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Speaker 1: It was yesterday revealed a major gas facility in Darwin

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Speaker 1: has been leaking methane for nearly two decades, documents uncovered

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Speaker 1: by the ABC founder Santos owned LNG tank near Wickham

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Speaker 1: has been leaking methane since two thousand and six. Now

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Speaker 1: it's understood that Santos has not been forced to repair

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Speaker 1: or replace the tank, despite anti regulators reportedly learning of

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Speaker 1: that leak in twenty twenty hours after approving a proposal

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Speaker 1: to extend its operations to twenty fifty. Now, environment groups

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Speaker 1: are calling on the Albanezy government to step in amid

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Speaker 1: allegations of a gas industry cover up and systemic regulatory failure.

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Speaker 1: Joining us on the line is the Environment Center's executive director,

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Speaker 1: Kirsty Howie. Good morning to you, Kirsty, Good morning Katie,

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time. Now can you talk

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Speaker 1: us through how this methane leak was identified.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's really it's very intruing and very troubling. But

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Speaker 2: essentially there were some reports back in two thousand and

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Speaker 2: six when it was first commissioned that there was a

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Speaker 2: leak of the big storage tank that you can see,

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Speaker 2: you know, if you're in Dawen Harbor. It's really visible,

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Speaker 2: and at that time it said it was quite a

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Speaker 2: minute and negligible leak, so we didn't hear anything else

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Speaker 2: about it for years. Then what seems to have happened

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Speaker 2: is when Santos was taking over those assets from Conoco Phillips,

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Speaker 2: they were doing drone monitoring as part of the due

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Speaker 2: diligence process, and they actually discovered that the leak was

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Speaker 2: not only still there, but it was far bigger than

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Speaker 2: had certainly been publicly reported and seemed to have been

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Speaker 2: known to the gas companies themselves. So we're talking. You know,

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Speaker 2: I think the estimate in there was one hundred and

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Speaker 2: eighty four kilograms of methane per hour, which is that

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Speaker 2: would be classified as a super emitter event under sort

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Speaker 2: of international regulations. It's a pretty huge leak, but they

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Speaker 2: didn't notify the regulator until after. As you say, that

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Speaker 2: approval of being given, which we think is deeply disturbing.

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Speaker 1: What kind of damage do you believe this has done

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Speaker 1: to the environment.

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Speaker 2: Well, look, there's a few different angles to this. Of course,

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Speaker 2: there are the climate implications. Masaane is a very polluting

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Speaker 2: greenhouse gas. It's something like eighty times more harmful to

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Speaker 2: our climate than carbon dioxide. So this is a huge

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Speaker 2: leak of very large proportions that contributes to climate change.

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Speaker 2: But also we do know that it's not just masane

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Speaker 2: that is emitted from these facilities. There can be other

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Speaker 2: substances emitted, volatile organic compounds, things like benzene which can

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Speaker 2: be harmful to humans and troublingly, in the documents there's

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Speaker 2: also references and this certainly seemed to be a concern

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Speaker 2: of the Northern Territary regulators to a risk of an

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Speaker 2: explosion is a thing called a blevy, which is a

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Speaker 2: boiling liquid vapor explosion, and that is referenced in the documents.

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Speaker 2: Whether or not that is, you know, a serious risk,

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Speaker 2: is unclear, but it's certainly something that is identified as

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Speaker 2: a risk in the documents and indeed in Santos' and

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Speaker 2: Comoncos Philip's own emergency response plans.

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Speaker 1: Now I know, Santos have released a statement. They've said

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Speaker 1: that the DLNG LNG storage tank operated safely for eighteen

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Speaker 1: years up to the Darwen Life Extension Project shut down,

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Speaker 1: and that it's regulated by nt works safe and operates

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Speaker 1: under an approved safety case. They say that during the

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Speaker 1: Darwin Life Extension Project that Santos and independent third party

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Speaker 1: experts conducted a comprehensive inspection program of that tank and

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Speaker 1: confirmed that it remains fit and safe for service for

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Speaker 1: the life of the Barossa gas projects. They wreck all

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Speaker 1: the project and that all regulatory approvals are in place

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Speaker 1: and an ongoing monitoring program is in place as well.

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Speaker 1: I mean, what do you say to that.

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Speaker 2: Look, it's unsurprising that the gas company would say this,

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Speaker 2: that Santos would say that. What we would say is

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Speaker 2: this has been covered up from the public. This is

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Speaker 2: something that should have been disclosed. What we have seen

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Speaker 2: is multiple regulators, every man and his dog in government

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Speaker 2: at a Northern territory and commonwealth level seems to have

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Speaker 2: known about this, but they haven't seen fit to inform

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Speaker 2: the public, even though there are significant risks. So we

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Speaker 2: think that there has been a cover up. That this

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Speaker 2: does show a troubling kind of closeness between the gas

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Speaker 2: industry and government regulators who are supposed to help and

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Speaker 2: protect our climate, health and safety and the environment as well.

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Speaker 2: And it is a scandal that requires intervention. We can't

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Speaker 2: just the gas companies at their word. This has been

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Speaker 2: covered up by the pub from the public. It's been

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Speaker 2: covered up for a reason, and we think the solution simple,

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Speaker 2: just fix the leak, fix it and the problem will

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Speaker 2: be solved. And we don't understand why they can't do that.

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Speaker 1: So what are you calling for the Northern Territory and

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Speaker 1: the federal government to do at this point in time.

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Speaker 2: Well, look, there is one further approval remaining for Darwen LNG.

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Speaker 2: It's due in a couple of weeks time. The nt

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Speaker 2: EPA needs to renew the Darwen LNG license and we

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Speaker 2: think this is the perfect opportunity for the EPA to

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Speaker 2: show some regulatory muscle, which they've failed to do in

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Speaker 2: the past, and require Santos to fix the leak. So

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Speaker 2: that's the first thing. The second thing is we do

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Speaker 2: need the Albanezy government to investigate how this has happened,

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Speaker 2: how this has been disclosed to multiple regulators, and no

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Speaker 2: one has taken action, from the CSIRO to the Clean

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Speaker 2: Energy Regulation that it's supposed to regulate climate pollution, to

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Speaker 2: not seeing they the offsual gas regulator. Everyone knew and

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Speaker 2: no one protected the people of Darwin and the climate

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Speaker 2: of Darwen. They all acted in Santos's interests so we're

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Speaker 2: asking for action to be taken.

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Speaker 1: Why do you reckon that.

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Speaker 2: Is, why do you think that they've acted in the

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Speaker 2: interests of Santos and not the public?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, or why do you think they've not notified the

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Speaker 1: public or you know, or not sort of taken some

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Speaker 1: further steps.

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Speaker 2: Look, I've been in this game for a long time now,

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Speaker 2: and unfortunately this is something that we do see happen

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Speaker 2: here in the Northern Territory. There is a closeness between

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Speaker 2: regulators and governments and big business, and often it's the

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Speaker 2: environment and communities that are put at risk. You know,

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Speaker 2: we see it not just here, but we see it

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Speaker 2: with the illegal construction of fuel tanks in Darwin Harbor,

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Speaker 2: pollution caused by fracking in the Bedloo Back, illegal land clearing,

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Speaker 2: and it's really disappointing that it falls on the community

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Speaker 2: to raise these concerns, to uncover what's happening, to act

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Speaker 2: as a watchdog when regulators have failed, and they've really

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Speaker 2: got to smart en up. If we want to develop

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Speaker 2: the North, if we want to see new industry, if

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Speaker 2: we want to see jobs, then regulators and government have

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Speaker 2: to do their job and hold industry accountable and protect

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Speaker 2: the health of Darwin people and our precious environment that

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Speaker 2: we all love.

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Speaker 1: Well. Environment Center Into Executive Director, Kirsty Howie, really appreciate

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Speaker 1: your time this morning. Thank you for having a chat

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Speaker 1: with us.

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Speaker 2: Thanks so much, Katie appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: Thank you,