After 12 painstaking months of surveying townsfolk door-to-door, Cape Conservation Group volunteers have established beyond a shred of doubt that Exmouth residents are totally opposed to unconventional onshore gas exploration on the North West Cape.

CREDIT: Frack Free WA

When asked about their views on the industry, 98.3% of the more than 1000 residents who took part said they did not want fracking in the area. With surveying now complete, the community of Exmouth will celebrate its gasfield free status on Sunday 2 July, 10.30 a.m at Federation Park. The volunteers behind this rigorous democratic process will hand the declaration to Shire CEO Cameron Woods at the event at the town’s Sunday markets. 

 CCG President Denise Fitch said today: ‘The fracking industry wastes and pollutes water. It’s on the nose worldwide because it wrecks communities and ruins landscapes. Clearly the people of Exmouth understand that. This is an overwhelming result and it should leave nobody in doubt about how the unconventional gas industry is viewed by locals in this shire. Simply put, fracking is not welcome on the Cape and now any company looking to explore here will know it.’ 

In taking this stand Exmouth joins other WA communities like Dandaragan, Jurien, Cervantes and Greenough who have also declared themselves Gasfield Free. Hundreds of Australian shires have already locked the gate on fracking. At the last state election Mark McGowan promised a statewide moratorium on this unpopular and unwelcome industry. 

Local Exmouth businessman Peter Firth, who helped volunteers survey the town, said today: ‘Locals get it and I’m stoked. We live in a special and precious part of the world. It’s a tourism hot-spot and a World Heritage property, and fracking will just never be compatible with Ningaloo values. We love this place too much to let it be spoiled’.

Press Release: Cape Conservation Group Inc