"In the Ghetto"

This was submitted and I just couldn't resist publishing, a classic...

With apologies to Elvis Presley.

Sing in the tune of "In the Ghetto"

On a cold grey Kwinana morn

another little plan was hatched and born

in the chamber

The CEO and KIC got together

with the Mayor at the edge of the sea

in Cockburn

Moltoni Group and a few men more

and they whispered about incinerator

in Kwinana

They took a little trip to a far off land

where they drank Saki and the spin was planned

for the residents

They hoped that they could get it all done

and return from the land of the rising sun

'Fore the story broke

But the newspaper wrote about the trip

The reporter had a very hot tip

from Hesse

So the KIC had to work very fast 

and give that Hesse a bloody good blast

from KIC

But what he wrote really wasn't new

Just we know the best for you

believe me

So maybe I am a little sceptical

Bout this trash receptacle

incinerate

And haven't we had a similar scene

Southin' 'bout Global Olivine

innovation

Funny but I vaguely seem to recall

That these ideas would be good for us all

reiterate

So swing your partner left and thenLet the dance begin again

circle

On a cold and grey Kwinana morn

another little plan was hatched and born

and the people cried

With compliments,

Uncle Les

Kwinana Council playing games with its community.

The Kwinana Council is playing games with its community.

This community is being kept in the dark and mislead over this incinerator proposal.

Just what is the real story Kwinana Council and Kwinana Industry?

You may also like to read related posts: 

Why do Kwinana Industry want MSW Incineration?

Incineration is not recycling.

Consultation what consultation?

Clean Incineration is a dirty lie.

Why incineration is a very bad idea in the Twenty First Century.

Incinerators: Myths versus Facts here.

What the US EPA says about incineration (scroll down to municipal solid waste).

Something in the air - Kwinana pollution.

Why do Kwinana Industry want MSW incineration

Why is Kwinana Industry so keen to be involved in a municipal waste incinerator?

Exactly what is Alcoa's involvement?

For the record: The Kwinana Industries Council Director is married to Kwinana Council Mayor Carol Adams. He was also involved in another incinerator proposal for Kwinana in 2000-2004 when he was working for Kwinana Council, that proposal, although approved by Kwinana Council, thankfully never saw the light of day because of the very real concerns.

Click on image to enlarge

Kwinana Industry has become so very predictable in branding any one who dare disagree or speak out, as negative.

It seems the Kwinana community is being mislead and kept in the dark over this incinerator proposal.

You may also like to read related posts:

Consultation what consultation?

Clean Incineration is a dirty lie.

Incineration is not recycling.

Something in the air - Kwinana pollution.

Update: As expected Kwinana Industry wants ratepayers to provide an incinerator so industries like Alcoa, BP and Verve can have a cheap, hide the nasties fix for their hazardous/toxic waste. Only problem is that the Kwinana community will be paying to breath the pollution from burning that waste.

Incineration is not Recycling

It seems this community is largely being kept in the dark and mislead on this incineration issue.

Waste to energy, just another name for incineration, is NOT recycling. Incineration IS destruction, incineration actually competes against recycling and has many other disadvantages.

More information:

Why incineration is a very bad idea in the Twenty First Century.

Incinerators: Myths versus Facts here.

What the US EPA says about incineration (scroll down to municipal solid waste).

My blog; Clean Incineration is a Dirty Lie.

My blog; Consultation, what consultation.

 

Consultation what Consultation?

Do they really expect all of us in Kwinana to just accept what they and their corporate giant industry mates tell us?

Click on image to enlarge

Could this be another example of Kwinana Council becoming a dictatorship?

Clean Incineration is a Dirty Lie

The Mayor and CEO of Kwinana Council are off on another Junket, this time allegedly 'to look at impacts of incinerators' in Japan. It is little wonder Kwinana's rates are rising more than most other councils in recent years. Yes a town that has been proven the most disadvantaged community in Perth yet our rates have risen more than most councils in Australia.

If Kwinana Council has it's way plans to mass burn waste including waste streams from other councils and industries will see Kwinana become the host community for a toxic incineration industry. Dangerous chemicals such as Dioxins, Mercury and other by-products of incineration will add further risks to the health of the Kwinana community, who already suffer the disproportionate impacts from heavy polluting industry on the Kwinana industrial strip.

One would have thought that the Kwinana Council would have learned something during the early 2000's when the council proposed another incinerator project, after much community angst and protest the then awake state labor government put a stop to the project.

A growing body of independent science and health professionals recognise the increased cancer, respiratory disease and cardiovascular disease points to the large number of high risk polluting industries operating on the Kwinana industrial strip but sadly our Council still has its head buried in the sand and continues to ignore and downplay the risk.

Claims that industrial pollution is not a problem in Kwinana "because the wind does not blow pollution into residential areas can have no validity based on common sense, scientific data and the bureau of meteorology wind patterns. This claim is just another lie developed by those wanting to protect industry.

Corporate spin about the benefits of waste to energy (incineration) plants as a reliable and effective waste management option are being challenged all over the world leaving Kwinana the bastion for misinformation about 'silver bullet solutions' and 'end of pipe policy' and decision making.

The claim by Kwinana Council that an incinerator would lower rates is bizarre, history suggests that the opposite would be more the case.

The failure of Kwinana Council to respect its constituents and provide community engagement on such high risk proposals, shows an alarming level of contempt towards its own residents and leaves an impression that there is an intention to manipulate and control the outcomes of any decision making in relation to the Towns waste management. These decisions require full community engagement as has been recognised by most other WA local governments who are establishing recourse recovery facilities around the state. 

There is a reason nowhere else in Australia has a incinerator and that is because communities around Australia have rejected and continue to reject dangerous incineration as a waste treatment option.

Associated links used in this post: 

GAIA

Incinerators

Incinerators in disguise

Kwinana Health Statistics

Something in the air Kwinana Pollution

Spin, Spin and more Spin

I am getting dizzy with all the spin.

Meeting Minutes should not be Spin

I along with other community members, including a few that for some reason seem to think that corporate giants the likes of Alcoa, BHP Billiton, Tiwest, Wesfarmers, Coogee Chemicals, Cockburn Cement, BP etc that make up Kwinana Industry are not big enough to protect themselves - I digress... 

Anyway we were invited by Kwinana Industry to attend a meeting to discuss a/ How industry can fund health programs in the community and b/ How industry can improve community member representation at CIF's. The background of these issues are:

1/ Soon after we started raising concerns that excess health problems in Kwinana could be related to pollution from Kwinana industry, industry started to fund (and attend) dinners and get togethers for our local GP's.  Then industry started to fund GP's projects, you know; $10,000 here, $10,000 there for example. While some may think there is nothing wrong with that, others may be more curious. Some in the community had complained that this might be seen as a conflict of interest for our GP's, while some voiced concern that this may even been perceived as a form of corruption.

2/ Kwinana Industry holds a bi-monthly meeting with the community and authorities, called the Community Industries Forum - CIF, which is basically meant to be an exchange of information session. Community member attendance at these meetings has been poor, and continues to decline.

The minutes for this meeting were recently released, and after reading these minutes I was left wondering if this was actually the same meeting I had attended because the minutes certainly did not appear representative of the list of things I had raised, or indeed issues that I had heard others raise.

Surely I can be forgiven for briefly wondering if these minutes and the Kwinana Council minutes discussed in the blog post: Is Kwinana becoming a Dictatorship? were related... but seriously that is not likely to be possible, is it?

A few other examples of the missing items of these minutes are:

I questioned Kwinana industry over its use of the claim that lifestyle problems are solely responsible for the excess of health problems in Kwinana. I pointed out that industry knew as well as I did that there was no scientific evidence to suggest that this was the case, and indeed the Health Department WA own health survey stated that report; 'could not determine the cause of excess health problems in the Kwinana community'. No mention of this discussion/debate appeared in the minutes despite the fact that the points above in regards to our GP's and industry funding were discussed, absolutely no mention of this discussion appeared in the minutes.

Another community member raised a point at the same meeting, that the reason some of the community did not attend the meetings was "because Kwinana industry all too often lied to the community". I then suggested that it may have something to do with industry stooges. Again there was no mention in the minutes of these discussions having taking place .

There are more examples of Kwinana industries treatment of the meeting minutes with spin, spin and more spin, but I'm sure you get the picture.

Is this just another prime example of Kwinana industries attempt to influence by selectively failing to record any items in minutes that they think might tarnish its image, and adding favourable spin to the items they do record?

"Industry do not pollute"

 After the blog post of yesterday asking should the Cockburn Sound Management Council - CSMC be sacked? I think this media article of today, wherein Kwinana Industry goes to bat for CSMC answers that question perfectly.

CSMC have since around 2007/8 been over protective of Kwinana Industry and it became obvious that something was wrong when Kwinana Industry and Cockburn Sound Management Council worked hand in hand to mislead the community over the state of Cockburn Sound, now Kwinana Industry has come out protecting CSMC, this has just answered the question for me.

Cockburn Sound Management Council should be sacked, but of course they won't be, because deep down this is exactly how the government and our politicians want it to be. 

Interesting in this article Kwinana Industry makes the claim "Industry do not pollute". In the years I have been attempting to keep Kwinana Industry honest (and obviously I have failed miserably) I have heard some ripper claims, but this just takes the cake - "Industry do not pollute". 

Hello, Kwinana Industry does pollute - big time; Kwinana industry pollutes the air, Kwinana industry pollutes the land and Kwinana industry pollutes the water and has a 50 year history of doing so.

Kwinana industries such as Tiwest, for example, still pump industrial waste into Cockburn Sound. Waste such as Radionuclide's (radioactive material) and cadmium. Industries like BP for example use Cockburn Sound water for cooling, they add to this water chemicals such as Chlorine and discharge the water back to Cockburn Sound. Sound pollution and light pollution from Kwinana Industry impacts on Cockburn Sound and its marine life.

Groundwater polluted by industry still enters Cockburn Sound, for example hydrocarbons from BP, Arsenic from Wesfarmers CSBP, Ammonium Sulphate etc, etc, etc.

For Kwinana Industry to claim they do not pollute is a joke, but sadly the joke is on this community and our environment.

Lets not forget that industry in Kwinana are licensed by the government (DEC) to pollute.

Should the Cockburn Sound Management Council be sacked?

To follow on from the post Environmental Management of Cockburn Sound Fails, the Minister of Environment Donna Faragher claims she is going to "discuss the issues raised in the Auditor Generals report with the authorities in question".

The failures, the deception and the cover ups to protect industry must end, it is beyond time that those responsible be held accountable.

The Department of Environment and Conservation - DEC have failed time and time again, more reports more audits, more examples of failure and yet nothing ever changes and the Department remains as incompetent as ever. The DEC continues to protect industry at any cost because it is told to by its political masters.

The Cockburn Sound Management Council - CSMC once again mislead the community and have worked hand in hand with Kwinana Industries Spin Doctors to do so; Why was the CSMC not brought to task by its inept, committee that is overburdeningly weighted to protecting industry? 

Much of the community representation on CSMC is not representative of the community and does not share information with the community. Instead the committee leaves it to people like me/groups like ours to expose the wrong doings while they maintain their all too cosy relationship with industry and so called government authorities.

This latest report has confirmed for us that the CSMC is largely a waste of tax payers money, a toothless tiger working hand in hand with Kwinana Industry, willing to cover up and mislead the community to protect Kwinana Industy.

No doubt Kwinana Industry, Kwinana Industries stooges and those that insist on protecting Kwinana Industry at any cost, will continue to cry for more funding for CSMC but many of us in this community realise that the problem isn't funding, the problem is CSMC and other Government Authorities, and Industries stooges protecting industry at any cost. 

Those that pollute should be made to pay. Kwinana Industry that are licensed to pollute Cockburn Sound should be made to pay for the privilege or stop using Cockburn Sound as an industrial waste dump.

Environmental Management of Cockburn Sound Fails

As some of us already knew and have been highlighting for years, the WA Auditor General has found the current management of Cockburn Sound is incapable of maintaining ecosystem health of the Sound.

This must read report can be found on the Auditor Generals website here.

The Cockburn Sound Management Council CSMC - FAILED;

The Department of Environment and Conservation DEC - FAILED, and;

The Environmental Protection Agency EPA - FAILED.

Basically all these Government Departments have been asleep at the wheel. But what is new?

While investigating this issue it is a shame the auditor general didn't ask us what actually goes on we would have informed him of a number of extremely suspect practices such as altering monitoring site locations to improve testing results then completely ignoring community concerns.

As usual one of the biggest problems (and one the Auditor General seems to have totally missed or avoided) is the self regulation and self monitoring of industry pollutants by the company emitting the pollutants.

Another issue the  Auditor General has missed or avoided is the real reason these agencies fail, that is because they are instructed by their political masters to protect industry at any cost.

One now needs to ask why did the CSMC, Kwinana Industries Council (KIC), and even a Government Minister mislead the community on the real health of Cockburn Sound.

You may also wish to read my related blog posts from 2008; Kwinana Industry Care Bears for Cockburn Sound and Polluter Should Pay.

Is Kwinana becoming a Dictatorship?

On 23rd June 2010 some of us attended a local council meeting to question council on what it was doing and what it intended to do about live exports through Kwinana.

In response to questions the Mayor made some rather concerning comments, such as: "Council has been working hard behind the scenes on this issue - Council has not even discussed what it should do or made a decision on what to do - Council will not get involved (like Fremantle Council) in the live export versus chilled carcase debate."

How the mayor can tell the meeting what Council will be doing at the same time as admitting council had not even discussed the issue let alone made a decision is beyond me.

So I waited for the minutes of the full meeting of council to be published and sure enough the comments made at the meeting did not appear in the council minutes and as has become the norm of late the minutes, were doctored with spin.

So I decided to request the tape recording of the council meeting, something we have done many times in the past. The community has for many years been entilted to this under Freedom of Information (FOI) and after paying a prescribed FOI fee to council.

The request was refusing by the CEO's assistant claiming that those tapes are only for her record and she now stores them on her computer rather than cassette tapes as was done in the past, therefore I could not obtain a copy of the record of the meeting.

So Kwinana Council has now removed another way of communities and/or community members keeping council honest.

In my view it seems that Kwinana could be coming, or has already become, a dictatorship. 

No doubt Kwinana Council and its Councillors will continue to brand me "negative", that is what they do in an attempt to discredit those who dare speak out.

Kwinana Council is not serious about stopping live exports

Kwinana Council has refused to join Fremantle Council in opposing live exports.

Kwinana Council claim they will not get involved in the animal welfare issue, and also claim they "are not interested in getting involved in the debate over live exports compared to transport of refrigerated carcasses."

Kwinana Mayor Carol Adams continues to claim that Kwinana Industry oppose live exports through Kwinana. 

Why is Mayor Adams speaking for Kwinana Industry?

How does Kwinana Industry oppose live exports when James Point Ptd Ltd the company that owns the port is an associate member of Kwinana Industries Council (KIC)?

Is this another example of the conflict of interest issue, the one the mayor won't declare?

The bottom line is that Kwinana Council is and never was really serious about stopping live exports. Once again it is all just a manipulative spin doctoring exercise in an attempt to make the council look good.

No doubt Kwinana Council and its Councillors will continue to brand me "negative", that is what they do in an attempt to discredit those who dare speak out.

Updates to BP's use of NALCO's Corexit

Please note latest updates to the post on BP's use of NALCO's Corexit dispersant by BP in the Gulf of Mexico. Updated 04-08-2010: 

Questions over safety of NALCO's Corexit oil dispersant by BP in the gulf of Mexico.

Ban Live Exports

The fight against live exports through Kwinana is gaining momentum:

Please join us at a protest Rally outside Parliament House Perth;

Image courtesy of PACAT

Tuesday 22nd June 2010
1 - 2 pm.

(Rally organised by PACAT see Stop Live Exports).

We now have a facebook page for No Livestock Export through Kwinana, please join here.

No Livestock Exports through Kwinana

Pic from: http://kwinana.inmycommunity.com.au/news-and-views/local-news/Rally-against-live-exports/7558954/

Kwinana Watchdog Group spokesperson Steve Hesse today called on the Local Council, State and Federal politicians to join local community members and do what ever possible to halt livestock exports.

See local media article Rally against live exports.

In other news the West Australian Government led by Colin Barnett has reduced the number of animal welfare officers/inspectors from six to one to cover the whole state. So far this year over 1.8 million livestock have been exported from WA and not one animal has been inspected.

See: Live Export Shame.

Shame on our Government, shame.

Tiwest Gassings carry on unabated

At about 11:30 yesterday morning another 3 contractors were gassed with Chlorine at Tiwest Kwinana.

It seems the gassings have continued unabated since I blogged about the issue last about 2 months ago. I am told that around 13 people have been gassed in that time.

Tiwest has been telling its staff that basically the contractors are making up the gassings to drag the job out a bit. I have spoken to some of those gassed and having been gassed myself a number of times I know they are real. Lets face it no-one would risk their life jumping metres from a cherry picker to try and escape the gas to try and drag a job out for a few more days.

Where are Worksafe? What are they actually doing to protect workers? Are worksafe being told to go softly on Tiwest?

Questions over safety of Nalco oil dispersant

Clipping from Community Newspaper Kwinana Courier

NALCO is the company supplying the oil dispersant Corexit to BP for use on the Gulf of Mexico oil gusher.

Ironicly at the same time as the above photograph was taken of Kwinana Mayor Carol Adams with NALCO manager at Kwinana, serious questions where being raised about the safety/toxicity of this NALCO product and the effects it could have on every living thing in its path.

BP has sprayed hundreds of thousands of litres of the product into the Gulf.

NALCO claims on it website that the water treatment products (oil dispersants) are "safe and highly-effective".

However others are claiming the dispersant is highly toxic and will cause long term damage., indeed the US EPA acknowledges the product is Toxic.

The dispersant has been banned in Europe.

Take a closer look at NALCO's toxic solution here. A video of effected wild life and marine life here. Erin Brockovich talks about dispersants here.

I believe many of the fears are correct are this product could possibly cause serious damage to our planet.

Updates, thanks to information provided by readers:

More info on Corexit Dispersant here.
More concerns of the affects on the Gulf Marine Life here.
Corexit chemical properties released publicly here.
NALCO, BP and and the USEPA until recently kept the ingredients of the Toxic Corexit secret here.
Information on "A newly revealed 'secret ingredient' in Corexit 9500, dioctyl sodium sulfo-succinate has been shown to cause pulmonary edema in animal studies" here.
"Why Toxic Solvents were Used and Covered Up follow the big money" here.
"Evidence of BP oil spill health risks confirm public fears of Corexit toxic cloud" here.
USEPA conducts tests and comments on toxicity of solvents used in the gulf here
'Dirty Hands' by Planet Waves here.

Nalco company history by Crocodyl here.

11-03-2011: NASA confirms toxic dispersant's DID rain down on Gulf Coast and cause chemical injury here.

14-05-2012: Corexit dispersant used by BP during Gulf oil disaster linked to horrific human injuries here

Rally Against Cockburn Cement Pollution

Locals around the Cockburn Cement Munster Works are holding a rally in protest against Cockburn Cement's ongoing pollution.

Please come along if you can and please pass this information onto others.

Saturday 8th May 2010.
11:00 am
Outside Cockburn Cement

See blog post on Cockburn Cement issue here and here

The new facebook page for the rally is here.

The new facebook page Your Voice About Cockburn Cement, WA is here.

Note this rally, the flyer and the facebook pages published in this blog have been organised by locals living near Cockburn Cement not by me or Kwinana groups.

Denial does not make it right

A local newspaper did not allow the right of reply to the Mayors letter so here it is. Of course Kwinana Council's and Kwinana Industries massive advertising budget would not have anything to do with the seemingly bias of our media would it?

In refernece to the issue of Kwinana's Mayor Carol Adam's denial of any Conflict of Interest in her public praise supporting her husband's employer, (the KIC ) and her attempt in your newspaper, to deflect from that, by counter claiming that I was guilty of "turning a positive into a negative"

Denial does not make it right.

Mayor Adams' attempt to spin the story to suit her denials, only serves to muddle the issue, because at no time did I criticise the Kwinana Industry Council, the education program itself or the fact that it is funded by corporate industry.

However what I did attempt to point out, is that in my view (and I’m positive that I’m not the only one) the Mayor does have a conflict of interest when it comes to the corporate giants that make up Kwinana Industry, because it is her husbands job as Director of the representative body of that collection of corporate giants (KIC), to make Kwinana industries look good in the eyes of the community; and that their inherent 'goodness' far outweighs any adverse health impacts their operations may inflict on the local Community.

Surely Mayor Adam's interests in promoting her husband's employer, should ALWAYS be declared in such as material distributed for public consumption and advertising, where she is quoted, or is likely to be quoted.

It is not irrelevant as she complains that her comments were used in an advertisement paid for by Kwinana Industry. It is 100% entirely relevant.

It is also relevant to there being a conflict, as she was quoted in the advert as saying that she “cannot stress enough how lucky the Kwinana Community was to be in close proximity to the most important industrial area in Western Australia"; She did not state that it only applied to those involved in the program, and not those members of the general “Kwinana Community,” That indicates that she was referring to us all.

The Kwinana Council after years of pure denial, now finally admit to our concerns that there are serious health and social disadvantage issues within the Kwinana Community but still blindly denies that those issues could have anything to do with Kwinana Industry pollution.

Sadly I cannot see any signs of the major change required to find and reduce those likely unjust and costly impacts.

It is simple - Mayor Adams should always declare the conflict of interest she has between her Office of Mayor and corporate industry. Or is that too much to ask?

BP Oil Rig explodes off US coast

File photo BP Kwinana

BP worldwide safety still under question with another incident. This time an oil rig off the US coast explodes and 11 workers were missing.

For more news on BP Safety:

The oil rig explosion story here.

Other recent BP incidents here:

BP Kwinana Safety questioned here and here.

Kwinana Industry (including BP) emergency concerns here.

An appauling record of safety problems for BP worldwide here.

Alternatively search this blog for BP.

Also in news on BP this week is the story Bloody Oil

Update: 29-04-10: Graphic photographs of and report on the incident here (PDF).

Erin Brockovich takes on Cockburn Cement

In her fourth case in this state (and I am sure there will be many more) Erin Brockovich is set to take on Cockburn Cement for long suffering local residents...

Article from the Sunday Times. Click on image to enlarge

Check out the Cockburn Cement waste oil burning issue including the latest comments here.

Good News Carol

This response letter from the Mayor of Kwinana, to my conflict of interest letter of last week appeared in this weeks local:Of course the mayor (and perhaps her spin Dr's?) are trying to send the message that I was attacking the education sponsorship program itself ie; negative and against everything. Don't worry I will respond in full to this letter at a later stage.

However the response has simply highlighted the issue of spin again, and it has been suggested that maybe we should start referring to our Mayor as 'good news Carol'?

As an example of why, here are 4 articles from last Fridays Kwinana Courier:

Good News:Mayor quoted...

Bad News:

No Mayor...

Good News:

Mayor quoted...

Bad News:

No Mayor

As can be seen, it is just a bit too obvious that; in the good news articles the Mayor is the spokesperson for Kwinana Council and in bad news articles the CEO is the spokesperson.

So yes; 'Good News Carol' seems quite appropriate to me.

Are you as tired of the spin and manipulation as I am?

Tiwest under fire

This weeks Kwinana Courier ran two reports on the Tiwest problems.

Firstly a worker describes what it is like to be gassed with Chlorine:

The Western Construction sub-contractor, who did not want to be named, said he and another colleague were working in area 300 at the site several weeks ago when the alarm sounded for a leak of dangerous
chlorine gas.
The rigger and a colleague ran from the area they were working
in after the alarm sounded, but were directed the wrong way and ran into the chlorine gas plume.
“It was like someone had kicked me in the guts. I was vomiting and coughing.”
He said he suffered nausea, headaches, chest tightness and blisters to the back of his throat and had not yet been given a full clearance by his doctor.
“We were running the way the Tiwest worker told us to go and we ended up running into the plume. We were just in fresh air then all of a sudden I could taste it then smell it.”
The rigger, who has worked in the construction industry for about seven years, said he did not feel safe working at the Tiwest site.

Secondly our MLA Roger Cook gets involved:

Kwinana MLA Roger Cook said he had spoken with community members and unions concerned about the problems at Tiwest, which he said had been reported for several months.

“This has been going on for some time; are they dealing with unstructured technology or are they just incompetent?” he said.

“The community is starting to lose patience in regards to Tiwest.”Mr Cook said he welcomed the WorkSafe investigation but said the effectiveness of the government regulator had been undermined by budget cuts.

Worksafe are investigating, that should give us all a warm fuzzy feeling that we will all be safe - Not.

Just how lucky are we?

Are we lucky to have the spin?

Letter published in Sound Telegraph 31-03-10

This comment piece by 'Uncle Les' from Medina on the subject is a classic:

"Carol said i`m lucky it must be true I think industry isn`t mucky and the air here doesn`t stink

The pollution isn`t harmfull it wouldn`t hurt a fly those clouds are just a bit of wool a floating in the sky

The noise i here is in my mind the modelling say`s it`s so and KIC is just so kind in handing out the dough

we have no need to monitor for it passes overhead nothing in the air no more the regulator said oh yes i do believe the spin i hear it all the while what they tell me is no sin cos they always smile

they use the graph and table to show me that it`s good I`m just too silly and unable to think-- as if i could

Oh lucky lucky lucky me i believe you yes i do no harm can come from industry and pigs can fly-- yes it`s true"

Tiwest update

Udate: Pictures of Tiwest Titanium Dioxide emissions added to 'another worker affected at Tiwest' blog.

"Titanium Dioxide (Ti02) has been listed as an IARC-2B carcinogen. They have proven that ultra fine particles (dust) of Titanium Dioxide causes cancer in animals. Insufficient research has been done on the effects of Ti02 on humans."

See past blog posts on Tiwest here (Tiwest search of this blog).

Also see Kwinana Health Statistics.

Is it only Steam?

Some people in this community are upset by this advertisement for BHPbilliton that appeared in our local media some time ago:As can be seen BHPbilliton claim:

"when you notice 'smoke' billowing from the refinery, rest assured that it is most likely steam you can see"

The claims in the advertisement are not wrong, just misleading to those in the community who don't know any better.

Of course there was no mention of any pollutants, it seems it was all about getting the community to think... harmless water.

The emissions from the vents in question include but are not limited to Heavy Metals such as Nickel, Cobalt, maybe Cadmium. Also Hydrogen, Ammonium Sulphate and Ammonia, Probably the most concerning of the pollutants emitted is fine particulates of Metals.

The main reason you can see so much steam is because the online vent tanks are injected (snuffed) with steam to avoid Hydrogen explosions.

These are our photo's of the tank vents in question:

and closer: By the pics it certainly looks like this vent take has overflowed at some time, problem with that is the a high liquid level like that usually lift the demister pad (a bit like steel wool) inside the top of tank, these dont always reseat themselves, probably allowing more particlute pollution to escape.

Does it look like harmless water vapour to you? Now you have both sides of the story, make your own mind up, just steam or pollutants and steam?

You can find a list of estimated emissions from BHPBillitons Kwinana Nickel Refinery at the Federal Governments National Pollution Inventory (NPI) website.