Years after the last intervention, the environmental situation of Lake Macquarie, Australia’s largest saltwater coastal lagoon near the Hunter Valley (New South Wales) remains critical.
A new report by Environmental Justice Australia, a not-for-profit legal group formerly known as the Victorian Environment Defenders Office, highlights for the Lake Macquarie the problem of the poor management and limited publicly available information about, health risks associated with ash dams at the country’s coal plants.
The leaders of the energy sector have promptly rejected all results, stating that these are actually an attempt to enhance a long smear campaign to shut down coal-fired electricity due to climate change concerns. In reality, in the report the emissions of heating from coal-fired power plants are not the main topic, which is already being discussed, but the focus is precisely on the by-product of the ash that does not receive the necessary attention. It is estimated that more than 400 million tons of coal ashes are stored throughout Australia, increasing by between 10 and 12 million tons per year.
Bronya Lipski, report author, says the issue has largely flown under the public radar. The researcher says: «given the size of them, and the sheer extent of the toxic material they have in them, you would think there would be much greater monitoring and far more information available to the public. It really is a ticking time bomb».
On the report toxins in coal ash have been linked to asthma, heart disease, cancer, respiratory disease and stroke. It cites the US Environmental Protection Agency, which found the risk of public exposure from ash dams can last for decades, peaking 78 to 105 years after ash storage begins.
However, as mentioned, the companies that own the plants along the shores of Lake Macquarie and Hunter Valley do not pay attention to the report, accusing them of a mere anti-planting campaign.
But there are noticeable problem. In March for exemple, when a lakeside sport centre was closed after engineers for Origin found it would not be safe if an earthquake collapsed the Eraring ash dump wall. Environmental Justice Australia says the most poorly constructed ash dams should be moved and the existing sites cleaned up. It says all jurisdictions should introduce bonds to ensure landfill dumps are properly managed. There are also numerous concerns about fishing, especially crab, whose consumption is likely to go into crisis.
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