If fracking begins in the Kimberley, it could damage a sacred river
- Written by Melissa Haswell, Professor of Health, Safety and Environment, School of Public Health and Social Work, Queensland University of Technology
Under the soils of the Kimberley lies one of the world’s last undeveloped large-scale reservoirs of onshore gas, according to the gas company hoping to extract it.
Last month, the Western Australian Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommended approval for Bennett Resources, a subsidiary of Black Mountain Energy, to begin exploration by drilling 20 wells across ten sites near the Kimberley’s Martuwarra Fitzroy River and applying hydraulic fracturing (fracking).
If officially approved and results are favourable, exploration is likely just the start. The company – majority-owned by US oil and gas company Black Mountain – wants to begin full-scale production to extract an estimated 420 billion cubic metres of gas. Doing so would require hundreds or thousands of wells drilled into many aquifers, with connecting roads, gas processing plants, wastewater ponds, water treatment plants, compressor stations and new pipelines.
For the mining-friendly WA government, the economic benefits would appeal. But the EPA’s recommendation has triggered an immediate backlash from Aboriginal and environmental groups. The Office of Appeals Commissioner reports an unprecedented number of appeals have been lodged before the February 10 deadline.
As health and Indigenous knowledge experts, we have real concern about these plans. We now know much more about the harms fracking can do to the health of humans, wildlife, groundwater and rivers.
What is this project?
Black Mountain Energy has exploration rights over a 3,700 square kilometre area in the Canning Basin between Fitzroy Crossing and Derby. The exploration wells would be drilled west of Fitzroy Crossing.
Major oil and gas companies interested in this basin’s gas reservoirs have progressively pulled out due to vast infrastructure costs.
But Black Mountain Energy appears determined. The company first announced its plans in 2020 but encountered difficulties raising funding. It’s not guaranteed to proceed even with state backing, as the federal government has to sign off too.
If these first wells go ahead, fracking rigs will drill down 2–5km into the rock, before shifting into horizontal mode. Then, the rigs force megalitres of fresh water, sand and chemicals under high pressure into the rock layers to fracture them. This allows methane gas contaminated with toxic gases, including benzene and toluene, to be collected at the surface. Millions of litres of contaminated salty wastewater are also produced and must be managed. The process is repeated up to 70 times per well.
Some of the wells will be drilled within 2km of important tributaries of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River system.
Most gas would be exported, which would likely require a new pipeline to Karratha, almost 1,000km away.
How was this assessed?
The moratorium on fracking in WA was only lifted in 2018, following a state Inquiry into Hydraulic Fracturing. The government stated 20 protections would be in place before fracking would be allowed, but only half of these are complete.
The WA government points to the fact fracking is banned in 98% of the state. But the 2% where it isn’t banned covers parts of the breathtaking and culturally rich Kimberley region.
In considering this exploration project, the state EPA found the harm to the environment, culture and human health to be “unlikely” or “insignificant”.
But an independent federal scientific committee on onshore gas and coal found there were risks to threatened species from ecological disturbance and possible chemical contamination.
Since 2018, the evidence base of the environmental, physical and spiritual health risks around fracking have advanced significantly through documentation of Aboriginal knowledge and Western scientific research.
Threats to a sacred river
For the Kimberley’s First Nations groups, the waters of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River System lie at the heart of their spirituality.
Aboriginal people consider the Martuwarra River of Life and its groundwater systems to be an ancient life force – serpent beings that bring the Kimberley vast life and landscapes.
Stories carried through generations emphasise a deep moral responsibility to protect and manage the river and its groundwater. The deeply held spiritual beliefs of the people of the Kimberley are grounded in their values, ethics and virtues as a duty of care under First Law to protect public interests, ground and surface waters of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River, and the whole living system.
The Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council (chaired by co-author Anne Poelina) and the Kimberley Land Council strongly reject both the Valhalla proposal and the EPA’s view that cultural risks from fracking and water contamination are low.
Evidence from Western scientific research
As well as adding to climate change, these projects can damage waterways and groundwater, wildlife and human health at every step, from extraction to transport to processing to liquefaction and eventual burning.
Since the 2018 fracking inquiry, the rigour and quantity of evidence showing the harms have significantly increased. There are now consistent findings of harm to people living near fracking operations in nations such as the United States, Canada and Australia.
This evidence base captures risks to water quality (through contamination and over-extraction) and air quality (including emissions of toxic gases such as benzene and toluene).
Risks to human health associated with air and water contamination include increased risk of hospitalisation for cardiovascular, respiratory and kidney diseases and some cancers, especially in children. Higher rates of birth complications and birth defects have been observed downwind and downstream of oil and gas operations.
To our knowledge, there are no studies demonstrating these risks to environment, climate and health can be reduced through regulation.
What’s next?
More than 35,000 people live in the Kimberley, and around half identify as Aboriginal. The region is extremely sensitive to climate change and its people are at heightened risk from most health issues associated with oil and gas operations.
The WA EPA recommended approval of this exploration project without fully examining the evidence. The agency excluded human health concerns due to transient and “sparse populations”.
Policymakers must heed the accumulated evidence showing clear risks of harm. To approve drilling and fracking in the Kimberley is to approve a process we now know does damage to many things we care about, from human health to wildlife to culture to sacred rivers.
Black Mountain Energy was approached for comment but did not respond before deadline.
Authors: Melissa Haswell, Professor of Health, Safety and Environment, School of Public Health and Social Work, Queensland University of Technology
