Transforming the Corporation

An interesting read Michael Moore's Goodbye GM;

"At the deathbed of General Motors, I find myself filled with—dare I say it—joy. Here are my nine suggestions for transforming the company"

Read the story here.

(Thanks Jane)

More Mass Bird Deaths in Cockburn

The DEC are investigating mass bird deaths around the Henderson Landfill (rubbish tip). Over 200 dead birds have been found.

Unlike the previous Sea Gull deaths, a range of different bird species are affected this time.

I will update as further information becomes available.

UpDate 1: The story is reported on Perthnow

Update 2: A Pesticide (Ferithion) poisoned the birds. see ABC news.

Time to End the SMRC disgrace

This story on Perthnow highlights what we have been saying about SMRC for many years.

"WA MPs call for heads to roll over stinky waste report
Two state MPs are calling for heads to roll after a pollution study revealed a Canning Vale composting plant is releasing noxious odours.
Riverton MP Dr Mike Nahan and Member for Jandakot Joe Francis are calling for the South Metropolitan Regional Council (SMRC) chiefs to resign in wake of the damning report.

The MPs have accused chairman Doug Thompson and chief executive officer Stuart McAll of failing to act responsibly when dealing with odour issues which have plagued the community for years".

In my view, those Councillors in local councils like Kwinana, that have been involved should also go, and Kwinana Council should withdraw from SMRC as Canning Council did.

But that won't happen because I have no doubt that Kwinana council will continue to maintain the position that SMRC is wonderfull and continue to invest our money in the operation even though:

“In addition to addressing its pollution problem, the SMRC facility is facing serious financial difficulties. It hasn’t been financially viable for several years and its future is in serious question.”

Some of the history of, and links for SMRC are included in the blog post here.

Update: After years of denial and disgraceful treatment, even ridicule of the affected community, SMRC now CLAIMS to have found it's odour problem; see the story on inmycommunity

How well did you sleep?

Noise Is Pollution

Imagine a neighbour of yours playing music ALL night, or working in their shed ALL night using an electric saw, while you are trying to sleep. What would be done about it? Well if you complained the Police would be around to 1 inform the person to stop producing the noise and 2 if the noise continued would be back to confiscate the equipment producing the noise and 3 if the noise continued said person would probably be arrested and charged, because the community has laws to protect them against excessive noise.

Yet some residents of Kwinana have to put up with illegal levels of noise all night and nothing whatsoever is done, because our authorities must protect industry at any cost...

Take last night for example at my front door the level of noise was around 68db most of the night, the legal limit is 35db. I also received other complaints from as far inland as Parmelia. But will anything be done?

Yes, Kwinana Industries have started another noise reference group to keep the issue buried while they do nothing for another few years, and then are likely to once again attempt to con so called community reps and our regulators into validating another noise modelling report that could not be validated because of lack of actual monitoring...

Yes, it likely that our Kwinana Council will continue to FALSELY claim that Kwinana Industry are exempt from the noise regulations just so they don't have to get involved when they know full well that Kwinanna industry are NOT exempt from the law.

Yes, it is likely that our DEC will continue to DO NOTHING about the ILLEGAL levels of noise that we are exposed to, they won't even monitor the noise because that would provide evidence that the noise problem existed.

Yes, our EPA will continue to approve new noisy industry and allow existing industry already in breach to expand and will continue to make the FALSE claim that this will not add to cumulative noise levels.

Yes the big corporate giants like Wesfarmers and BP will continue to breach noise regulations and just not care because they know they will be protected by those who are paid to protect us from them.

Now try and tell me that corruption does not exist in Kwinana - If this isn't corruption then what is?

I have blogged about this issue before after all this has been going on for over 10 years, so if you feel like a depressing read go here, here, here and here.

We want noise monitoring not modelling... We want action to reduce the impact of cumulative industrial noise on our lives... We want our authorities to stop protecting industry at any cost, and to enforce the laws designed to protect us... Why is this too much to ask?

Greenwashing and the almighty Spin Machine

Today I stumbled upon a web site of publications - books and papers by Prof Sharon Beder and I'm glad I did, wow can I relate to a lot of what she says.

The web site states that "Sharon has written 10 books, around 150 articles, book chapters and conference papers (many available for download here), as well as designing teaching resources and educational websites".

As many of you would know; for many years my pet hates have revolved a lot around corporate spin doctoring, greenwashing and the like, Prof Beder has many publications on the topic.

Sharon also writes on one of my other hates incineration and a soon to be hot topic sewage treatment use and reuse..

Here is just a very small taste of one of the publications:

"Another way for corporations to show they care about the environment, even if they don’t care enough to make major changes to their business practices, is to donate money to an environmental group or to sponsor an environmental project. Such donations can also have the additional benefit of coopting and corrupting environmentalists. Consultancies and perks for individual environmentalists also work wonders for getting a favourable hearing"

Well worth checking out: Click Here

Biowise Stinks

Biowise is an operation jointly owned by SITA and the WA Government through Water Corporation and composts sewage (Biosolids) from the nearby Kwinana waste water treatment plant.

Biowise has been of some concern in the community for many years, however it seems our council in particular the Environmental Health Department have been fully supportive of the operation.

During our campaign against the Rivers Regional Council proposal it became obvious that Biowise was having a negative effect on the amenity and livestyle of residents over a large area on the north side of Kwinana and on the Spectacles wet land situated imediately to the east of the operation. Odour often affected the community and the Spectacles area where tours are conducted. We have also recieved complaints of claimed health effects and of fly's breeding on the site.

It was claimed (and probably rightly so) that our local governemnt (Council) and state governement authorities where turning a blind eye to this operation - why is anyone's guess, but we are attempting to find out.

We recently learned that Biowise had applied (probably encouraged by our authorities) to the DEC to attempt to mask the odour by misting chemicals into the air.

We researched this proposal further and found that there was a history even in WA of the aplication of chemical in an attempt to control odour causing health problems. We learned that the product proposed to be used contained at least one chemical of real concern - Nonyl phenol ethoxylate 9016-45-9

Alkylphenols (APs). Nonylphenols (NPs),octylphenols (OPs), and nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs) are used in plastics, industrial detergents and emulsifiers, and textile and carpet cleaning. Most can degrade back to alkylphenols, which are persistent and bio-accumulative, and have been found in umbilical-cord blood and breast milk. NPs have also been found in foods, rainwater, and house dust. Alkylphenols can mimic estrogen hormones and in test animals, and can alter sexual development in fish and sperm quality in mice. Low doses of nonylphenol have profoundly adverse effects on oysters. A single exposure during larval development to an environmentally-relevant dose of nonylphenol causes disruption of sexual development, and also lowers survival of offspring in the next generation. Exposed larvae are much more likely to develop as hermaphrodites, and the sex ratio is altered, with more females than expected. According to the scientists who conducted the research, exposure "may result in severe consequences, not only for natural populations but also for commercial hatcheries situated in areas where nonylphenol is present in the water.

Obviously a chemical of concern to Human Health and to Fauna and surely should no be sprayed near people or in such close proximity to a major wetland.

We wrote to SITA asking them to withdraw the application to the DEC until a community consultative committee was set up to discuss the issue. They refused saying they would continue with the application but not install the system until the community had seen the details, which seems all too late.

One must question the spraying of chemicals into the air to mask an odour that should not be there in the first place. The cause should be addressed, for example most of the Biowise operation takes place out doors, not in enclosed sheds with scrubber systems to remove odour, no lining on the ground and no bunds.

Sigh... Looks like we have a long way to go with this one, time to ramp up the campaign.

Hello All,

Yes I have been a slack little blogger for the last month, thank you all those of stayed around waiting for me to get re motivated, and thank you to those of you who reminded me that I should keep the blog going etc.

Cheers,
Steve