ENVIRONMENTALISTS will be descending on Victoria Hall next week to launch a campaign against a major fracking proposal in WA’s North West. 

The proposal, known as Valhalla Project, was put forward by US resource company Black Mountain Energy and outlined a plan to drill multiple “exploration wells” in the Canning Basin in the Kimberley. 

• Fiona Stanley, John Butler and another non-Frack lovers will be gathering at Victoria Hall next week. Photo by Katherine Kraayvanger

The group, including local celebrities John Butler and Fiona Stanley will be protesting in response to the WA government potentially condoning a “fracking nightmare” in the Kimberley, which they say is a “serious and growing threat” to the region’s environment. 

Internationally renowned climate scientist Bill Hare will also be in attendance. 

It’s the first major oil and gas fracking proposal in WA’s history, according Environs Kimberley strategy director Martin Pritchard, who says the region is a “safe haven” for several species and is the “most intact tropical savannah” in the world. 

“Drilling and fracking are proposed in the heart of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River catchment, stronghold of threatened species like the bilby and critically endangered freshwater sawfish,” Mr Pritchard said. 

“The 20-well drilling and fracking proposal, if approved by the Cook government, would be the pre-cursor to thousands of gas fracking wells turning the Kimberley’s world-renowned landscapes into an industrial wasteland.”

The campaign launch will be held on Wednesday, September 11, from 6.30pm. 

by KATHERINE KRAAYVANGER