Strike Energy is proposing a 20+ year Gasfield development called West Erregulla. They have not ruled out fracking in future, or told the EPA how many wells it will drill in total.
WA’s Environmental Protection Authority(EPA) is asking for your comments on whether to assess this Gasfield proposal near Mingenew, Three Springs and Irwin in the Mid West, which is Yamatji country. We can’t leave this up to a private assessment between the EPA and this controversial gas corporation! Deadline to make a comment: this Tuesday night, 7 September!
Strike Energy is developing a 20+ year production gasfield in exploration leases where fracking is not banned by the McGowan Government. This region is known to have tight sands gas reserves, which would require fracking to access. So while Strike may not currently have a plan to frack, nothing rules that out in the future.
Even without fracking, this project will have a massive impact, in an area where there are multiple expanding gasfields and exploration.
Just this project before the EPA includes: drilling of two new gas wells, pipelines from four existing wells and the two new ones to a new upstream facility that is the first stage of processing the gas, and then transferring that gas to the West Erregulla Gas Processing Plant commissioned by Strike (also being assessed by the EPA separately!). Another 11 future wells are visible on a diagram in Strike's documents(see below), but not mentioned. We also know they have a big plan for seismic exploration adjoining this area, the Natta Rd Seismic, that goes over farmland. What else are they not telling us about?
UPDATE: the EPA has also now (Fri 3 Sept) invited comments to another of Strike's plan in the same area but bigger and spreading into adjacent farmland, a seismic survey over 15,800 ha of farmland. What else will come in the future, next week, or next year or in 5 or 10 years? Fracking could still be on the cards then.
Impacts will include air pollution, emissions, risks to underground and surface water from chemical spills and chemicals, water usage, waste water ponds and waste management, noise, light, and impacts to wildflowers and animals including Black Cockatoos from the clearing of 38 ha of native vegetation. More below.
Let the EPA know - we don’t want the Mid West full of industrial gasfields, let alone fracking gasfields!
Have your say by following this link to the EPA Consultation site.
Will you urge the EPA to publicly assess this proposal, so locals and concerned people can get the full information about the company’s future plans?
Fill out the easy form in less than 5 mins before the deadline, midnight on Tuesday 7 September 2021.
Some tips to make it quick and easy for you:
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Steps:
- Follow this link to the EPA Consultation Page: West Erregulla Field Development Program
- Enter your name and email address. You can leave the ‘Organisation’ box blank.
- Preferred option for decision: Tick Assess - Public Environmental Review
- Make a short comment. There's no required minimum length, you can just write one sentence, or a full A4 page. You can copy the tips below in if you like.
- Tick the box at the bottom, then click ‘Continue’ (this is the end, but one more click needed!)
- Click ‘Submit’ on the next page.
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Note: Anyone can make a comment, but if you have a link to the region, we suggest mentioning if you're a farmer, resident, landcarer, teacher, Traditional Custodian, tourism operator etc.
Some of the reasons might be;
- The high level of public interest and concern regarding gasfield development in the region.
- It’s a 20+ year gasfield development, starting with 6 wells and developing potentially into 10s or 100s more gas wells
- The failure to address cumulative impacts of the existing gas wells, new gas wells, processing plants, plus gas exploration and development happening in neighbouring areas including Waitsia, North Erregulla/Lockyer Deep and surrounds.
- The project is proposed on unallocated crown land with significant biodiversity values, and the project will cause fragmentation, increase the spread of weeds and risk the spread of dieback into a dieback-free area.
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The project will clear 38 hectares of native vegetation that is known or likely habitat for important plants and animals, including:
- Moderate quality Carnaby’s Cockatoo foraging habitat.
- Known habitat for the threatened Sandplain Duck Orchid.
- The project will impact adjoining landholders and farm land, through air pollution, light and noise impacts, and increased risk of bushfires and weeds, without any rights for the community to say no or to veto the project.
- It will potentially impact on groundwater levels, as well as having the potential to contaminate surface water and/or groundwater
- The company understates the impacts, and we believe they should address the 20+ year total footprint, including on EPA factors such as air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, human health, and social surroundings.
- The project will lead to increases in greenhouse gas emissions at a time when the International Energy Agency says that no new gasfields should be approved.
* The deadline to comment is midnight on Tuesday evening (7 September 2021).
Tick the 'Assess - Public Environmental Review' option, and make a short comment with your reasons(and one or all of the points above, and anything you want to add!). Make sure you click on 'continue', and 'submit' on the next page!
We need affected communities to have the opportunity to have a say on the details. We can’t leave this up to a private assessment between the EPA and the gas corporations.
UPDATE: Strike have also just (Friday 3rd) submitted their Natta Seismic plan, which is in this same area and expanding into farmland. 920kms of seismic lines, in an area of 15,800 ha. Tell the EPA to also make this a Public Environmental Review, and assess it together with all other of Strike's projects in the same region. Tick the Assess - Public Review option. Deadline is Thursday 9 September but it's easy to do both at once, it's the same type of form!
To read the full document that Strike submitted to the EPA, click here(PDF).
EPA webpage for this project is here.
Image below: Proposal map, but interestingly it doesn't show a number of other wells that are in one of Strike's diagrams(further below)
Image below: The Diagram we found in Strike's document, showing another 11 wells not mentioned. Red text added by Frack Free WA, as well numbers/letters were hard to read in original.
Image below: Map of region (southern Mid West, Yamatji country) showing this proposal, and where the North Erregulla exploration is happening, and the Waitsia. There are other wells and exploration plans in the area also.
