March 14, 2011

UK expert calls for better air monitoring

Mudgee Guardian article by ROBYN MURRAY 14 Mar, 2011

A United Kingdom industrial health expert has called on the NSW Government to introduce more stringent air quality monitoring to protect communities living near open cut coal mines, power stations and cement factories.

Dr Dick van Steenis, who has studied the effects of industrial air pollution in the UK for 16 years, was in Mudgee and Bylong on Saturday as part of a speaking tour of coal mining regions.

He told the Mid-Western Community Action Network (MWCAN) meeting that the NSW Government currently monitored for emission particles no smaller than 10 microns
However, it was the smaller particles which could be breathed in and absorbed into the blood stream, causing health problems such as cancer, asthma and other respiratory disorders, heart attacks, low birth weights in babies and depression, he said.

Smaller particles were also carried in the air for a longer distance, affecting people over a larger area, he said.

Dr van Steenis said studies in the UK and the United States had showed a higher rate of disease in communities near industries emitting particles and a similar pattern was being seen in the Hunter Valley.

The smaller particles were often the result of waste products being burned in addition to coal, or use of poor quality fuels in heavy machinery, he said.

Dr van Steenis said before approving new mining developments or power stations, the State Government should undertake “health mapping” of communities and to take into account not only the royalties that would be generated, but also the health and welfare costs.

Money spent on more stringent emissions standards would in the long run save the State Government money on health and disability support for people too ill to work, he said.

“In NSW, [the State Government] sees the dollar signs first, then signs up and worries about the rest later,” he said.

“For every pound you put into clean up emissions, you save six pounds on health spending and four pounds on social security spending.”

Dr van Steenis said open cut coal mining was acceptable as long as it was more than three miles (4.8 kilometres) from towns, did not affect water supplies and was not on prime agricultural land.

“Agriculture should be number one – the world will always need food and with the growing world population will need more food,” he said.

Using up to 30 per cent biodiesel in fuel could reduce emissions of small particles from heavy machinery, he said.
However, Dr van Steenis said Australian cement works and power stations needed to be cleaned up to meet standards along the lines of those in place in the United States and Japan, ideally under federal rather than state control.

Dr van Steenis is in Australia to take part in a forum in Sydney on human health impacts of open-cut coal mining and coal seam gas mining, and has also visited regional areas including Singleton, Gunnedah, Maitland and Newcastle.

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