The United Nations Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights, Dr Marcus Orellana, has made it clear that it’s time the NSW Government took action to protect the health and wellbeing of its citizens.
His End of Mission Statement released in Sydney on September 8 is the result of an official 10-day Australia-wide visit which included a community meeting on August 29 at Chain Valley Bay with Future Sooner and other environmental organisations.
“The UN draft statement singles out Vales Point coal-fired power station as a major contributor to the health issues facing Central Coast residents and is a salvo aimed directly at the NSW government,” Future Sooner spokesperson Gary Blaschke said.
“In the report the UN says that while coal-fired power stations have enabled economic prosperity, it is our community that has paid the price with premature deaths, terminal illnesses, asthma and other serious health problems.
“The report also states that Australia’s air quality standards are less protective than the World Health Organisation standards and slams the government for allowing Vales Point coal-fired power station to still enjoy an exemption licence to pollute more.”
There were more than 100 people at the local meeting where Future Sooner outlined the 16 recommendations from the Government Coal Ash Inquiry into coal ash dams that, to date, have not been implemented.
The UN has been asked to pressure the government to take action now.
“We told the UN how the community has raised these environmental and human health issues with NSW Public Health Units, Environmental Protection Authority, local MPs and government authorities – all to no avail,” Blaschke said.
Speakers at the meeting included representatives of Future Sooner, Environmental Justice Australia, the Environmental Defenders Office and the Hunter Community Environment Centre.
“The UN heard stories of the air pollution that was causing multiple asthma cases, cancers higher than anywhere else in the state, water pollution where signs warn residents not to eat the fish from the lake, fish kills, toxins in bird feathers and the millions of tonnes of coal ash sitting in unlined troughs, that they call dams,” Blaschke said.
“It’s time for the NSW government to deliver.
“The Coal Ash Inquiry Committee knows it; the residents know it; now the UN knows it.
“Now let’s see the government’s plan to make it a reality for the people of the Central Coast to live in a toxic-free environment.
“This is not just an environmental issue but a human rights one – the right of everyone living on the Central Coast to live in a clean and healthy environment.”
Orellana and UN Human Rights Officer Halida Nasic met with federal, state and territory government authorities, non-government and civil society organisations, academic experts and scientists, individuals and communities in the ACT, Canberra, NSW, Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.
They were examining the human rights situation related to the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and waste in the country.
In his End of Mission Statement, Orellana examines how toxic releases from coal mines and coal-fired power plants, uranium mines and the spraying of highly hazardous pesticides are imposing heavy burdens on communities.
His report says that proposed petrochemical, offshore oil and gas, hydraulic fracking and waste incineration projects pose serious health, water, agricultural and climate concerns.
“Air quality standards in Australia are less protective than in other member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and moreover, certain facilities have received exemptions from compliance with relevant standards and communities pay the price,” the report says.
Orellana’s End of Mission Statement on his Australian visit is available at https://www.un.org/en/pacific-unic
His final report will be presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council in September 2024.
Sue Murray