An inquiry into major plans to exploit gas in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Basin has recommended the federal government commit to a national plan to offset the vast emissions the project is expected to release.
The former Coalition government made gas exploration in the Beetaloo Basin a central tenet of its plans for recovering from the Covid pandemic, using grants and tax breaks to incentivise gas corporates to begin work in the region. The basin covers about 28,000 sq km south-east of Katherine and is thought to contain huge reserves of shale gas.
But environmentalists have warned that developing the gas resources in the region will unleash a “carbon bomb” and render Australia unable to meet its emission reductions targets.
A Senate inquiry on Wednesday recommended that the government commit to finding a way to offset all scope two and three emissions from the basin. It also recommended establishing a fresh inquiry into the proposed Middle Arm precinct, a petrochemical manufacturing hub, designed to facilitate the expansion of the gas sector in the region.
The inquiry also recommended the establishment of a beneficial ownership register to better understand who is behind companies working in the region. That followed evidence to the inquiry that one of the companies, Falcon Oil & Gas, was linked to Russian oligarchs.
The inquiry also recommended the expansion of the water trigger in the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 to cover all forms of unconventional gas. Water triggers are designed to protect groundwater, but currently the EPBC Act’s water trigger does not apply to the development of shale gas. The Albanese government, as part of its planned reforms to national environmental laws, has proposed expanding the water trigger.
The government has supported the inquiry’s recommendations.
The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who chaired the inquiry, described it as a “huge blow to the prospects of gas corporations trying to frack the Beetaloo Basin”.
“Labor went to the last election promising to open the Beetaloo Basin, but through this inquiry and our changes to the safeguard mechanism, the Greens are gaining Labor support to put serious roadblocks in the way of the Beetaloo,” she said.
A native title holder group in the area, Nurrdalinji Native Title Aboriginal Corporation, said the report showed that development of the basin must stop.
Johnny Wilson, the group’s chair, said the report exposed failings in the obtaining of consent from all traditional owners, outside of the Northern Land Council.
“We hold big fears that fracking will tear the heart out of our land, damaging water and sacred sites,” he said.
“Traditional owners have not been properly represented by the Northern Land Council and we welcome the recommendation that the NLC work more closely with us and that we have a proper say in whether we want fracking on our country, or not.”
Kirsty Howey, the executive director of the Environment Centre NT, welcomed the committee’s recommendation for “a full-scale inquiry into the Middle Arm disaster proposed for our iconic and beloved Darwin Harbour”.
“Middle Arm is the brainchild of the pro-gas (former) Morrison government, and oil and gas lobbyists who want to frack the Beetaloo Basin,” she said.
Howey said an inquiry was desperately needed, given more than a billion dollars in federal funding had been committed to the project “with no environmental impact statement and no cost-benefit analysis”.
A spokesperson for the resources minister Madeleine King said the government supported the Northern Territory’s “efforts to safeguard its future energy needs” and would back projects “if they stack up economically, environmentally and socially”.
“The Northern Territory government has been clear that development of the Beetaloo as a low carbon basin will be subject to strict environmental standards,” they said.
“As we decarbonise, we are going to need gas to firm renewable generation and keep manufacturing going.”
