By Karen Fry and Alex Bainbridge
NEWCASTLE — A state government commission of inquiry into the Pasminco Metals-Sulphide company's proposed $41 million expansion was held January 10-14. The expansion aims to increase production by up to 30%, yet will not create any new jobs, according to Alan Roberts, the plant's general manager.
Pasminco claims that lead emissions can be lowered with the expansion, but community groups and conservationists have expressed serious concerns about the proposal.
The plant's emissions include sulphur dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, hydrogen selenide and lead as well as by-products such as mercury and sulphuric acid.
In addition, Pasminco has an Environmental Protection Authority licence to dump lead, zinc, selenium, cadmium, arsenic and mercury into Cockle Creek, the nearby wetland area. Cockle Creek runs into Lake Macquarie, Australia's largest salt-water lake and one of Australia's "heavy metal hot spots", according to a leaked report prepared by the federal Department of Environment which was reported in the January 18 Newcastle Herald.
The community action group No LEAD (North Lakes Environment Action Defence), which formed in 1991, has been at the forefront of the campaign against Pasminco's dismal environmental practices. No LEAD points out that the only assurance given by Pasminco's environmental impact statement (EIS) on the expansion is that production will increase. Evidence that the upgrade can occur without a negative impact on the community and the environment is "not convincing", according to No LEAD's detailed submission to the inquiry.
No LEAD's arguments against Pasminco's expansion include:
- Pasminco's smelting process is outdated, yet its EIS offers "improvements ... that only 'may' be able to achieve outdated goals for both lead and sulphur dioxide in the air". Australia's official goal for airborne lead levels is 1.5 mcg per cubic metre as compared with the World Health Organisation's 1987 guideline of 0.5-1.0 mcg per cubic metre. Even WHO's guidelines are insufficient to maintain the National Health and Medical Research Council's recommended blood lead levels. The goal of 1.5 mcg per cubic metre is not legally enforceable, and Pasminco's EIS does not commit the company to achieve this goal.
- Pasminco has no comprehensive environmental management plan (EMP). "Regardless of this upgrade, Pasminco should be embarking on a comprehensive EMP, the upgrade however makes an EMP critical." Pasminco's proposals fall well short of such a plan.
- Pasminco lacks an effective monitoring system for lead in the air. Currently the industry is self-monitored, with readings taken every six days and the results averaged every 90 days. No LEAD recommends independently monitored, daily readings.
- The EIS does not address what the company will do with increased by-products which will be created with an increase in output.
- The EIS failed to consider the cumulative effects of past pollution and the possibility of recontamination.
Dr John Stephenson, director of the Hunter Area Health Service Public Health Unit, was quoted as saying that blood lead levels in Boolaroo children were unlikely to improve unless lead emissions from the Pasminco smelter could be controlled. He told the Newcastle Herald that research indicated that there had been little improvement in blood lead levels in children of the area. Although Pasminco's EIS said emissions would improve by 1997, the smelter would continue to deposit 22 tonnes of lead a year into the local environment.
The Lake Macquarie City Council's submission to the inquiry stated that Pasminco's Boolaroo smelter was incompatible with the future of the Lake Macquarie area. According to the council's development manager, Tony Farrell, the council doesn't object to the smelter upgrade, but it wants a timetable for "winding down" activities on the site and rehabilitation of the area.
The Newcastle Greens are also critical of Pasminco's pollution record. Leeza Dobbie, upper house candidate in the state elections, said, "Any increase in operations that is likely to increase or maintain the current levels of lead emissions is not on. The plant is in a heavily populated area, and we are already seeing increasing blood lead levels in children. The state government has failed to intervene to make Pasminco accountable.
"Previous strategies to educate women on how to keep houses clean from lead dust is definitely the wrong strategy to control lead pollution. This makes women feel responsible and guilty for lead levels in their children. The moral responsibility is on the company, not women's housekeeping
abilities", Dobbie said. "Given that Pasminco has been unable to significantly reduce emissions, the only support we would have for Pasminco operations is for them to put money into eliminating lead emissions."
Dr Kamala Emanuel, Democratic Socialist candidate for the seat of Newcastle, agrees, adding that the community should have the right to veto every decision that affects their lives. "Community participation and control in setting licensing conditions is essential to maintain satisfactory health and environmental standards. Pasminco is responsible for a lot more toxic waste and pollution than just lead, yet this appears to be the only issue the company is attempting to deal with, albeit in a token way."
Emanuel also pointed out that concern for health and the environment could not be used by Pasminco as an excuse to cut jobs. "Pasminco should maintain staffing levels as well as making the workplace and surrounding environment safe."
The Democratic Socialists called on Pasminco to award compensation to workers and the community who have been suffering Pasminco's pollution for decades "instead of toying with reductions in emissions that 'may' be achieved by 1997".