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Australian territory reveals plan to lift ban on controversial fracking
Last Updated: 2018-07-18 11:16 | Xinhua
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Australia's Northern Territory (NT) government has announced its plan to re-introduce fracking, a controversial mining practice.

Hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, is the process of injecting liquid at high-pressure into subterranean rocks to widen existing fissures and extract oil or gas.

The government placed a moratorium on the practice in September 2016, citing environmental risks associated with fracking such as the impact it has on surrounding farmland and the increased production of greenhouse gas emissions.

Michael Gunner, Chief Minister of the NT, on Tuesday evening released details of how all 135 recommendations of a 15-month scientific inquiry that recommended lifting the moratorium but enforcing strict rules and regulations on the mining industry would be adopted.

He said that under the plan, onshore gas exploration in the NT would resume from April to November, the region's dry season, 2019.

The decision has been welcomed by the federal government which has pressured every state and territory to allow fracking.

Fracking is outlawed in Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia and restricted in parts of New South Wales. The South Australian government has vowed to introduce a 10-year ban in the state's southeast.

Gunner said that the NT's plan could be a blueprint for other states looking to lift their own moratoriums on fracking but urged those states to make their own decisions on the matter.

"Rather I would urge them not to bow to federal government pressure and instead make their own decisions about what is best for them," he told reporters in Darwin on Tuesday evening.

"There was some pressure put on the Northern Territory government, but at the end of the day we stuck true to our word to Territorians and undertook our own independent studies.

"The independent scientific report into hydraulic fracturing found that risks could be mitigated if all the recommendations of their report were implemented.

"This implementation plan is a comprehensive response to these recommendations."

(Editor:王苏)

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Australian territory reveals plan to lift ban on controversial fracking
Source:Xinhua | 2018-07-18 11:16
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