GetUp is calling on the government to urgently intervene and carry out an environmental impact assessment on the mega fracker that is destined for the Beetaloo Basin, directly from the US - as outlined by Tamboran Resources in an announcement this week, causing two to four times the originally scoped impacts.
With the delayed report from the Senate inquiry into the Beetaloo due to be handed down on the 21 March we must stand with Traditional Owners and call for urgent action to stop these projects happening in the Beetaloo.
Fracking at this scale would require thousands of one-way truck trips carting equipment, chemicals, water and polluted wastewater, putting high-volumes of heavy-vehicle traffic on already dangerous Territory highways and putting tourists and locals at greater risk.
GetUp CEO and Widjabul Wia-bal woman Larissa Baldwin-Roberts said:
“The sheer scale of it means it could need two to four times as much water and toxic chemicals than anything else currently approved in Australia. Which means more than double the devastation.
“We cannot permit this infrastructure to enter the country without it being subjected to proper scrutiny at both state and federal government levels.
“We know that in the coming weeks, Tamboran are hoping to secure production permits from the Territory Government. No permits should be given to frackers due to the impacts on water and climate, and the news of this mega fracker only increases those impacts. The wreckage it will cause to water, cultural heritage, climate, roads and communities in an already flood-affected NT must be considered.
“Traditional Owners have been saying no to fracking the Beetaloo Basin for over a decade knowing these projects would destroy cultural heritage, tear apart Country, contaminate water - affecting the lives of everyone who lives in the Territory.
“Gas drilling will cut up ancient aquifers and slice through songlines. Any “consent” that was heard coerced from Community is out the window. Traditional Owners were told the scale of fracking infrastructure would be no more than a billy-can – now we know it’s actually a monstrous drilling machine with the capacity to frack four kilometres-long, which we know has already caused catastrophic damage in the US.”
ENDS
Media contact, Amy Morgan, media@getup.org.au, +61 2 8188 2870