The Northern Territory’s new fracking laws come into effect today.

The new legislation is considered by many to be an attempt to appease concerns from the Opposition Labor Party, which has been strongly opposed to the controversial fossil fuel extraction method.

The new policy will see fracking companies forced to convince the Government that the risk of any environmental damage is “acceptable” and “as low as reasonably practicable”.

“One of the major changes to the regulations taking effect today is a move from the Government telling companies how to construct or develop their projects,” Department of Mines chief executive Ron Kelly told reporters this week.

“We've moved to a process where we tell companies what they need to achieve and then it's up to the company to come up with a plan or a process or construction technique that we assess as acceptable.

“An example of that will be ensuring an aquifer will not be contaminated.”

The process has been criticised for lacking transparency.

“In the budget there was the announcement of a chief scientist role in the Northern Territory,” Mr Kelly said.

“We're looking at how we can utilise services of that entity as well in overseeing the governance and implementation of our processes here.”

The Government said it had deliberately not prescribed minimum standards, but will instead assess each proposal on its merits.

“Whatever we put in as a minimum standard now is what companies will adhere to,” Mr Kelly said.

“What we are trying to encourage here is continued improvement and best practice of the operations and the proposed construction techniques.”

Those who say the laws are not strong enough want an independent inspector set up to review agreements and the integrity of mining projects.