BY ISABEL EVERETT
A
project to clean-up Newcastle’s former Clyde Street gasworks is now complete,
after energy infrastructure company, Jemena, finalised its remediation
works at the site.
Jemena acquired the 7.4 hectare site in 2006, investing over $11.5 million since October 2019, to remediate historical contamination at the site.
The site was an operational gasworks from 1913 to 1985 – prior to Jemena’s acquisition, before remediation following several years of planning and community consultation.
Formally, Hydrocarbon gas was collected from heated coal at the site, but waste contaminants have been detected leaching into nearby ground water and Styx Creek.
Project
Director, Oliver King, said the project will now move into a monitoring phase.
“Our
next step is to demobilise the site, retaining a skeleton staff who will
monitor the effectiveness of the controls we’ve put in place. The monitoring
data will be provided to the independent EPA-accredited Site Auditor as part of
the Statutory Audit process,” said Mr King.
Jemena has remediated the Clyde Street site to a commercial-industrial standard using an EPA approved cap and contain methodology.
Mr King said that while Jemena has not yet made any plans in relation to the future use of the site, it was open to discussing with local businesses or developers how the site could be repurposed.
Activities
taken throughout the remediation period involved the installation of a 510
metre subterranean wall to redirect groundwater flow away from contaminated
materials.
At
its peak the project created 44 jobs, including many for members of the Hunter
region.
Mr
King said Jemena had worked closely with the local community and businesses
throughout the project.
