Kwinana Industry's - the care bears for Cockburn Sound

Does it give you a warm fuzzy feeling that all of a sudden Kwinana Industry has decided to paint itself as the care bears for Cockburn Sound.

Well the media fell for it why shouldn’t the rest of us?

One cannot help but be very suspicious

Why is Kwinana industry trying so hard to protect Cockburn Sound Management Council?

Maybe you, like I, can read between the lines?

Is it cheaper for Kwinana Industry to provide a paltry amount of funding to a toothless lobby group like CSMC than it is to spend the required amount on pollution control?

Here is a recent letter I wrote:

Response to Cockburn Sound Management Claims April 10, 2008

We are saddened by the case that it seems Cockburn Sound Management Council (CSMC) has fallen into the Kwinana Industry spin trap. We ask the question; were these comments by CSMC approved by the full council?

CSMC says we should forget about the past damage to Cockburn Sound, and claims that 75% of sea grass in Cockburn Sound has been lost, however many Government reports state that 97% of the sea grass in Cockburn Sound has been destroyed. Without doubt the vast majority of this mass destruction has been caused by Industry and can never be repaired. We are sure Kwinana Industry would want the local community to forget about this, but we are sure that the wider community will not.

Since 2000 Cockburn Sound has been described in many Government reports as the 2nd most degraded marine environment in Australia.

Contaminated Groundwater Plumes have either entered Cockburn Sound or are currently entering Cockburn Sound; these include hydrocarbons, arsenic, caustic, metals and radionuclides.

Many other contaminated groundwater plumes or are hanging off the coast threatening to enter Cockburn Sound these plumes include herbicides/pesticides, arsenic, PCB’s etc. In fact at least 13 of these many plumes have been categorised as “high priority” – of high risk to Cockburn Sound.

CS protection policy includes low protection zones – the area’s where industry waste discharges, it is unsafe to fish, swim or carry out any other recreational activities in these areas.

Many Industries still discharge waste to Cockburn Sound, these include: Tiwest/Nufarm Coogee, BP, Water Corp, Advanced Ceramics Plant and Cockburn Cement.

Some of the contaminants being discharged into Cockburn Sound from industry include:

Fluorides, chlorides, sulphates, sodium, hydrocarbons, nitrates, dissolved solids, suspended solids, ammonium compounds, radionuclides (low level radioactive material) and heavy metals including chromium etc.

Past testing has shown that sediments on the sea bed in area’s of Cockburn Sound contain “relatively high levels of contaminants” including Arsenic, TBT’s, Nickel, Mercury, Copper, Chromium and Magnesium.

TBT’s in areas of Cockburn Sound are above guideline levels and are known to be affecting marine life.
A number of industries including BP and Power Stations use sea water from Cockburn Sound as cooling water etc, this water is returned to Cockburn Sound heated and can contain contaminants such as anti-scaling compounds.

We have seen examples in the past where sample point locations in Cockburn Sound have been moved from previous points which has resulted in lower concentrations of contaminants reported, giving the false belief that sediment contamination has reduced, we question whether this practice still takes place?

At the end of the claims made have awoken the local community. Many in the community are outraged at the way the Cockburn Sound issue is being portrayed.

Cockburn Sound Research References:

1. Kwinana Industrial Area Central Core Environmental Strategy.
2. Southern Metropolitan Coastal Waters Study.
3. Perth’s Coastal Waters Environmental Values and Objectives EPA February 2000.
4. Tiwest Expansion to 180,000 tpa Consultative Environmental Review.
5. James Point Private Port Public Environmental Review.
6. Major Findings of the state of the Marine Environment report. Ocean Rescue 2000 program.
7. Towards Optimising Kwinana Final Report.
8. Kwinana Regional Strategy.
9. Rockingham Kwinana Community the way life should be 2000.
10. D.E.P.
11. Com-Net.
12. Letter of response from DEP Kwinana July 2001.
13. State of Cockburn Sound Cockburn Sound Management Council 2004 and 2007.
14. Status of groundwater quality in the Cockburn Sound catchment CSIRO February 2006.
15. The Geomorphology and Sediments of Cockburn Sound 2005.
16. Seiching in Cockburn Sound UWA 2001.
17. Hydrology and aquifer propagation in Cockburn Sound CSIRO 2001
18. Case study of modern sediments and stratigraphy of Cockburn Sound.

I am not suggesting other pressures have no effect or risk, but still believe that the risk from Industry including its discharges to the sound, its many contaminated groundwater plumes and the pollution from the air that falls on Cockburn Sound are still probably the biggest threat.

Also what effect does excessive noise have on the Marine Life of Cockburn Sound.

Hopefully the wider community will see right through this as I do.

Update : See Polluter should pay for the update of this story.