Concerns raised by an independent expert scientific committee should prompt Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to use her expanded water trigger powers to assess Northern Territory gas fracking proposals, the Australian Conservation Foundation said.
While the 'plain English summary' of the Expert Scientific Committee on Unconventional Gas says the potential impacts on the Beetaloo Basin's water resources from exploration activities would be 'minor', that description is not used in the rest of the report.
The panel states that exploration activities 'will likely lead to further production, exploration and appraisal which will inevitably intensify impacts.'
"The whole purpose of initial gas fracking exploration is to facilitate full scale gas fracking," said ACF climate program manager Gavan McFadzean.
"Fracking expands incrementally. An assessment may consider the potential impact of a 20-well project and then another, but not the cumulative impact of hundreds of fracking wells in a basin like Beetaloo, which is what's planned.
"It's a death by a thousand cuts for our climate, water resources and natural environment.
"We know from overseas experience that fracking pollutes precious artesian water, releases climate-heating methane into the atmosphere and damages ecosystems - sometimes irreversibly.
"While the panel says exploratory fracking is 'not considered to be a major risk to the Basin's groundwaters' it adds 'if it is conducted according to industry best practice.' The NT gas industry's activities are a long, long way from best practice.
"The panel also emphasised the limitations of its own 'high level' review, saying there were still 'material gaps in the information needed to fully assess the risk.'
"As the expert panel acknowledged, gas exploitation in the Beetaloo Basin would intensify impacts on the basin's water resources, which are already under pressure from irrigated agriculture to grow cotton and mangoes, as well as from climate change.
"We urge Minister Plibersek to call in Tamboran's Shenandoah South project and Empire's Carpentaria project for a full, proper assessment under the expanded water trigger."
Traditional Owners have led a decades-long fight to protect water, Country and cultural heritage from fracking in the NT.
Fracking in the Beetaloo Basin is facilitated by government subsidies for a gas processing facility at Middle Arm in Darwin Harbour.
