Significance or water impacts.
>>Make a submission<<
