Monday, February 18, 2013

Royalties for Regions money sponsors fracking exploration

Industry tells us their practices are safe, but fracking wells have already started leaking pollution in Western Australia.
Last year, gas started bubbling up through the Corybas well, just south of Dongara.  It is not surprising. Last year an independent study by Cornell University found that 6-7% of fracked wells were leaking into water aquifers within a year of drilling.  With estimates suggesting that WA could see 130,000 wells, that is a scary statistic. Because once our groundwater is polluted, it will be forever.
Our water is too precious to lose.  That’s why we’ve launched our new campaign, Clean Water Healthy Land, to tell our politicians that it’s time to take control of gas fracking before it’s too late. Email your local state election candidates at cleanwaterhealthyland.org.au/action
Is your water at risk - find out!

Currently, instead of protecting us from this industry, the state government has halved the royalties for gas fracking companies, used Royalties for Regions money to sponsor fracking exploration, and failed to ensure that the Environmental Protection Authority assesses projects – instead placing control over projects in the hands of the deeply conflicted Department of Mines and Petroleum.

With encouragement like this, fracking will soon be pockmarking the landscapes we love. Indeed, the pristine Kimberley, the Ningaloo coast, and the farming districts and wildflower country in the Midwest are considered the most prospective gasfields in WA.

Tell your local candidates it’s time to stand up for Western Australia, not the gas frackers. Write to your candidates at cleanwaterhealthyland.org.au/action
Feel like you’d like to know more about shale gas fracking? Shale gas is extracted from deep rock bodies by fracturing (‘fracking’) them, by pumping a mixture of chemicals, sand and vast amounts of water at high pressure to unlock the gas. Find out more at our website.

Climate and Energy Program CCWA
P.S. Western Australians know how precious our groundwater is – is your groundwater at risk from fracking? Ask your local candidates in the state election what they’re doing to protect you at our new website, cleanwaterhealthyland.org.au/action

2 comments:

  1. Broome Shire council meeting this thursday 21 feb planning application by a transport company McCorry Brown for ammonium nitrate storage on Crab Creek Road. Apparently the ammonium nitrate is to come through the Broome Port, will be transported along Gubinge Road, stored then sent by road to the OMS (Orica Mining Services) ammonium nitrate plant in Port Hedland. Or is this a plan to stockpile ammonium nitrate for blasting for future mining in the Kimberley?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Storage is for 10000 tonnes. That is one big bomb and terrorist target on our doorstep.

    ReplyDelete