Cape Town - Experts in hydrology, geology and chemical pollution must investigate every proposed fracking site on land owned by indigenous communities in the Kimberley area of northern Australia before any drilling starts.
So says lawyer and community member Wayne Bergman, who has also challenged executives of shale-gas companies to sign over all their personal wealth as surety.
“From our research, there is no one single person who’s an expert , so it’s very concerning that they’re going to start experimenting,” he told the Cape Argus at WILD10.
“Essentially all these big gas companies are having an experiment with the world’s water table – it’s a bit like having a nuclear explosion on the surface and wondering where the fall-out is going to happen. And that’s how I feel about putting chemicals in the ground.”
The cultural belief system of these indigenous communities included an explanation for the origins of water during the creation, Bergman said.
“We’ve had water stories about how different snakes travelled through the ground and connected water holes and everything together. So we’re saying that, according to our knowledge, if you frack and put poison in the ground, it’s going to affect everyone.”
If gas executives were so confident fracking was safe, they should “sign a deed that they will give over all their worldly possessions for the rest of their lives to us if they’re wrong”.
Bergman said a major campaign in Australia called ‘Lock the Gates’ was being led by farmers, “non-indigenous people, saying ‘my God, you’re destroying our way of life and our livelihood’. It’s been a political response and everyone has joined up with it.” - Cape Argus