Protecting water in the Northern Territory
Landmark fracking court case
Protecting groundwater from fracking in the Beetaloo Basin
In late 2024, EJA lawyers filed a significant court case on behalf of Lock the Gate Alliance 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.
Why is this case necessary?
Our client Lock the Gate is concerned Tamboran's plans to frack 15 gas wells at the Shenandoah South Exploration and Appraisal project is likely to contaminate groundwater.
Australia's national environment laws require fracking projects with a likely significant impact on water resources to be referred for federal assessment. This requirement is known as the ‘water trigger’.
However so far, Tamboran has not referred its project to the Federal Environment Minister under water trigger provisions, and the Federal Environment 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 Alliance 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.
What is fracking?
Fracking involves injecting a mixture of water, chemicals and sand into deep shale layers at high pressure to extract gas.
According to the approved Environmental Management Plan for the Shenandoah South Exploration and Appraisal Project, the project will:
- Drill and frack up to 15 horizontal exploration and appraisal wells at 4 locations
- Use up to 72 million litres of water and 15,000 tonnes of sand per fracked well (Page 107)
- Use approximately 580,000 litres of chemicals per well pad (Table 6, pp 20-34)
- Store up to 34 million litres of wastewater across the project area (Page 55)
In order to reach the deep shale gas targeted by the Shenandoah project, Tamboran will drill through the important Cambrian Limestone Aquifer system (p203) which supplies water to pastoral stations and feeds surface water to creeks and rivers, including the headwaters of the Roper River and Mataranka Springs (Geological and Bioregional Assessment Program 2021).
The Cambrian Limestone Aquifer system harbours unique stygofauna, underground aquatic creatures that can play a crucial role in cycling nutrients and maintaining water quality. Many of these local species are found nowhere else in the world.
About the client
Lock the Gate is a national grassroots organisation made up of more than 240,000 supporters and around 140 local groups who are concerned about risky coal mining, coal seam gas and fracking.
These groups are located in all parts of Australia and include farmers, First Nations peoples, conservationists and urban residents.
"Lock the Gate Alliance is launching this landmark challenge to protect water from fracking because we believe Tamboran’s project represents a serious risk to groundwater in the Northern Territory."We believe Tamboran should be conducting further assessments and seeking approval from the Federal Environment Minister before fracking is undertaken. We argue that if it doesn’t, Tamboran will be in breach of the national environmental law.
“We feel compelled to take this action because the Federal Environment Minister has failed to step in and make sure water impacts are fully assessed."
— Carmel Flint, Lock the Gate Alliance National Coordinator
“Our national environment laws require fracking projects with a likely significant impact on water resources to be referred for federal assessment. All companies seeking to carry out regulated activities must abide by Australian laws, and our client looks forward to having this critical issue considered by the Court."
— Retta Berryman, EJA Senior Specialist Lawyer
Make a difference
The challenges we face are vast. The time to push for large-scale system change is now.
Our financials
We have a long-standing commitment to sound fiscal management, accountability and transparency.
We encourage you to investigate before you donate.
Join us
The law is a powerful circuit breaker to hold governments and corporations to account.
Join us and let's build a radically better world.
