<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jun/10/wa-fracking-gas-us-company-federal-environment-department-concern>
"The federal government has repeatedly raised concerns about an American
company’s bid to frack for gas in Western Australia’s Kimberley region, part of
the world’s largest and most intact 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 creek that flows into the national heritage-listed
Fitzroy River, potentially opening WA’s Fitzroy valley landscape to fracking
and affecting the region’s endangered species.
While WA’s Environmental Protection Authority has recommended approval of the
development under state laws, documents released through freedom of information
show the federal environment department has repeatedly raised concerns about
the standard of the company’s environmental assessments.
The department warned the company it had not provided enough information about
water resources and ecosystems that could be harmed by its gas drilling plans.
Correspondence shows federal officials told Black Mountain Energy on multiple
occasions last year that it had not done enough work to identify the region’s
surface water and groundwater resources and “characterise” ecosystems in the
area that relied on groundwater for survival.
Officials wrote this prevented them from being able to fully assess the impacts
fracking could have on the region’s environment and vulnerable species,
including the critically endangered northern blue-tongued skink and the
endangered largetooth sawfish, which has an important nursery area in the
Fitzroy River.
The company was also instructed to consult with additional traditional owner
groups with cultural and spiritual connections to the Fitzroy River.
The department wrote that despite Black Mountain arguing there would be no
impact on the Fitzroy River, there was “insufficient evidence” that was the
case. Officials said the company therefore needed to “demonstrate assessment of
all impact pathways associated with the Rainbow Serpent Tradition Values”.
Conservation group Environs Kimberley, which applied for the documents, wrote
to the federal environment minister, Murray Watt, last week to request he use
his powers under national nature laws to terminate the project.
“We’ve called on him to essentially scrap the assessment because the company
has clearly not done what the department has requested in terms of providing
information,” Environs Kimberley executive director Martin Pritchard said.
“They’ve had long enough to undertake this work. They appear to be not wanting
to do it and without that work there’s no way the commonwealth could make a
decision on whether there would be significant impacts or not.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
