Air Quality Monitoring Boost For Lake Macquarie

BY IAN CROUCH

A decade of community campaigning has finally paid off with Lake Macquarie to get a new air quality monitoring station.

Environment Minister, Matt Kean has announced the state government will fund the independently-operated monitoring station.

Coal dust emissions are currently monitored by 20 industry monitors and it's hoped the independent facility operated by the Environment Protection Authority will provide further information to the community about air pollution.

Lake Macquarie MP, Greg Piper hopes the facility will be established near Morisset before the end of the year.

Air quality declines as fears of pollution-related diseases grow

BY GEMMA FERGUSON

The Upper Hunter region has experienced a decline in air quality this year. Health professionals, such as Dr Bob Vickers, are concerned about the impacts of this.

Camberwell is one example, a village that has exceeded the national air quality standards for course particle pollution 52 times already this year. This is already more than the 44 recorded last year, and the total of 126 for years 2011 through to 2017.

Bob Vickers says there's been an increase in chronic and acute diseases associated with worsening air quality.

"Certainly, what everyone seems to be aware of is the link between air pollution and lung diseases like asthma, emphysema, hay-fever, and sinus symptoms - but we're actually getting more and more evidence that fine particle pollution can lead to really long-term damage with regards to stroke, heart disease, dementia, pregnancy issues, diabetes," he said.

Bob Vickers said he's especially worried for drought-stricken mining towns like Camberwell, which is surround by a total of eight mines.

"The data coming from our monitoring networks for places like Camberwell is really worrying. For example, when we had the dust storm last week. Everyone assumed there was nothing we could do, it was just a weather-related event, and the whole state really did suffer - but, looking at the Upper Hunter monitoring system, Camberwell had an average fine particle pollution reading of 39, before the storm even hit," he explained.

The national standard dictates that the number should never exceed 25 within a 24 hour period, so it's clear Camberwell's air quality isn't what it should be, according to this measure.

Concerned locals have called on the Government to perform a health risk assessment of Camberwell and surrounding Upper Hunter communities facing similar air quality problems.

However, their request was met by NSW Minerals Council Chief Executive, Stephen Galilee, who suggested worried residents relocate. He offered advice on the rules in place for when problems like this arise, saying affected residents have the right to ask a nearby mine to purchase their property and move somewhere else.

"It's really frustrating to see the Minerals Council CEO saying the solution is residents having to move, I think that's really unfair," Bob Vickers concluded.

Image credit: The Singleton Argus

Meeting To Determine Mount Pleasant Mine Extension

BY ARIANA GATTI

A meeting in Muswellbrook was held today to discuss a proposal posed to extend the life of the Mount Pleasant open-cut coal mine forward another six years.

The mine, which was approved for operation from 1999, was set to wrap up activity by the year 2020.

However, residents around the Mount Pleasant and Muswellbrook area are raising concerns against the extension of mining operations due to the on-going effects chemicals from the mined substances have on the population's health and environmental conditions.

The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), as well as The Department of Health has also raised concerns about the deterioration of air quality around the region, along with the future quality of conditions of the Hunter River, as the mine decides to discharge dirty water into the catchment.

Image sourced: https://www.maitlandmercury.com.au/story/5505849/muswellbrook-coal-mine-hearing-considers-serious-air-quality-concerns/?cs=175#slide=1

The discharge has the potential to affect drinking water standards, where pollution may run through available tap water.

If plans to extend the mine's operations, production could see almost 60-million tonnes worth of coal being extracted over the given six cycle.

Coordinator for the Denman Aberdeen Muswellbrook Scone Healthy Environment Group, Wendy Wales, says the community is in need of some consideration to sit a comfortable lifestyle.

"It doesn't feel as if the NSW Government cares at all about air pollution and its effect on us, so we are appealing to the Planning Commission to demonstrate its independence and refuse to approve this modification", she says.

Wales believes mine activity does not comply well with the weather conditions around the Muswellbrook area.

"We've had an incredibly hot summer and now we're really seeing the consequences with all the mining activity that has happened in the area and with heavy winds blowing up Mount Pleasant is just a recipe for disaster", Wales says.

Image sourced: https://www.maitlandmercury.com.au/story/5505849/muswellbrook-coal-mine-hearing-considers-serious-air-quality-concerns/?cs=175#slide=1