NT Pepper Inquiry fracking reforms ‘ignored’ four years on

The NT has been accused of dragging its feet on implementing critical fracking safeguards four years after the Pepper Inquiry.

THE NT Government has been accused of dragging its feet on implementing critical fracking safeguards.

The Environmental Defenders Office reviewed the 65 legislative changes pushed through since the 2018 Pepper Inquiry, which set out 135 recommendations for managing risks from fracking.

Despite Chief Minister Michael Gunner endorsing all 135 of the recommendations in 2018, by the government’s own admission four years on less than half of the findings have been implemented.

The EDO also called into question 26 of the 65 recommendations the NT Government said it had completed, accusing them of improperly or only partially implementing the recommendations.

It said the poorly legislated changes included delays to real-time monitoring, unclear wastewater rules, overly lenient emission concentration limits and issues with working with Native Title holders.

Special Counsel Alina Leikin said the NT Government had set a lower bar for environmental protection than the Pepper Inquiry recommended.

“If the NT Government is adamant on going down this road, the bar for environmental protection must be set as high as possible,” Ms Leikin said.

“As exploration in the Beetaloo Basin accelerates, the recommendations of the Pepper Inquiry are more important than ever...., but the majority have been ignored.

“The NT Government is dragging its feet when it should be sprinting.”

Ms Leikin also called for a glaring “conflict of interest” to be fixed by granting more oversight to the Environment Department.

“The same government department tasked with promoting the mining industry is also responsible for environmental regulation of fracking wells,” she said.

Ms Leikin said despite different perspectives on fracking, most Territorians agreed there should be safeguards, transparency and oversight of the industry.

Environment Minister Eva Lawler said major reforms, including EMP alerts, greenhouse gas emission regulation, and the Large Emitters Policy were in place and there had been 29 onsite compliance inspections since 2019.

Minister Eva Lawler. Picture Glenn Campbell

“We are restoring trust and certainty through the implementation of a robust, clear and transparent set of laws, rules and guidelines on how the environment must be protected,” she said.

Ms Lawler said she was given advice from the Northern Territory Environment Protection Authority on all Environment Management Plans before they could be approved.

A government spokeswoman said production approvals had not and would not be granted until the full Pepper Inquiry was implemented, including the Emissions offsets, the Merits Review and the Strategic Regional Environmental and Baseline Assessment.