Santos worker who blew the whistle about dead dolphins and an oil spill: Alex says Santos misled the public and sought to cover up the true impact of an oil spill — a claim Santos denies

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1. In March 2022 about 25,000 litres of oil leaked from a hose Santos used to load a tanker moored off its Varanus Island gas processing facility, 75 kilometres from Western Australia’s Pilbara coast.

   The spill was not made public by either Santos or the WA safety regulator and when revealed a month later by the Sydney Morning Herald, a Santos spokeswoman said it was a “minor spill” with “negligible” environmental impact. [[SMH](https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/environmental-group-disputes-negligible-impact-of-santos-wa-oil-spill-20220329-p5a8ym.html)]

   It was only eight months after the spill that a Santos spokesperson publicly acknowledged the dead dolphins, telling news website WA Today: “These sightings were a couple of hours after the incident, in which time no harm would have resulted from this incident.”

   When Alex saw the Santos statement he was shocked. He says the spill response was still in full swing when the dolphins were seen and he insists they were found amid the condensate. (The company told a wildlife regulator that they couldn’t find the bodies.)

   “Until Santos’ articles came out denying responsibility for the dolphin deaths, I’m fairly confident that everybody on the island, supervisors included, would have believed what happened that day had something to do with the deaths,” he says.

    

   Photographs of the oil spill and dead dolphins were tabled in the Australian Parliament in February 2023. [[APH](https://www.aph.gov.au/-/media/Estimates/economics/supp2223/18_S_Pocock_Oil_Spill_Documents.pdf)]

   Separately, another Santos worker told Background Briefing: “Internally, it is believed and well understood the spill caused the death of the dolphins.”

   What happened in March 2022 is still being investigated by the WA safety regulator 20 months later.

   A number of current and former Santos staff and industry insiders told Background Briefing they didn’t perceive the investigating agency as a tough regulator. That view is also supported by a December 2022 review of agency by WA’s Office of the Auditor General.

   It found the regulator is “not fully effective” at ensuring mining projects limit environmental harm. It also said the department’s monitoring and enforcement “does little to deter operators from breaching conditions”.

2. cant stand those fucking people and their bullshit. what the fuck is wrong with them.