Dr Sophie Scamps, Federal Member for Mackellar, has succeeded in her campaign to trigger legislation designed to protect Australia’s water resources from damage sustained through gas fracking.
Gas fracking is a technique used to draw oil and gas from shale rock. This process involves drilling high-pressure holes into the earth’s crust with a mixture of water, sand and chemical compounds to release gas. The process itself injects liquid and other substances into naturally occurring shale formations causing fractures in the surrounding rock.
The Beetaloo Basin in the Northern Territory stands at risk of being destroyed by Tamboran Resources gas fracking projects. If such projects continue, the artesian water resource that supplies the regions rivers will be destroyed.
As it stands, Tamboran has finished the drilling of 15 wells so far in the project. This means that when the project enters its final stages, thousands of wells could potentially be drilled and the impacts on the environment will be too late to reverse.
“I have been advocating strongly for the Federal Government, under the strengthened national environment laws, to commission a comprehensive scientific assessment of any likely impacts Tamboran’s fracking will have on these precious water resources. So, I am pleased and relieved this first step has finally been taken,” says Scamps.
Additionally, if Tamboran continues to operate, it will require a staggering 375 million litres of water a year to operate. Local and Traditional elders of the area are concerned. The Roper River aquifer keeps the water supply flowing year-round, this is essential to their communities physical and cultural survival.
