Gas companies, NT regulator grilled over health impacts of proposed Middle Arm industrial hub

The federal budget has committed $1.5 billion dollars to the Middle Arm gas project in Darwin. (ABC News: Michael Donnelly)

Gas companies and the Northern Territory's environmental regulator have argued to a Federal Senate inquiry that plans for a new LNG processing facility and existing plants on Darwin Harbour are not risking human health.

The Tamboran Resources's NT LNG plant is a project planned as part of the Middle Arm industrial precinct, which the federal government has committed $1.5 billion to help develop.

The government has also planned for petrochemicals, hydrogen and minerals to potentially be processed there.

On Monday, Tamboran Resources chief executive Joel Riddle told a Senate inquiry probing the project in Canberra that there should be no health worries about either the company's plan to produce gas from Beetaloo Basin fracking wells, or its planned processing plant.

"Unconventional [gas] development is safe," he said.

"The existence of technology that the industry has perfected over time should give everyone in Australia a lot of comfort."

Independent Senator David Pocock put the results of studies into the health impacts of similar US shale gas projects to Mr Riddle.

"The Yale School of Public Health found that children living near at least one fracking well had double the risk of developing leukaemia," he said.

"The Chan School of Public Health at Harvard found, after studying a cohort of 15 million people, higher rates of death from all causes, among those living near or downwind of a fracking well.

"These are pretty high-grade studies, and they show that across your proposed supply chain — from where you'll be fracking to where the gas will be liquefied — that people will suffer an increased risk of leukaemia and of dying."

Mr Riddle responded that "there is an undercurrent in our industry of various reports getting written with no basis".

"A lot of the studies that we've reviewed in detail, these studies are based on estimated data instead of measured data, and when you look at studies based on estimated data, that introduces uncertainties," he added.

The head of the NT's Environment Protection Authority (NT EPA), Paul Vogel, told the committee the watchdog had decided Tamboran Resources's Beetaloo Basin gas field expansion plans did not need the scrutiny that would be provided by an environment impact statement process.

That was despite previous incidents including Tamboran around its Maverick 1 gas well to suppress dust in 2022.

"We formed a view that that wasn't necessary," he said.

Senator Pocock asked Dr Vogel why the NT community should feel safe after the EPA had not stopped the Inpex gas plant near Middle Arm from emitting higher levels of toxic chemicals than it told regulators it would.

Paul Vogel confirmed that Inpex was not told to stop work, and said the company had complied with regulations by reporting the pollution spikes, during periods when its gas incinerator had broken down.

He added that the EPA had only monitored for benzene chemicals during some of the times the incinerator had stopped working.

Dr Vogel: "As early as March this year, we could not detect any benzene levels at our monitoring stations when the acid gas incinerator was offline. Why would you keep on monitoring it?"

Senator Pocock: "Because you're the EPA. What sort of teeth do you actually have as a regulator?"

Dr Vogel: "Well I think they're pretty substantial, Senator."

After the day of evidence, the committee's chairwoman, Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, called on the federal government to withdraw its funding for Middle Arm.

"Already the Darwin community suffers one of the worst air qualities in the country and it's not being regulated properly by the EPA," she said.

NT Chief Minister Eva Lawler rejected the air pollution health concerns.

"It doesn't have that impact," she said.

"It's a great investment by the federal government, and it's a great investment by the Northern Territory government."

Tamboran Resources told the committee the company was still trying to raise $200 million to fund some of its next 15 gas exploration wells in the Beetaloo Basin.

Mr Riddle said the company planned to start building its Middle Arm LNG plant by 2026, and had secured deals to sell two-thirds of the gas to BP and Shell for export.