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.