Arid Lands Environment Centre v Northern Territory
COURT OR TRIBUNAL
Supreme Court
of the Northern Territory
DATE FILED (OR FIRST HEARING DATE)
16/02/2022
LITIGATION TYPE
Project Approval - Adaptation
SUBJECT MATTER
Water
REVIEW TYPE
Judicial review
SUMMARY
(Summary from the Environmental Defenders Office) EDO has launched legal action on behalf of Central Australia’s peak environmental body, the Arid Lands Environment Centre (ALEC), challenging the approval of the Northern Territory’s largest ever groundwater licence. Our client has filed judicial review proceedings in the Northern Territory Supreme Court, to challenge the November 2021 decision to re-grant a groundwater licence to Fortune Agribusiness. The licence has been granted for 30 years and allows for extractions to increase over time so that by approximately year 7 of the project, 40,000 megalitres of water can be extracted each year. This water will be used to irrigate fruit and vegetable export crops at Singleton Station, around 120kms south of Tennant Creek. ALEC will argue the approval breaches the Water Act 1992 (NT) and key provisions in the Western Davenport Water Allocation Plan (WAP) designed to protect groundwater-dependent ecosystems. Notably, extraction that causes the water table to drop in excess of 15 metres below ground level is prohibited by the WAP. Modelled extraction shows the Singleton Station licence will likely lower parts of the groundwater table in the affected area by 50 metres over 30 years. Due to these alleged breaches, ALEC is arguing that the decision must be overturned.
CASE DOCUMENTS
Arid Lands Environment Centre v Northern Territory
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