Protecting water in the Northern Territory
Landmark fracking court case
We’ve got some significant news from our legal team.
EJA lawyers have just filed a landmark legal case on behalf of our client Lock the Gate, to protect water in the Northern Territory from the impacts of fracking.
This is the first legal challenge to fracking under the water trigger in Australia’s national environment laws.
This Federal Court challenge is against Tamboran B2 Pty Ltd’s proposed Shenandoah South Exploration and Appraisal project, which plans to frack fifteen gas wells in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Basin, near the town of Daly Waters.
In court, Lock the Gate Alliance will argue the fracking project is likely to have a significant impact on groundwater resources and should therefore be caught by the water trigger in national environment laws.
So far, Tamboran has not referred its project to the federal Minister for the Environment under water trigger provisions, and the minister has not “called in” the project for assessment under water trigger provisions.
Meanwhile, Tamboran has already begun early work on the project.
Lock the Gate is launching this landmark challenge to protect water from fracking because it believes Tamboran’s project represents a serious risk to groundwater in the Northern Territory.
Our client is seeking an injunction from the Federal Court to prevent the Shenandoah project going ahead until the federal government assesses the impacts of the project on water under national environment laws.
We will continue to update you as this significant case progresses.
Living Wonders reconsideration requests: Albanese government on brink of approving carbon bombs
In other significant news, the Albanese government last week refused a legal request from our clients, the Environment Council of Central Queensland (ECoCeQ), to consider the climate impacts of the three proposed mining projects.
This means these three coal proposals – which would emit about 850 million tonnes of greenhouse emissions – are now able to be approved at any time by the Minister for the Environment, Tanya Plibersek.
The community environmental advocacy group filed 19 “reconsideration requests” back in 2022, and thousands of people across the country wrote public comments to the Minister for the Environment, urging her to look at the climate impacts of the projects.
When the Minister made her first decisions on ECoCeQ’s reconsideration requests in May last year, ECoCeQ challenged her refusal to act all the way to the High Court in the Living Wonders climate cases.
‘The Minister has accepted the risk of climate harm from new coal mines to endangered species, World Heritage Areas and other living wonders, yet today we find out she has refused our requests to change the risk assessments of these coal projects and acknowledge those harms.’
‘This is another blow from the Albanese government, which came to power promising to protect the environment but keeps approving carbon bombs that will supercharge climate change.’
– Ellie Smith, Environment Council of Central Queensland
The three proposed mines that are the subject of the Minister’s latest decisions are:
- Idemitsu's Boggabri Coal Mine Expansion project in NSW on Gomeroi country, which would produce approximately 68 Mt million tonnes of carbon emissions
- BHP Mitsubishi's Caval Ridge Horse Pit Extension coal project in central Queensland on Barada Barna country, which would produce approximately 440 million tonnes of carbon emissions and
- Bowen Basin Coal’s Lake Vermont Meadowbrook coal project, which would produce approximately 334 million tonnes of carbon emissions.
There are more than 30 new coal mining projects and gas projects currently awaiting approval on Minister Plibersek’s desk under Australia’s environment laws.
During the last 25 years of Australia’s environment laws, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, 99.9% of fossil fuel projects have been approved. This is why communities have been fighting hard to fix the Act and include specific climate pollution considerations.
We’ll keep you up to date on these important matters as they progress – thanks for your support.
More of our climate cases
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