PHOTOGRAPHS SUGGEST BURU ENERGY FAILS TO HONOUR LAND-CLEARING COMMITMENTS

BY GERARD MAZZA

Buru Energy land clearing in the Kimberley. Credit: Supplied, Lock the Gate.

Campaign group Lock the Gate has distributed photographs that suggest oil and gas company Buru Energy has failed to honour a commitment to limit the impacts of its land-clearing in the Kimberley.

According to Lock the Gate, since 2019 Buru Energy has cleared more than 15,000 kilometres of Kimberley savannah to map oil and gas reserves.

Earlier this year, the company told WA’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) it would use ‘raised blade’ methods to minimise the environmental impacts of clearing for its controversial Rafael project.

Photographs provided by Lock the Gate suggest the company has in fact bulldozed bushland down to the dirt.

Lock the Gate WA Campaign Coordinator Claire McKinnon says the group has provided the photographs to the Appeals Convenor as part of a request for an EPA review of the project.

“On the smaller scale, I think this project should be halted,” Ms McKinnon told Ngaarda Radio.

“It needs to be fully assessed by the EPA for all of its environmental impacts, particularly in light of the images we’ve seen showing that they’re not adhering to the conditions they were expected to.

“On the bigger scale, we know we can’t afford to open up more oil and gas fields.”