On a recent trip to the USA, South West musician John Butler traveled through the state of North Dakota where he was shocked to see the number of gas wells ignited across the sky.
Butler said it was a frightening part of the world to drive through because there was a serious amount of fracking taking place there.
“The fire and flaring off from all the fracking wells, it was everywhere you could smell it, and when it rained the roads got this strange milky runoff which foams up like it had been raining milk,” he said.
“It was actually the flare debris that had settled on the water on the sides of the road and when it rained you got this chemical cocktail that built up on the roads.
“At night time there was just fire everywhere – it looked like hell.
“With the amount of fracking and flaring taking place there I do not dare think anybody would drink the water or use it for agriculture.”
Butler said it was great that 50 of Australia’s leading scientists handed a letter to the WA Government urging them to permanently ban fracking in the state.
The letter was handed in before a report by the WA Independent Scientific Panel Inquiry into fracking was made public.
“Hopefully the WA Government actually listen, that is not a small amount of scientists, it is a group of people who probably understand the issue more than the government themselves,” he said.
“We are all waiting nervously see to see what our state government does.”
Butler said there was no amount of risk that could be taken when it came to protecting water resources and was stunned the NT Government agreed to allow fracking.
“We cannot afford 1 per cent of risk when it comes to our water, if there is event the slightest chance we can pollute our water through any kind of industry has to be a no-go zone, it is unacceptable” he said.
“If you look at the Kimberley, there are 47,000 applications for fracking licences, that is more than every person in the Kimberley.
“They keep saying it will be regulated, but how many thousands of employees are you going to have on the ground regulating each well when each well could fail.
“Something like 14 per cent of wells will fail in the first three years, then 60 per cent fail in the first 10 years and all fail within their lifetime.
“Knowing that we do not actually have the men to manage it, and that wells failing is a risk, it is absolute madness and it cannot wreak of industry tampering with a democratic process and infiltrating our government.”
Butler has just released his new album Home and is currently touring around Australia, he will be performing at Leeuwin Estate in Margaret River with Missy Higgins on January 27, 2019.
