So, productive afternoon. Thought it was going to be fruitless, but ......................tried to find out which govt dept was in charge of watching the hot spots in the mine. After many many phone calls, a nice bloke at the Emergency services state control centre manager, got onto John Mitas, Cheif Mine Inspector who called me and explained at length the process. GDF Suez monitor the hot spots and Cheif Mine Inspector and Mine Inspector from Traralgon meet once a month for Suez to report to them. So I explained to John, the people would like to know more concrete specific things like, how many hot spots, how big are the hot spots, are the hot spots deminishing etc etc. I mentioned Old faithful, he asked me, do you know anything about underground coal fires, I said yes actually I do, thanks to Mark A Cummins an expert coal mine fire fighter from Texas who has given us much much information and insight into this subject, when i mentioned bacteria, i would have loved to see the look on his face lol. Anyway the long and the short, The Cheif Mine Inspector said he would speak to GDF Suez and tell them about our conversation and that the people of Morwell would feel much more secure and happier if there was more transparency, so we see what happens now. Also spoke to Rosa from the EPA and she said, they will have a meeting about leasing equipment to the community to do independent monitoring as they actually think its a good idea. Am waiting now for a call from Russell Northe about similar questions, spoke to his secretary today, and received a letter back from the Premiers office which told me that Russell Northe would follow up. So all in all, definitely a good afternoon. I am thinking now at this point, one of the best recommendations that could be made by Justice Teague, would be for a special Mines branch, to follow up on hot spots after an event, to monitor and make damn sure they are extinguished fully, and if not, least let everyone know exactly what goes on from day to day about it. Honestly afer today, i dont think all of it is that govt depts dont want to tell you who to speak to, i think they really dont know who does what anymore,
Posted on: Thu, 24 Apr 2014 07:39:23 +0000
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