Gunner Government limbering up for a backflip on fracking promises, misleading NT on emissions offsets
The Environment Centre NT (ECNT) has accused the Gunner Government of preparing to backflip on its promise of offsetting emissions from fracking the Beetaloo, and has called its new greenhouse gas emissions policy a dud.
Kirsty Howey, Co-Director of ECNT said:
"The Gunner Government is limbering up for a backflip, but if they walk away from their commitments on gas mining we'll make sure they don't stick the landing.
"At the last election Labor promised to fully offset greenhouse gas emissions from fracking in the Beetaloo, but their latest thought bubble on emissions doesn't do that, it's a dud that falls far short of what we were promised.
"The 2018 Scientific Inquiry into Hydraulic Fracturing in the NT chaired by Justice Rachel Pepper (Fracking Inquiry) said that the pollution generated from fracking the Beetaloo Basin was unacceptable and that companies should have to offset all life-cycle emissions from fracking. The Gunner Government promised to implement emissions offsets from Beetaloo gas mining, but their latest policy doesn't do that.
"In line with the Fracking Inquiry, Territorians expect the Gunner Government to require gas companies to offset their life cycle greenhouse gas emissions. Instead, we see a flimsy policy released yesterday that requires gas companies to produce Greenhouse Gas Abatement Plans (for new or expanding projects only), with no obligation to actually offset those emissions. It's unacceptable environmentally, and completely out of step with community expectations.
"The Fracking Inquiry found that production of gas in the Beetaloo could increase Australia's greenhouse gas emissions by more than 5%, a risk that the Fracking Inquiry said was completely unacceptable. More recent data suggests that the increase in Australia's greenhouse gas emissions from the Beetaloo was vastly underestimated, and could be as high as 20%.
"There's little more urgent to Territorians than action on climate and emissions. The NT's own Environment Minister has said that the NT may become uninhabitable if we continue on our current carbon emissions trajectory. Yet we are about to unleash two huge carbon bombs that will catastrophically increase our emissions: fracking the Beetaloo Basin, and Santos' toxic Barossa Project.
"Territorians still have no idea how emissions from fracking the Beetaloo will be offset. This policy is not just a step in the wrong direction – it's a sign of a Gunner Government backflip of epic proportions."
