Erin Brockovich, where are you?

I find it totally repulsive, if not criminal, that the NSW Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) in May 2024 has identified the land at the former Munmorah Power Station to be a significantly contaminated site to be cleaned up.

It was in late September 2017 when the EPA’s Unit Stakeholder Engagement Team contacted me to discuss that the EPA had found PFAS (per-and poly-fluoroalkyl) substances in Lake Munmorah and Colongra Bay.

The EPA intended to conduct a series of fish tests to see the extent of the contamination problem, especially in the lakes (lagoons), as they are regularly used for fishing and recreation purposes.

They put out two media releases indicating that investigations were underway, and information to residents of Lake Munmorah and Colongra Bay, both very limited in their distribution.

The EPA stated that sampling would include areas around the power stations and in the wider Tuggerah lakes system, plus the undertaking of a survey of nearby residents to gain a greater understanding of the impacts and of the key exposure pathways, as PFAS can contaminate seafood and/or drinking water.

The EPA said “to date, sampling has been limited and the NSW Government considers that further testing is required to determine if PFAS has migrated offsite, and if there are any potential health impacts to the surrounding areas and local community”.

Studies conducted were looking at impacts on cholesterol levels, male hormones, heart disease, liver changes and other effects, including cancer.

To date, the community have not seen nor been privy to the findings.

Taking some period of time to catch a fish or a prawn to be tested, I continued to pressure the EPA for the results and after threatening to involve the Minister, surprisingly they had caught five species of fish and some prawns, carried out their studies and put out a fact sheet in December 2018.

The fact sheet disclosed that the testing of seafood in the Tuggerah lakes system was undertaken to determine if exposure to PFAS from consumption of seafood was a risk to the community.

It had found that the contaminated groundwater was generally moving towards the centre of Munmorah and Colongra sites, meaning that exposure to PFAS from the groundwater is limited.

I find it alarming that the EPA then went on to say that there is no current evidence to suggest an increase in overall health risks related to PFAS exposure, however their Expert Panel also said health effects cannot be ruled out at this time.

I can only hope that the same Expert Panel was not (the one which) audited the Wreck Bay and Williamtown contaminated sites.

We can only hope that the EPA Expert Panel has told the fish and crabs not to visit the lakes until remediation is completed and have informed the professional fishermen that they potentially could be part of the problem.

In January 2023 I was contacted by the EPA Executive Director Regulatory Policy Initiatives and Advice.

This was after four meetings with a team from the Central Coast and Hunter New England Public Health Unit, NSW Health, NSW EPA and Planning NSW, plus many emails to and from the EPA Manager of Policy, Major Projects and Initiatives Regulatory Policy, Initiatives and Advice (who was appointed to oversee the implementation of the NSW Government response to the Inquiry into power stations and their coal ash repositories).

The Director proclaimed that NSW Health advised that the aim was to further consult with relevant groups of the community at an appropriate time.

She went on to say that the Government, in its response to the Inquiry’s 16 recommendations, did not commit to specific timeframes for health studies and actions to be completed.

I find it in contempt that a Director of the EPA when responding to the community’s concerns can make such comments when Recommendation Number 6 from the government Inquiry states “that NSW Health immediately undertake an epidemiological assessment of the health of residents near coal ash dams to establish the health impacts of coal ash and publish by 31 December 2022”.

The Director went on to say that if I was not happy with the behaviour or conduct of an EPA officer, I could also make a complaint via the EPA website, even though they had ignored my complaints since 2017 and now in 2024 the complaints have come to fruition.

Unhappy is an understatement, especially when the same Government Inquiry (chaired by the now NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey) commented in its report “that the committee agrees with the inquiry participants that little research, if any, has been conducted on the impacts and long term consequences in relation to the health of communities residing near coal ash dam”.

“We are 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,” the report said.

“This response, in conjunction with the lack of research on health outcomes on this matter, demonstrates a complete disregard by the government towards the health of its citizens.”

The issue of PFAS contamination was raised with Member for Wyong (now Central Coast Minister) David Harris on October 10, 2017.

I subsequently received an EPA media release from Mr Harris in July 2019 stating that the Tuggerah lakes had been given the all clear after PFAS testing, which was obviously flawed with what we now know in 2024.

In the same media release the EPA Manager of Strategic Regulation David Gathercole said “a rigorous PFAS testing regime had been completed and the results were good news for the community”. 

Years of neglect and cover-ups by consecutive Governments now find in May 2024 that the EPA has declared the Munmorah site as a significantly contaminated site.

PFAS, the forever chemicals, are flowing down the channels into the Tuggerah lakes system, having (had) 520 days to circulate in Lake Macquarie, 460 days for Budgewoi Lake and 220 days for Tuggerah Lake.

The cumulative impacts must be devastating for both the environment and human health alike.

Adding to the problem, we now have a recent development application being submitted to Central Coast Council for a water treatment plant, being simply a PFAS treatment plant which will operate for the next 10 years if approved.

To make things worse, there are plans for a complete new suburb at Doyalson with over-50s housing, a residential subdivision, childcare and medical centre, fast food outlets and a service station, which will be sandwiched between the Munmorah PFAS and coal ash dump and the Vales Point coal ash dam which has potentially caused many chronic health and environmental issues for the region.  

Email, May 6
Gary Blaschke, Lake Munmorah