Concerns over US company’s plan to frack world’s most intact tropical savanna in WA revealed | Western Australia

The federal government has repeatedly expressed concern about an American company’s proposal to frack gas in Western Australia’s Kimberley region, part of the world’s largest and most rugged tropical savanna.

Texas-based Black Mountain Energy, through its subsidiary Bennett Resources, is seeking federal approval to drill 20 gas wells for its Valhalla project west of Fitzroy Crossing.

The site is located near a stream flowing into the national heritage-listed Fitzroy River, potentially opening up WA’s Fitzroy valley landscape to fracking and impacting the area’s endangered species.

While WA’s Environmental Protection Authority recommended the development be approved under state law. documents The report, released through freedom of information, shows that the federal environment department has repeatedly raised concerns about the standard of the company’s environmental assessments.

The ministry warned the company that it did not provide sufficient information about water resources and ecosystems that could be harmed by gas drilling plans.

The correspondence shows that federal officials told Black Mountain Energy multiple times last year that it had not done enough to identify the region’s surface water and groundwater resources and “characterize” ecosystems in the region that depend on groundwater for survival.

This prevents them from fully assessing the impacts of fracking on the region’s environment and sensitive species, including the critically endangered northern blue-tongued skink and the endangered bigtooth sawfish, which has an important breeding ground in the Fitzroy River, officials wrote.

The company was also instructed to consult with other traditional owner groups with cultural and spiritual connections to the Fitzroy River.

The department wrote that although Black Mountain maintained there would be no impact on the Fitzroy River, there was “insufficient evidence” that this was the case. Therefore, the company must “demonstrate an assessment of all pathways of influence associated with the Rainbow Serpent Tradition Values,” officials said.

Conservation group Environs Kimberley, which applied for the documents, wrote to federal environment minister Murray Watt last week demanding he use his powers under national nature laws to kill the project.

Environs Kimberley managing director Martin Pritchard said: “We have appealed to him to set aside the assessment as the company has clearly failed to do what the department has requested in terms of providing information.”

“They’ve had long enough to undertake this work. They don’t seem to want to do it, and without this study it’s not possible for the state to make a determination about whether there will be significant impacts.”

Environmental officials said in a document published in January this year. independent expert scientific committee He said Black Mountain did not provide enough data to comprehensively evaluate the project. The IESC advises the government on the potential impacts of gas projects on water resources under the federal water trigger.

The committee found that Black Mountain conducted a “limited and disjointed assessment” and reached “largely unsupported” conclusions regarding the project’s potential impacts on surface water and groundwater resources and related groundwater-dependent ecosystems.

The Department agrees that “significant uncertainty exists regarding hydrogeological and hydrological processes, surface water-groundwater interactions, and the existence of groundwater-dependent ecosystems, limiting the ability to assess all potential impacts on water resources.”

The developer’s lack of work to identify “site-specific” groundwater-dependent ecosystems or investigate “surface water groundwater connectivity” in the area “does not allow the department to accurately assess impact pathways associated with northern bluetongue skink and bigtooth sawfish,” officials wrote.

Guardian Australia asked the ministry and Black Mountain Energy whether the company had since provided the requested data and information.

Pritchard said the project’s potential to harm both species and the wider Martuwarra Fitzroy River and Kimberley region was concerning.

“This is the last place in the world that should be industrialized by the oil and gas fracking industry,” he said. “It has the world’s largest, most pristine tropical savannah and is among the least affected 4% of coastlines anywhere on the planet.

“There aren’t many places left like this in the world.”

A ministry spokesman said the government could not comment on specific details because the project was under active evaluation. But they said “any project considered under national environmental law must undergo a rigorous assessment of its potential impacts on protected subjects before approval.”

The project is being evaluated for its impacts on water resources, threatened species and the national heritage values ​​of the West Kimberley. As part of the process, the developer will be required to post its documentation for public comment and show how it has addressed the department’s feedback.

Black Mountain Energy was requested for comment.