{"id":329556,"date":"2026-03-05T03:25:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T03:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/329556\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T03:25:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T03:25:10","slug":"warning-fracking-on-tanumbirini-station-could-damage-hot-springs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/329556\/","title":{"rendered":"Warning fracking on Tanumbirini Station could damage hot springs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Water scientists and Indigenous custodians are calling on the Northern Territory government to reject an application by Santos to drill and frack 12 test shale gas wells on a remote cattle station, warning the project could damage little-explored hot springs.<\/p>\n

Charles Darwin University environmental scientist Jenny Davis is among those worried the project could affect the Hot Springs Valley on the remote Tanumbirini Station in the north-east of the Territory’s gas-rich Beetaloo Basin.<\/p>\n

Professor Davis carried out preliminary research for the federal government in 2020 into whether gas fracking could have impacts on the valley’s water system.<\/p>\n

She said that revealed “there are still substantial knowledge gaps”.<\/p>\n

\"White<\/p>\n

Jenny Davis says the Santos application should be considered a high risk to the Hot Springs Valley. (Supplied: Jenny Davis)<\/p>\n

“This information suggests that risks to groundwater resources in the local region could be much higher than Santos has currently recognised,” she said.<\/p>\n

“These knowledge gaps need to be addressed before the Santos development can be considered anything other than a high-risk activity from an environmental perspective.”<\/p>\n

Griffith University water scientist Matthew Currell said rock in the Hot Springs Valley area had a high level of natural fracturing, and it had a complex aquifer system under it, from which hot water and methane gas rose to the surface.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think we can underestimate the significance of these springs and the permanent flow of good quality water that they produce,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Hot Springs Valley on Tanumbirini Station is remote and little-known. (Supplied: Jenny Davis)<\/p>\n

“There’s significant concern that the hydraulic fracturing activity could have an impact on them.<\/p>\n

“There is significant faulting around the springs and pathways that may allow for fluid flow from deep in the system to migrate upwards.<\/p>\n

“It may cause hydrocarbons to migrate into some of the aquifers above and below where the fracking is taking place.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Matthew Currell thinks the Santos project risks contaminating aquifers. (ABC News: Michael Lloyd)<\/p>\n

Professor Currell thinks the project also could affect the Cox River and Limmen Bight in the Gulf of Carpentaria.<\/p>\n

“When we have potentially contaminating activities occurring in the upper parts of these catchments, the effects of that can be felt downstream for many hundreds of kilometres,” he said.<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

That worries Indigenous custodian, ranger and chairman of the Namultja Aboriginal Corporation on the Limmen Bight, David Barrett.<\/p>\n

“We’re very worried the fracking is going to be above our rivers. It could really affect our waters, even as far as the Gulf,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The aquifers and rivers are all connected, and the dry savannah country is dependent on that water, for our animals and fish.<\/p>\n

“We’re worried about a lot of the animals like the freshwater swordfish, which are dependent on flows of freshwater out to the ocean,” he said.<\/p>\n

Garrawa Indigenous custodian Jack Green said he was concerned there could be negative impacts on a devil dreaming songline.<\/p>\n

“I don’t trust what’s going to happen. It’s going to affect us mob that got totems through that area,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Aboriginal<\/p>\n

Jack Green is worried songlines could be affected by fracking. (ABC News: Marcus Kennedy)<\/p>\n

The national science agency, CSIRO, is currently undertaking another study into whether fracking could have a negative impact on the Hot Springs Valley.<\/p>\n

It has assessed the springs as “highly environmentally, culturally and spiritually significant” and “understudied”.<\/p>\n

The agency said its research would not be complete until the second half of the year.<\/p>\n

Professor Currell said the NT government should not assess Santos’s application until it had received and taken into account the CSIRO study results.<\/p>\n

“There is a long way to go before the risk level can be confidently assessed,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Hot Springs Valley area has a complex network of aquifers underneath it. (ABC News: Michael Lloyd)<\/p>\n

Santos said in its application that the risk to the environment from its project was “low”.<\/p>\n

“Santos is committed to minimising the impact of its operations on the local environment,” it said.<\/p>\n

The application said the company would stop contamination between aquifers by protecting “the quality and integrity of surface and groundwater \u2026 and maintaining natural flow regimes where possible”.<\/p>\n

It said it would make sure wastewater, chemicals and gases were not released accidentally and would use “appropriate controls” during drilling.<\/p>\n

The company said it would also put a water monitoring regime into place to quickly detect any problems.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Santos says it is committed to minimising the impact of its fracking project on the environment at Tanumbirini Station. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)<\/p>\n

In its application, Santos has predicted the Territory is “on the cusp of a shale gas boom akin to the coal seam gas boom experienced by Queensland from around 2010 onwards”.<\/p>\n

It said the project had the potential to support Australian energy security, “lower costs for households, manufacturers and businesses” and drive “significant economic growth”.<\/p>\n

In response to the ABC’s questions about whether the project would pose a risk to the Hot Springs Valley, Cox River and Limmen Bight, Santos did not reply directly.<\/p>\n

It provided a statement which said: “Santos has been safely developing and producing gas in the Cooper Basin in South Australia and south-west Queensland for more than 60 years.<\/p>\n

“We have submitted an environmental management plan \u2026 [that] will only be approved if it can satisfy government requirements, including a requirement that environmental impacts and risks of the proposed activity will be reduced to a level that is as low as reasonably practicable and acceptable.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Water scientists and Indigenous custodians are calling on the Northern Territory government to reject an application by Santos…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[152167,246,61243,152164,152168,152169,152170,61,60,152163,152166,152165,61052,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-329556","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-charles-darwin-university","9":"tag-environment","10":"tag-fracking","11":"tag-fracking-environment","12":"tag-gas-fracking","13":"tag-gulf-of-carpentaria","14":"tag-hot-springs-valley","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-nt-fracking","18":"tag-nt-hot-springs","19":"tag-nt-springs","20":"tag-santos","21":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}