It's Name and Shame time

file pic of Wesfarmers LPG Flare

With the wind in Kwinana blowing towards the west/south west or away from my house and towards industry, the noise at my front door is still 49-50 db - that's still 15 db above the legal limit of 35db.

So being brave because the wind is blowing the pollution from industry out into Cockburn Sound, I decide to venture down to the industrial strip to track down the noise source, staying upwind of the pollution.

Westfarmers LPG are the main culprit, both emergency flares are burning and the noise at the boundary fence is is running at 78 to 79 db the legal limit is 65db. No doubt it is even higher above ground level ie: closer to the flare. The flares are currently only burning at low levels so it is obvious with the horrific noise we experienced over the past days the flares were burning at higher levels.

I contacted someone in DEC - about the only one in the authorities who will take some action and actually seems to care (Truly - I believe he does). He contacted Wesfarmers LPG and sure enough they have been starting up a new plant over the last 4 or 5 days and have been venting/purging to the flares.

Thanks very much Kwinana Industry. Thanks very much Wesfarmers LPG for consulting the community to let us know you were in the process of commissioning a new plant - NOT.

While I was down on the strip I decided to check out the noise levels at a few other industries I could get to - HiSmelt was at least 5db above the legal limit on its south boundary fence.

I didn't want to venture any deeper into industry for obvious reasons, but these industries have in the not too distant past, also admitted to regularly exceeding the legal boundary limit: BP Refinery, Tiwest, Wesfarmers CSBP, Wesfarmers Air Liquid'e, BHP Billiton Nickel West, Verve Energy CBH and of course Wesfarmers LPG.

But this time most of the problem as explained above lays with Westfarmers LPG.

Notice how many times the name Wesfarmers crops up? Maybe that noise tape idea (a few blogs down) outside some Wesfarmers LPG shareholders houses would possibly do the trick?

Kwinana Industry the way you treat this community is a disgrace .

Kwinana Council don't bother helping or protecting your community, we will do you job for you, you just carry on covering for big industry.

Now we might be able to get a decent night's sleep.

Goodnight All

Update:

1. Yes the DEC chief was at home when I rang.

2. We have now been informed that NewGen Power has also been commissioning the new power station for a week or so - talk about being treated like mushrooms, I think this is just another indication of how much Kwinana Industry really actually cares about this community.

3. The noise is still there, it is still above legal limits, however it is tolerable at the moment.

Thoughts on Journalists and the Media

A journalist and fellow blogger received some good career news and that has prompted me to write this:

For as long as I can remember I have had a fascination with the media and journalism. I guess this comes from seeing the media as having the ability to expose corruption, untruths and basically help the battlers in this world who don’t have a voice. If I had the opportunity to go to uni or even finish year 8, I probably would have chosen journalism as a career path .

For the 12 or so years of doing what I do, I have been involved a lot with media and met a lot of journalists, some I have become to know very well.

I have learned that there are some very good journo's out there but there are also some real shockers that wouldn't have a clue and couldn't care less. I have even seen a few that have been all to close to and protectfull of corporations, government, councils and the like. Some have been plain gutless and others just lazy. Some media organisations (to big and scary to name) have been/are still unsupportive of our plight, probably due to being all too close to some of the corporate giants in Kwinana... Sorry - I digress (I just can't help it hey!)...Honestly this post is not meant to be about bashing journalist's or the media so please stick with me... note to self - stay on track Steve.

Some Journo’s I have great respect for include Michael Southwell, Jan Mayman and John Flint, the best three investigative journalists I have known. Why are they the best? Because they actually cared, they cared about the injustice, they cared about the average battlers being trampled by multinational corporate giants and their own government. No wonder all three are Walkley award winners.

Speaking about those who actually care I must mention a local editor Yvonne, who has shown over many years, is another who actually cares.

Many local Journalists have come and gone. Some that come to mind are Kerry, Sarah-Jane, Rachel and Dave. We seem to lose the better ones.

To me, the saddest day in media was the day the WA Police raided the Sunday Times probably looking for info to link to whistle blowers. I admire whistle blowers, those who have the guts to fight the wrongs of our world.

All too often I wonder - just what makes the media tick? What makes a good media story? How does one write a media release that attracts interest? What actually are the media interested in? Why don't the stories that we think would be great, even get a look in? Why do the media print so much industry/government propaganda and fall for the spin? What ever happened to good investigative journalism?... Lots of questions hey.

.

All these years later I am none the wiser, can any of my internets readers enlighten me? Or maybe this could prompt one or two post subjects from some of our Journalists in the blogocracy.

Kwinana Council is failing its duty of care

The good news is that the Kwinana Industrial Noise is bearable tonight the wind is obviously blowing in the right direction but read this and weep...

.

Here is the update I promised from last night, but firstly a bit of background - For many years now we have been asking even demanding that the Kwinana Council and the State Government take action against Kwinana Industry that is breaking the law by exceeding the assigned noise regulations in the residential areas. It is sad when the DEC will not enforce its own laws, it is distressing when the Council will do nothing to protect its residents from those breaking the law. It seems because the law breakers are multinational corporate giants Kwinana council is more interest in protecting them or rather their almighty dollar, than it is in protecting its own community.

Last night I attended a Kwinana Council Meeting and once again questioned the council on noise issues, unfortunately as I was so unwell I struggled a bit, but got there in the end and asked the Council to investigate the noise problem and do something about it.

The Council reply was that yes it could get someone to go out and do some monitoring (whoopee), and went on to say words to the effect of - "but at the end of the day Kwinana Industry is exempt from the assigned noise regulations in residential areas".

Big problem is that is wrong... Kwinana council continue to make this claim publicly and yet we have clear evidence including advice from the DEC and answers to parliamentary questions that says "Kwinana Industry is not exempt from the noise regulations in residential areas - Kwinana Industry as a whole and as individual companies do need to comply with the assigned noise levels in residential areas". So why is the Kwinana Council claiming the opposite?

Could it be because our Council is in an all too cosy relationship with industry?

The DEC is not doing its job and Kwinana Council is failing its duty of care to its residents and ratepayers, but trust me it won't continue for another 10 years.

Just a figment of our imagination

Well yet another horrific night caused by that industrial noise that doesn’t exist. That roaring noise that goes right through you makes you feel physically sick and is a figment of our imagination.

At some unearthly hour, when I was on the brink of going off my tree and doing something I would regret, I gave up and took a sleeping tablet, something I usually try and avoid, I am definitely not one for popping pills, but I was at the end of my tether and could not take any more. About an hour later the wind direction must have changed and the noise became tolerable enough to allow me to get to sleep, trouble is the people in North or East Rockingham probably copped it then. I should point out that we don’t always suffer this noise, this bad, it definitely is exacerbated at this time of year because of the weather conditions.

So I expect I got about 4 hours sleep, trouble is I have a hang over this morning – sleeping pills do that to me. And no it was not alcohol induced I have definitely been too sick the last few days to face a drink of alcohol.

For nearly 3 days now I have felt physically sick to the point where I have been throwing up on a regular basis. Whether this is a case of the noise, the stress of not being able to sleep or the problem of when the Kwinana Industry noise is unbearable it means the winds are light and blowing directly from industry to my front door, so this also brings the air pollution, all those toxic chemicals from Kwinana Industry smoke stacks in particular the particulates and who knows what is attached to them. But wait a minute there is no pollution in Kwinana, the stuff we see coming out of those smoke stacks is just water vapour, it’s not toxic at all according to industry and our authorities. That haze we see in the lights at night is just another figment of our imagination… I digress…

Anyway during the sleeplessness I had some thoughts on how to combat this noise problem, one is possible legal action but I won’t go into that here, the other was; I have a noise meter so we tape the industrial noise at the levels we are exposed to, we set up a big sound system on the back of a ute, park out-side the house of those in authority who collude with industry, at say 2am and play the recorded noise at the same db we are exposed to. It will probably get me arrested, but hey it might get some attention from the media, which is what we need, even those in the media that are deeply involved in collusion in forcing of industry propaganda down our throats might actually have to run our side of the story.

So that sounds like a plan to think about.

PS. I will provide an update later, as to what happened at the council meeting last night, just have to check out some info first.

400 not out - I'm Impressed

Dear readers, that little counter on the right hand side of this page hit 400 tonight, and it took just a few short days from the start of the blog. I didn't once mention sex, boobs or porn and I haven't even sent out the blog address to all my contacts as yet.

Thank-you all for your interest, please feel free to stop bye again and make a comment and by all means feel free to provide feed back even criticism. Unless most of you are lurkers (thanks observer) and no doubt a couple of stalkers - which reminds me; hello to the Government and Industry spin doctors that probably visit this blog.

I hope I can keep you informed and entertained enough for you to stay tuned. I hope to have a bit of light hearted fun along the way so it shouldn't be all gloom and doom. Some of the better educated than me, might also point out my grammar disasters - its the best way to learn.

I’m tired, and when I’m tired I’m grumpy

I am tired because I have been kept awake for the last two nights by the roar of Kwinana Industry, yes that noise that doesn’t exist, that noise that is a figment of our f*@#ing imaginations, that noise that industry claims it has reduced…

Someone out there is likely to cop both barrels from me today.

As you have probably gathered I am extremely pissed off, so a word of warning, it probably isn’t a good idea to call me with your complaints today. So if you have a complaint call the DEC; 94111702, call the Kwinana Council; 94192222 but don’t call me.

I am pissed off with being kept awake at night by industry noise that is actually illegal, I am pissed off that our authorities, who seem corrupted by the almighty industry dollar, will not do anything about it, I’m pissed off that Kwinana Industry seems to me to be making misleading claims about their pollution including noise pollution and I’m even more pissed off that they seem to be doing this in cahoots with the authorities and politicians that are paid to protect us.

It is well proven that excessive noise causes health problems and I can fully understand how and why.

But my pledge to you dear readers is I promise you, no matter how hard it is, no matter what it takes, I will do something about this noise, the cover-ups and denials because I have totally run out of patience.

Update:
Oh Goody; I have just remembered that there is a Kwinana Council meeting on tonight... and yes I WILL BE THERE!

Outrage at “$34,000 Mayoral Party”

Kwinana Council Motto

Having spoken to many people in the Kwinana Community over the past few weeks, it is obvious that this community (in particular our battlers) are as outraged as I am, at plans for Kwinana Council to hold a “$34,000 Mayoral Party”. A ridiculous $170.00 a head party to thank developers, investors, politicians and bureaucrats for investing in Kwinana’s boom.

As our rates continue to rise more than most other councils in Australia (8 or 9 % last year) and Kwinana is classified the most disadvantaged community in Perth - Kwinana Council intends to hold a party for the rich and famous to thank them for trying to become more rich and famous and to thank others for the job they are paid to do.

The boom is not benefiting many of us in Kwinana, it is just assisting in making it harder to survive with rising fuel costs, grocery prices, rent and the accommodation shortage, some of us in this community and struggling to even pay the council rates.

Does holding this party, at this cost make sense to you? To me it seems a ridiculous waste of ratepayer’s money and rather than "working together for the best possible future for Kwinana" it seems more like paying dearly to reward a few who don't need nor deserve reward.

Green and Clean or Dirty Brown

Over the past couple of weeks our local media has published Kwinana Industry's paid advertisements, that claim Kwinana Industry “works hard to keep Green and Clean”.

We challenged industry and the claim has since changed to "working hard to become Green and Clean". Trouble is this statement is still false.

Kwinana Industry is far from ‘Green and Clean’ – more like Dirty Brown.

These advertisements were made to look like media articles, with no stipulation stating they were indeed advertisements. There should be a law against this type of advertising; surely it is false advertising?

Why are our authorities allowing Kwinana Industry to mislead the local community?

It is likely that Kwinana Industry will never be ‘Green and Clean’ as this is against the nature of the industry on the Kwinana Strip such as chemical, mining and refining industries.

It seems Kwinana industry is playing on words to mislead the local community, some examples are: the noise report that claims the overall level of regulated noise has reduced. I attended a noise reference group meeting where Industry and the Government attempted to have that group validate that report, however when questioned, the author of the report and a DEC noise expert admitted that the report (which was modelling) could not be validated because of lack of actual noise monitoring to verify the modelling. Simular issues with industries claims on air quality can be proven.

This is just another example that the spin from Kwinana Industry is totally out of control to the extent that Kwinana Industry is it seems in my view, attempting to mislead the local community.