Green groups to challenge Kimberley fracking decision

MLC Robin Chapple and the Australian Conservation Foundation have joined Environs Kimberley in appealing a decision by the Environmental Planning Authority not to assess shale gas fracking proposed by Buru Energy.

The program targets two wells on Roebuck Plains, about 80km from Broome, and two between Derby and Fitzroy Crossing.

"Apart from one well that was hydraulically fractured in 2010, the practice of fracking is entirely new to the Kimberley and locals are understandably nervous," Mr Chapple, the Greens member for the Mining and Pastoral Region, said.

"In other parts of the world, governments large and small have either placed moratoria on fracking or banned it altogether, yet our environmental protection agency has seen fit to allow the proposal to pass without so much as a backwards glance.

"There is plenty to be concerned about - fracking chemicals that Buru is proposing to use are toxic and hazardous to human health and the environment, or they are untested in this environment."

But Buru hit back, saying the project had so far met with environmental standards.

"The program we are proposing is an early-stage proof-of-concept program and we are applying stringent environmental guidelines and community consultation to that program," Buru managing director Keiran Wulff said.

"Our hydraulic fluid had been assessed as being non-toxic."

The Australian Conservation Foundation has called on WA Environment Minister Albert Jacob to ensure new plans for fracking in the Canning Basin were subject to a thorough impact assessment

The ACF has called for a moratorium on all unconventional onshore gas extraction activities in WA until thorough cumulative impact assessments are conducted.

Its appeal says the point of assessments is to increase transparency and environmental accountability - and to give the community confidence that proposed developments will not cause long-term damage to the environment.

"It is vital to the continuation of high environmental quality in the Kimberley region, which underpins its other economic values, that the EPA conduct a thorough bioregional assessment of potential for cumulative environmental damage from fracking," ACF Kimberley project officer Wade Freeman said.