CANBERRA, May 3 (Xinhua) -- A coalition of leading experts have called for the government of Australia's Northern Territory (NT) to ban gas fracking.
In an open letter published on Wednesday, almost 100 scientists warned that large-scale fracking in the NT could cause irreversible environmental damage.
The letter was published ahead of the government making a final decision on whether it will allow the proposed fracking in the Beetaloo Basin to proceed after a study found the environmental risks were minimal.
The 2.8 million hectare basin, located 500 km south of Darwin, the capital city of NT, contains significant amounts of shale oil and gas that can only be recovered via fracking - a process where high-pressure fluid is blasted into bedrock.
In 2018, an inquiry recommended that a moratorium on the controversial practice should only be lifted if there would be no net increase in the NT's carbon emissions.
Wednesday's letter, signatories to which include Australia's leading climate scientists, said fracking in the basin would produce an extra 89 million tonnes of emissions annually - about four times more than the NT's total current emissions.
It said the government had committed to implementing all the Scientific Inquiry recommendations into Hydraulic Fracturing.
"Including that the NT and Australian governments seek to ensure that there is no net increase in the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions emitted in Australia from any onshore shale gas produced in the NT," it said.
"The Northern Territory government has failed to keep its commitment."
The government has said it would secure help from federal and state governments with gas shortages to offset the emissions from the basin project.
Mark Ogge, a policy adviser at think tank the Australia Institute and signatory of the letter, said that even if any such agreement was made, it would only account for the emissions from extracting the gas and ignore those from processing and burning it.
"Australia's scientists and those around the world are calling on leaders to heed their warnings and the research evidence," he said in a statement. ■