Resource companies could face increased fines and be banned from using certain chemicals under recommendations contained in a wide-ranging West Australian report into the controversial process of hydraulic fracturing.

The report, by an Upper House parliamentary committee, made 12 recommendations to beef up the regulation of the industry but conservationists say they do not go far enough.

The committee spent two years conducting the public inquiry into the implications of the practice, known as fracking, which is used to extract unconventional gas.

The process has faced strong opposition from communities in the Mid West and Kimberley which are concerned about its impact on the environment, groundwater and farming practices.

Committee chairman Simon O'Brien said the recommendations tightened safeguards facing resource companies.

"There is a number of ways our system can be strengthened and the public would have more confidence in them if they were strengthened and we have a number of recommendations which relate to that," he said.

The report recommends a range of changes including the establishment of an independent arbiter for gaining access to land, full public disclosure of chemicals used in the process and increasing the penalties facing resource companies for not adhering to regulations.

Regulatory regime change recommended

Mr O'Brien said the report also scrutinised the role of the lead regulator, the Department of Mines and Petroleum.

"The report doesn't just talk about the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing but also the regulatory regime that applies in Western Australia," he said.

"Who makes the decisions, how they make the decisions, how they communicate them to the public - we want to make sure all of that information is transparent and is made available to the public.

"We've made some recommendations which we think will assist in fine tuning our regulatory system, to make sure the reputation of Western Australia is preserved."

Conservation Council director Piers Verstegen slammed the report.

"This is a committee that is dominated by Government MPs and the Government here in Western Australia is running an agenda to promote the gas fracking industry," he said.

"That's at odds with the community and people who would be seriously impacted by gas fracking here in Western Australia."

He said the recommendations did not go fair enough and has called for a moratorium on the practice.

"I think this is a report that does not really have any recommendations that are going to be of any serious help to people who are facing gas fracking on their land," Mr Verstegen said.

"This report continues in the trend of a number of different government reports, and indeed industry reports, which simply paper over some really serious concerns in relation to hydraulic fracturing, the impact on groundwater, the impact on people's health."

Report welcomed by industry

Chief executive of oil and gas body APPEA Stedman Ellis welcomed the report's findings, and said it dispelled myths about the safety of the practice.

"What runs through the report is the recognition that fracking can be done safely," he said.

"What also runs through the report is that a number of the claims about fracking have been part of a scare campaign, they aren't well based.

"I think the report does contribute to helping people understand the confidence they can have in regulation.

"We'll look carefully at any of the recommendations to further strengthen operator performance or regulator performance and we are open to looking at those."

