As an Alice Springs based resident of the NT I am writing to express
my concern at the notion of expanding the hydraulic fracturing
industry in the Northern Territory.
I have a number of reasons for my concerns - some local and
some global. I have concerns for the environment, community health and
for our longer term economic livelihood.
My concerns are:
- Safety of the water supply. Here in Alice Springs we are
reliant on underground water for our drinking water and our private and
commercial water supplies. In many other places fracking has been
demonstrated to contaminate ground water - both through the chemical
use during the fracking and due to the amount of water used in the
process.
- Safety of country. There has not been an independent
scientific and environmental review of hydraulic fracturing in
Australia and I am unconvinced that it is a safe means of gas
extraction. I am concerned about the potential contamination of
country.
- Safety of air and health. My research in to communities
that are close to fracking sites shows a rise in health issues such as
nose bleeds, eye sores, rashes and respiratory issues. I am very
concerned about the health and well being of communities living near
gas wells and do not want to see this illness affecting people in my
community.
- Climate Change. It is now clear that we are facing rapid
and unprecedented climate change. This is a global challenge that will
not be met by continuing to expand the fossil fuel industry. We need to
curtail our use of fossil fuels rapidly and invest in renewables
rather than continue to explore more unconventional sources of fossil
fuels such as shale gas.
- Economy. Given the global climate crisis the NT would be
much wiser to invest in non fossil fuel based industries. There are
huge divestment campaigns happening globally and an increasing
awareness by institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
that fossil fuel based economy is not economically sustainable.
- The benefits will leave the NT. It is very unlikely that
the gas or the profits from the gas will see benefits in the NT. As
with much fossil fuel extraction the companies which drill will take
the profits elsewhere leaving the NT with contaminated water and
country and no financial gain.
I am deeply opposed to shale gas exploration and hydraulic fracturing in the NT.
Permission is granted to cite the author,
Alex Kelly