Greens, independent MPs and conservation groups are urging the Albanese government to call in a contentious fracking project in the Beetaloo gas basin to be assessed under national water laws, with some warning the Northern Territory government has not properly examined its impact on the environment.
The NT government announced on Friday it has approved the environmental management plan for Tamboran Resources’ Shenandoah South pilot project. The approval will allow the gas company to construct up to four exploration and appraisal sites, and undertake drilling and flow testing of up to 15 natural gas wells in the Beetaloo Basin south of Katherine.
It follows an NT government announcement in April that it had inked a deal with Tamboran to buy fracked gas from the project.
The chief minister, Eva Lawler, said on Friday the environmental approval was “another critical step in getting natural gas flowing from the Beetaloo” that would ensure “strong safeguards while providing confidence and certainty to industry”.
“My common-sense plan will make sure that the benefits from territory gas are spread right across the territory, with residents and local businesses set to benefit for years to come,” she said.
Pressure is mounting on the federal environment and water minister, Tanya Plibersek, to use her powers to call the project in for assessment under the Albanese government’s expanded “water trigger”, which requires unconventional gas projects to be assessed under national environment laws for their effects on water resources.
The trigger previously applied only to major coal and coal seam gas projects but was broadened last year to take in all types of unconventional gas projects, including the types of reserves found in the Beetaloo.
The government has called passage of that legislation the first tranche of its “nature positive” reforms.
Independent and Greens MPs who pushed for the amended law have been seeking clarity from the government for months about whether the expanded water trigger would apply to appraisal projects such as Shenandoah South and whether the government would use its call-in powers if companies did not refer projects themselves for assessment.
The independent MP for Mackellar, Sophie Scamps, said the purpose of the expanded trigger was to consider “shale and tight gas projects such as this”.
“Now environment minister Tanya Plibersek should use it. She needs to call in this project for a thorough assessment under Australia’s national environment law,” she said.
The Greens’ environment spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young, said: “The parliament gave Minister Plibersek the water trigger power – now she must use it and call in Tamboran’s destructive gas mine to be assessed under national environment law.”
Hanson-Young also expressed her concern about a decision by the NT Environment Protection Authority that Tamboran’s proposed activities did not meet its threshold for a full environmental impact assessment at territory level.
Plibersek said all projects must comply with national environmental law, including the expanded water trigger.
“Tamboran has been reminded of this on multiple occasions. Any breach of national environment law will be treated extremely seriously,” she said.
Kirsty Howey, the executive director of the Environment Centre NT, said the territory faced major threats due to climate change “and yet the biggest fracking proposal ever seen in the NT has just been waved through with no environmental impact assessment”.
“This is a major test for Minister Plibersek, who must now act swiftly to apply the water trigger to this project so it can be properly scrutinised,” she said.
There are further steps Tamboran has to take to get the approvals it needs to start work, including reaching an agreement with traditional owners.
Yanyuwa and Garawa woman Joni Wilson is a director of the Nurrdalinji Aboriginal Corporation, which made a submission opposing Tamboran’s environmental management plan, noting concerns about inadequate consultation and risks to country and water.
Wilson said a fine issued to Tamboran last year relating to dumping of wastewater was an example of why traditional owners want the minister to examine the project under the water trigger.
“Tamboran has already been caught out for polluting water. This week the other big gas company, Empire, was found to have impacted our land,” she said.
“What happens when there are thousands of wells? Our sacred waterways, the plants, the animals we hunt, our children will be poisoned.”
Comment was sought from Tamboran Resources.
