NSW Environment Protection Authority CEO Tony Chappel will address a public meeting of community action group Future Sooner at 12.30pm on Friday, December 1, at Chain Valley Bay community hall.
It is a timely visit as the Environment Protection Licence for Vales Point Power Station is due for renewal in December and Future Sooner has some submission ideas for residents to consider.
These include: Stricter limits on emissions to bring Australia up to best practices as per Europe and Japan; regular independent audits of power station operations and the studies and reports required by the licence conditions to be publicly available; air quality monitoring increased around power stations and included at local school playgrounds.
At the meeting Future Sooner will present the air quality impacts from the coal-fired power stations on Lake Macquarie – Vales Point and Eraring – and Hunter Community Environment Centre Co-ordinator Jo Lynch will give a presentation on coal-ash waste and water impacts.
An Environmental Protection Licence is issued by the NSW EPA to every polluting facility in NSW and contains the conditions that an operator must adhere to, including limits on how much air and water pollution can be emitted from a facility, the frequency and nature of monitoring and reporting of contaminants, the kind of reports and information an operator must provide to the EPA and the public and other special conditions to ensure best practice and the minimisation of harm to people and the environment.
This review takes place every five years and through community participation in the 2019 review, stricter limits were introduced on heavy metal/metalloid leachate pollution entering the lake estuary from power station discharges.
To learn more about this review process, or to get involved in keeping coal power accountable, Hunter Community Environment Centre will hold a webinar on Monday, November 20, between 5.30pm and 6.30pm.
Registration is essential via the Centre’s Facebook page.
Conditions of the Vales Point Power Station Environment Protection Licence and the community’s access to information is open for public comment until Monday, November 27.
An amendment to the Vales Point Power Station licence has now come into effect and is expected to be introduced for all facilities producing and dumping ash waste in NSW.
The Coal Ash Monitoring condition increases the scrutiny and data available on coal ash waste deposits and is another step toward the safe and beneficial recycling of ash waste.
The EPA says that it requires power station operators to meet legally enforceable conditions relating to air, water, noise, land contamination, waste and other operational matters designed to protect the community and the environment.
“The EPA has recently progressed a number of strategic initiatives across the operational power stations, to address air emissions and increase transparency around the generation and re-use of coal ash,” a spokesperson said.
“The EPA is inviting public feedback as part of our review to ensure we reduce risks to human health and the environment from coal fired power stations.”
To read more about the review and to submit your thoughts to the EPA go online to yoursay.epa.nsw.gov.au/review-of-power-station-licences
Sue Murray