Central Coast group Future Sooner has joined the Greens in condemning the Environment Protection Authority’s recently released new power station licences for the four remaining coal-fired power stations in NSW.
The new licence conditions, the first for five years, require only a marginal reduction in mercury and cadmium levels, while leaving the levels for highly dangerous nitrous oxide and nitrous dioxide, and sulphur dioxide, amongst other harmful chemicals, untouched, the Greens say.
“Nitrogen oxides have numerous impacts on human health, including on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, and they exacerbate symptoms of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, and other respiratory diseases” a spokesperson said.
“Currently allowable levels of nitrogen oxides from these power stations are between 1,100 and 1,500 milligrams per cubic metre, five to 7.5 times higher than permissible levels in the European Union and China.
“Sulphur dioxide is emitted during the burning of fossil fuels, especially coal.
“Exposure to sulphur dioxide gas leads to chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, bronchitis, stroke, cardiovascular disease and lung cancer.
“Current allowable emissions for sulphur dioxide, 1,716 milligrams per cubic metre, are more than four times higher than allowable levels in the European Union and China.”
The spokesperson said peer-reviewed epidemiological research has demonstrated a causal link between negative health outcomes and air pollution from coal-fired power stations.
“In 2018, it was shown that coal-fired power stations in NSW each year cause 279 premature deaths, 233 babies born at low birthweight, and 361 new cases of diabetes,” they said.
Geeens spokesperson for the Hunter, Newcastle and the Central Coast Abigail Boyd said people who lived within 50kms of coal-fired power stations faced a risk of premature death as much as three to four times that of people living further away.
“Communities around the Central Coast, Lake Macquarie and the Hunter have for years been calling on the NSW government to tighten pollution restrictions on these stations to protect their health and today the Labor Government has thumbed their nose at them,” she said.
“Coal-reliant communities are regularly used as a convenient prop and excuse for the major parties to continue pandering to fossil fuel corporate interests – but when it comes to standing up for the health and safety of these workers and communities, the NSW Labor party is nowhere to be seen.
“These weak licence conditions, and the resulting impacts on health and environment, make the government’s decision to extend the life of Eraring even more shameful and shortsighted.”
Future Sooner spokesperson Gary Blaschke said the group had presented statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Cancer Atlas to nearly every Member of Parliament on the Coast.
“Yet they elect to ignore the facts,” he said.
“We have addressed the EPA’s Tony Chappel (CEO), the Public Health Units of the Hunter New England and Central Coast and also had the United Nations listen to our concerns and yet they all run and hide.”
Blaschke said few of 16 recommendations made by a government inquiry into the bi-products of the coal burning power stations in 2020 have been completed.
“The inquiry committee was damning of BSW Health and the EPA and said the government had demonstrated a complete disregard towards the health of its citizens,” he said.
Blaschke said National Pollution Inventory findings showed Eraring’s mercury pollution had increased 130 per cent in 12 months and very fine airborne particles (PM 2.5) had increased by 88 per cent.
Vales Point Power Station readings had a 47 per cent increase of sulphur-dioxide and a 48 per cent increase in Bayswater, he said.
“It alarms me that those who are meant to protect us, both politicians and environment protection authorities, are simply ignoring the facts and not wanting this information to be publicly released before any election,” Blaschke said.
Terry Collins