Power station extension a slap in the face

FORUM:

The faceless, unknown and dictatorial Council of Australian Governments COAG, including industry operators and the Australian Energy Market Operator AEMO, have given the coastal communities of the Central Coast and lower Lake Macquarie an almighty slap in the face.

As the NSW Government and several of its agencies, including NSW EPA and NSW Health, conveniently ignored the health concerns identified by the community through a series of meetings with major departments, without any contradiction to those community findings, each have lived up to their dismal reputations by extending the life of Vales Point power station a further four years than previously indicated to the year 2033.

The NSW State Government does not get off lightly whilst putting forward 16 recommendations from the Legislative Council Public Works Committee Inquiry into coal ash dams throughout NSW.

None of the 16 recommendations have been completed to date even though some deadlines were set for December 31, 2022.

The now NSW Treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, was chairperson of the Public Works Committee and has simply dropped the ball when it comes to instigating the 16 recommendations which would help local communities understand why nearly 20 per cent of their populations have three or more chronic health conditions.

The bipartisan and unanimous committee’s comment (3.66) in the March 2021 report stated: “that the committee was disappointed with the response by the NSW EPA and NSW Health to community concerns about a potential link between the circulation of additional metals in the air and waterways, and impacts on health outcomes for the community. This response, in conjunction with the lack of research conducted to date on this matter, demonstrates a complete disregard by the government towards the health of its citizens”.

The 16 recommendations were published before members of the community had four face to face meetings with the Hunter New England Public Health Unit, Central Coast Public Health Unit, NSW Planning and several meetings with directors of the NSW EPA.

At no stage was the information put forward by the community, including (from) doctors and pharmacists , disputed by any of the authorities or seemingly passed onto COAG or AEMO.

We have continually called for answers to the inquiry’s recommendations and questions raised at each of the four meetings to no avail.

Yet the same NSW Government and NSW EPA thought it proper to ignore community concerns and allowed an extension of life to (this power plant), all while childhood cancers currently run rampant on the Coast.

Consecutive state and federal governments have let the community down in many ways (by) ignoring the indisputable scientific evidence of the impacts on waterways and the air we breathe.

Their own health statistics (ABS) show that 16.9 per cent of each of the small town populations surrounding the power stations and their ash dams had three or more chronic health issues.

Furthermore the region has 6 per cent more cancers rates (nine cancers in total) than the rest of NSW (Torrens University Cancer Cluster report) with asthma running a close second at 15.5 per cent of the population.

In comparison, suburbs such as Mascot, which contain Sydney’s airport, Port Botany, oil refineries and Orica’s toxic groundwater plumes, sits at 5.8 per cent.

Whilst the region contends with hundreds of proposed offshore wind turbines and the prospect of oil or gas exploration through the sleeping giant PEP-11, this decision demonstrates a complete disregard by the government towards the health of its citizens.

These issues and many more will be rammed home at the community’s upcoming UN Independent Human Rights expert meeting, looking into how this region has been treated over the past five decades.

Email, Jul 30
Gary Blaschke, Lake Munmorah