At a time when the entire world is threatened as never before by climate change chaos caused by humanity’s continued use of fossil fuels, the Beetaloo gas development has commenced with urgency and total disregard for the future of humanity.
If allowed to proceed, not only will this project drive up Australia’s and the world’s climate emissions, it will also ignore many newly documented health dangers for the people of the Northern Territory.
By
Professor Melissa Haswell,
University of Sydney
Professor David Shearman,
University of Adelaide
These dangers to the health and well being of people are demonstrated by many scientific papers from the US gas fields that were analysed by Professors Haswell and Shearman in a recent submission to the Senate Enquiry into Oil and gas exploration and production in the Beetaloo Basin.
New research is available from the US that measures the contribution of oil and gas mining to ozone and volatile organic chemical air pollution and predicts numbers of premature human deaths each year as a result.
Air pollution from drilling and from wastewater around oil and gas developments is well recognised. The three most concerning pollutants of direct health concern are fine particulate matter, ground level (also called trophospheric) ozone and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
Because of the sparse populations in the Northern Territory, it was widely considered in the conclusions from the NT Fracking inquiry in 2017 that human exposure to air pollution was not a concern. All information regarding health impacts of air pollution were therefore largely dismissed in the final report. However, an extensive analysis of air quality data in relation to oil and natural gas operations in Colorado, USA has yielded very important and concerning findings for the Northern Territory.
While the ozone layer in the stratosphere is better known for its beneficial role in absorbing harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun, it is also a very potent chemical harming our respiratory tract and lungs when breathed in. Ozone is formed in the lower atmosphere, especially in warm temperatures, when air pollutants emitted from gas mining operations react with each other.
Air pollution studies from the US showed that ozone moves many kilometers away from gas operations where it can damage human health. Ozone is also known to reduce productivity of agricultural land, and a study author recommended that losses now known to be linked to the gas industry should be compensated.
From these findings and based on high temperatures (and rising due to climate change), already much higher respiratory health burden and scarce health services in remote area NT, it can be predicted that ozone levels resulting from gas mining operations may accelerate illness and deaths among Aboriginal people in the Beetaloo Basin.
Traditional Custodians are also rightly concerned about the contamination of their water resources with chemicals involved in gas extraction – both added and naturally occurring. The regions waterways are deeply connected across their region, especially in times of flooding.
Recent research has linked gas mining operations with increases in health problems that may result from chemical exposures and constant stress. These include heart failure, heart attacks, asthma attacks, and other respiratory diseases. In addition, many studies have found lower birth weights and increases in severe birth defects among infants of mothers living near affected areas.
Another big worry for people living in the Beetaloo is, of course, impacts on the land. It is always hard to imagine how a small number of exploration wells can turn into many thousands of wells in a short time. We need to look no further than the Darling Downs in Queensland where numbers of coal seam gas wells rose from a handful to many thousands sprawling across very important agricultural land in just ten years.
With heavy industrialisation, pipelines, compressor stations, gas processing plants and heavily trafficked roads, the impacts on land and biodiversity are clearly evident. These vast developments would deeply impact on the emotional, cultural and spiritual health of Aboriginal people whose timeless connection to the integrity of the Land is profound.
During the booming construction phase of this infrastructure, many fly-in fly-out workers, mostly male, will come into these areas, living in temporary ‘man camps’ with high salaries; potentially creating a ‘wild wild west’ situation similar to that seen in remote United States and Canada. This threatens the safety of Indigenous women and children in communities with very limited police protection.
In conclusion, the Beetaloo Drilling Program threatens to open the doors to a major degradation of large areas of the Northern Territory – but the extent to which this is realised is not a given. On the one hand, we have a government that is using taxpayers’ money to promote a ‘gas-led recovery’ that if successful, will help push our climate into unimaginable chaos. On the other hand, there is a very strong force of resistance from the Traditional Owners and their supporters who are determined to protect their Country. All Australians have a responsibility to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s enduring leadership, wisdom and action to Heal Country.
