Doctors have issued a stark warning about the health impacts of exposure to methane following revelations that the Upper Hunter has some of the highest concentrations of the toxic gas in Australia.
Preliminary data from the monitoring platform Open Methane - which uses satellite-based measurements and ground-based verification to track emissions - estimates methane levels could be twice as high as what are currently reported.
It also shows that emissions from gas and coal projects could be worse than thought.
Muswellbrook was listed as one of the top 20 methane hot spots in Australia.
Significantly each of the hotspots was linked to coal or gas extraction, suggesting these sectors could be producing as much methane as the agriculture industry, if not more.
Newcastle-based rheumatologist and Doctors for the Environment member John Van Der Kallen cited the group's recent Fossil Fuels are a Health Hazard report that shows communities living near high concentrations of methane had increased risk of leukaemia, asthma, kidney disease and low birth weights.
He said health professionals had long suspected that methane levels in areas such as the Upper Hunter were higher than documented.
"They have been under-represented for a long time. These new satellite systems are completely independent of Australia's measuring systems so there's no opportunity for hiding the data," he said.
"There is a lot of leakage from pipelines and the transportation system as well as from open cut mines that hasn't been acknowledged in the past."
Lock the Gate national coordinator Ellen Roberts said the implications of the satellite methane data for the Australian government were stark.
"Australia has perilously higher methane emissions than we thought, is at risk of burning up its emissions goals and must take action to prevent the coal mining industry from driving dangerous levels of global warming for which all Australians will pay the price," she said.
"The agricultural and land sectors that have provided most of Australia's emissions abatement in the last twenty years will bear the brunt of climate change damage and are still expected even now to deliver carbon offsets to expanding coal mines emitting god knows how much dangerous methane. This is a recipe for disaster."
The new emissions data adds to existing concerns about Upper Hunter air quality monitoring.
The Newcastle Herald has previously reported Environmental Justice Australia claims that most Upper Hunter's pollution monitors have inadequate measurement capabilities and their levels are not reported to the National Environmental Council.
Instead the government runs another parallel air monitoring network set up with coal mines and power station operators.
The Hunter Environment Lobby is among community groups that have previously instructed Environmental Justice Australia) for legal advice after fruitless efforts to obtain and report meaningful air monitoring data from government sources.
Dr Van Der Kallen questioned how Australia would achieve its Global Methane Pledge target of a 30 per cent reduction in methane emissions by 2030 if new fossil fuel projects continued to be approved.
"The leading cause of these emissions is fossil fuels. I feel a bit sorry for the farmers because they are trying to reduce emissions the best they can but they get painted as the bad guys," he said.
"We are seeing a global acceleration in global warming that is happening in line with an increase in methane emissions. The massive climate event happening in the US at the moment is an example of the direct consequences of increased emissions."
