An anti-fracking group has launched a Supreme Court action against the Northern Territory government's decision to approve a gas company's fracking plans in the Beetaloo Basin.
It comes as the NT government prepares to announce whether full-scale fracking can go ahead, based on its own assessment of whether it has implemented the recommendations of its scientific inquiry.
Since lifting its ban on fracking in 2018, the NT government has issued several exploration permits to gas companies in the Beetaloo Basin, an enormous shale gas reserve about 500 kilometres south-east of Darwin.
The Central Australian Frack Free Alliance (CAFFA) has announced it will ask the NT Supreme Court to review a decision by NT Environment Minister Lauren Moss in November to approve new plans to drill and frack 12 exploratory wells in the basin.
Through its lawyers at the Environmental Defenders Office, CAFFA will argue the approval of Tamboran Resource's environment management plan was invalid, because Ms Moss failed to adequately consider the environmental impacts of the project.
CAFFA will also argue that Tamboran's exploration works will pave the way for a large-scale fracking industry, which ought to have been considered by Ms Moss when deciding whether to approve the plan.
'We think that it's highly irresponsible'
CAFFA spokeswoman Hannah Ekin said "it doesn't make any sense to consider just the impacts of these couple of wells here, couple of wells there".
"We need to be looking at the overall cumulative impacts of the entire industry," she said.
In 2021, the International Energy Agency warned against opening up new oil and gas projects if the world is to stand a chance of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees.
"The climate impacts of opening up a new oil and gas basin at this time are untenable," Ms Ekin said.
"We think that it's highly irresponsible when the NT government is talking about trying to get towards net zero."
Tamboran Resources has been approached for comment.
The company's environment management plan, approved in November, includes a breakdown of the estimated carbon emissions produced by its plans to drill and frack 12 wells in the basin.
"Over 90 per cent of the anticipated emissions are associated with flaring," the plan states.
"Flaring of produced hydrocarbons is required under exploration tenure to evaluate the commercial viability of a resource."
The plan also states that "greenhouse gas emissions generation will be mitigated through ... implementation of a methane emission management plan".
Legal action may delay fracking plans
Environment Defenders Office CEO David Morris said if the Supreme Court action is successful, Ms Moss will have to go back and reconsider Tamboran's project in the context of its broader climate impacts.
"The risks of this activity include the [gas] production scenario, which obviously have far greater climate impacts," Mr Morris said.
"You ought to consider [those impacts] at this stage, before you approve this exploration stage.
"We say that's a requirement of the petroleum regulations in the Northern Territory, and in failing to consider those broader impacts, the minister has acted unlawfully."
The NT government is yet to show how it will meet its promise to fully offset the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions from any onshore shale gas produced in the NT.
An ongoing battle in the Beetaloo
Last year, Tamboran Resources became the biggest player in the Beetaloo Basin after acquiring Origin Energy's exploration interests for $60 million.
The Beetaloo Basin covers an area more than twice the size of Tasmania and is believed to contain enough shale gas to power Australia for about 200 years.
It's become the centre of a heated contest between gas companies and a group of pastoralists, environmental lawyers and traditional owners, who are concerned fracking will pollute local groundwater and increase Australia's carbon emissions.
Tamboran Resources, which owns Sweetpea Petroleum, has previously faced scrutiny for initially failing to show up to a senate inquiry examining a federal gas subsidies program supporting exploration in the basin.
The company has also been criticised by local pastoralists and traditional owners who do not want fracking to go ahead on their land.
CEO Joel Riddle has strenuously denied any wrongdoing.
Mudburra elder Ray Dimakarri Dixon, from Marlinja community, said "fracking is the biggest thing in my country".
"We're worried about our water," he said.
"Our water is very important for us. It's our songline, it's our culture, it's everything to us and we're going to have to protect it."
In a statement, a spokesman for NT Environment Minister Lauren Moss said: "As this is now a matter of legal proceedings before the court, it would be inappropriate for the minister to make any comment".
