By Bronwen Beechey
MELBOURNE — Environmental groups and inner-city residents are outraged at the Victorian government's decision to keep the Coode Island chemical storage plant on the edge of the city.
On June 24, planning minister Rob Maclellan said that plans to build a replacement storage facility at Point Lillias, near Geelong, would be abandoned.
Maclellan claimed that $18 million had been spent on improving safety at Coode Island. The site was now safe, he said.
Last year, Canberra exempted Point Lillias from the international Ramsar wetlands convention because it was "in the urgent national interest to move the storage facility from Coode Island". The proposal provoked an angry reaction from environmental groups, which had argued that the facility be sited at Point Wilson.
Point Wilson is an already degraded site, further away from residential areas. Point Lillias is an internationally recognised wetlands area, home to the rare orange-bellied parrot, and the site of Aboriginal middens.
Initial press reports described the state government's decision as a "victory" for the environmental movement.
In response, the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), Environment Victoria, Greenpeace, the Hazardous Materials Action Group (Hazmag) and Friends of the Earth, held a joint press conference on June 27.
The decision to retain the Coode Island facility is "an environmental and social disaster of the first magnitude, and totally unacceptable", said ACF's Peter Brotherton.
He pointed out that the Coode Island Taskforce, set up by the previous Labor government following the 1991 fire, had recognised that Point Wilson was the only appropriate site. The Coalition, in opposition, had supported the removal of the facility to Point Wilson.
Matt Ruchel of Greenpeace said the $18 million spent on safety at Coode Island was only an interim measure for the duration of the review.
Terminals Ltd, the company controlling the facility, had failed to implement community monitoring processes recommended by the task force. The proximity of Coode Island to residential areas and the CBD meant that, in the event of a major explosion, it would be impossible to evacuate everyone in time.
"The lives of people in the western suburbs are being put at risk by companies who only care about making a profit", said Colleen Hartland of Hazmag.
Hartland, who lives a kilometre from Coode Island, said that every time fire engines pass the house, she and her partner automatically stop to count how many there are. "If it's more than three, we know something's happened at Coode Island. The local community is living in fear."
The environmental groups expressed their determination to oppose the government's decision.
"Our focus now will be on taking the message to the community. That will include public meetings and direct actions. We intend to make life very uncomfortable for the government", said Brotherton.
Hartland added that unions had been approached, and that the Maribyrnong Council, which covers the suburbs surrounding Coode Island, had agreed to organise a public meeting to protest against the decision.
For details of the meeting, and other protest actions, contact Hazmag on (03) 9687 5549.