Push for tighter controls over dust from Adelaide Brighton Cement factory in Birkenhead

LEE candidates have vowed to lobby for a harder line on pollution from Adelaide Brighton Cement, to end years of complaints over dust emissions created.

LEE candidates have vowed to lobby for a harder line to be taken over pollution from Adelaide Brighton Cement, to end years of complaints over dust emissions from the factory.

However the EPA maintains the business is meeting the environmental conditions of its licence.

Labor Lee candidate Stephen Mullighan this week told a forum for local candidates that if elected on March 15, he would seek tighter regulations around dust emissions from the Birkenhead factory.

Mr Mullighan believed Environment Protection Authority equipment, which measures the amount of dust coming from the factory, was too far from the site and not recording the dust levels when they were at their highest.

“The problem is we’re not getting the EPA to monitor (the pollution) when there are plumes of dust spewed from the chimney and on high-wind days,” Mr Mullighan said.

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Dust from Adelaide Brighton Cement was among key issues raised by residents at the forum at the Naval Association on Wednesday, February 19, held by the Port Adelaide Environment Protection Group and National Trust.

Residents have been complaining about the dust for more than 20 years.

Birkenhead resident John Ford said it made housekeeping a nightmare.

“All my windows facing Hilton Street are etched – it’s like looking through a bathroom window,” Mr Ford said.

Greens candidate for Lee Jo Seater, who lives about 100m from the plant in Birkenhead, said the EPA’s dust monitors were further away from the plant than her house and therefore must not be picking up all emissions.

“In dealing with the EPA over 13 years I’ve found them completely toothless,” Mrs Seater said.

“The Greens would give more power to the EPA.”
She said the party would work to increase the organisation’s funding, responsibilities and independence.

Independent candidate for Lee Gary Johanson said he would “most definitely” support more funding for the EPA to pay for extra staff to monitor the site more closely.

EPA chief of staff Ros Agate said Adelaide Brighton Cement was meeting its licence obligations “otherwise we would be taking regulatory action”.

Ms Agate said air monitoring stations had been placed at Birkenhead and North Haven to assess the plant’s off-site impact.

She said it was not appropriate for a government agency to answer questions regarding funding.

Adelaide Brighton Cement spokeswoman Luba Alexander said a $60 million expansion last year included new technology which reduced dust emissions.
She said tthe plant consulted a community liason group, which includes residents, about issues in its “environmental improvement plan”.

“The current environmental improvement program covers initiatives such as noise reduction; dust and emission minimisation projects; ambient air monitoring; stormwater management; use of the best dust collection equipment at the ship loading facilities; tree planting and ambient dust and stack monitoring,” she said.

Adelaide Brighton Cement has produced cement at Birkenhead since 1914 and now makes more than two million tonnes of cement and lime at the Port River plant every year.

Liberal Lee candidate Liz Davies did not attend Wednesday night’s forum and did not return calls for comment.
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