Tamboran Resources on the loose as NT activist faces trespass charges

November 29, 2023
Issue 
The megafracker at the East Arm Common User Facility. Photo: Frack Free NT/Facebook

Justin Tutty appeared before the Darwin Local Court on November 28, charged with trespass for locking on to Tamboran鈥檚 Resources megafracker in May.

The United States company Origin Energy鈥檚 stake in fracking the Beetaloo Basin last year. The megafracker can drill a well in just 10 days, compared to 70 days for a conventional rig.

罢补尘产辞谤补苍听聽12 pilot wells on Amungee Mungee cattle station, southeast of Daly Waters. At full production, the NT and federal governments envisage聽 to be drilled each year over 20鈥40 years.

But its plans are being scrutinised by the NT Supreme Court in a case brought by the Central Australian Frack Free Alliance (CAFFA) against the NT Environment Minister.

Tamboran workers went public in August about being told .

The company聽has begun work at the Shenandoah South 1H well pad in the Beetaloo Basin, on November 27.

Climate Analytics that CSIRO/GISERA has significantly underestimated the annual emissions from fracking the Beetaloo Basin: a true reckoning would be the equivalent to 11% of Australia鈥檚 total emissions in 2021.

An Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report from March that the climate emergency is now so acute that no new fossil fuel projects should be approved. Unless global emissions are halted, temperatures could rise above 3掳C by 2100, causing irreversible damage to ecosystems.

Marcos A Orellana, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Toxics and Human Rights, who visited Darwin over August and September聽.

鈥淩ecent scientific reports suggest that temperatures in the Northern Territories could make the region uninhabitable for humans,鈥 he said. 鈥淒espite that, petrochemical and oil and gas industries are lining up massive projects in the region. This threatens to make Darwin and the region a climate change sacrifice zone.鈥

Tamboran to process its fracked gas at the Middle Arm Industrial Precinct, currently the subject of a Senate inquiry.

The Middle Arm Precinct is set to play a crucial role in helping expand the gas and petrochemical industries.

鈥淚t鈥檚 outrageous that these fracking companies can get away with absolute impunity, with the full protection and encouragement of the law,鈥 said retired schoolteacher Christine Cox, who supported Tutty in court. 鈥淢eanwhile those who try to do something about it are dragged through the courts on criminal charges.鈥

Cox is a member of the . 鈥淚n my view, direct action and civil disobedience are the only ways we are going to protect our environment because governments have shown themselves to be entirely captured by the fossil fuel industry.鈥

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