Environmental News 17.8.13 Part V: Yeah, Yeah, We Know Coal Dust is Yucky, Says Main Parties, But, Show Us the Money Mining Companies.. “Labor and Tony Abbott just cannot be trusted to protect the environment.” Says Greens Leader, Christine Milne and she is absolutely right. If they get their way - and one of them will in September – it will be open slather for CSG, coal mining, reef dredging and whatever else they think they need to destroy to get their greedy hands on the money. Meanwhile, the people living in or between coal mines and the ports are suffering the results of the main party’s sucking up to industry. A senate inquiry has just found that the government needs to do more to monitor air quality and consider potential health impacts when approving new coalmines. This report recommends that real-time data on air quality should be provided BEFORE any new mine development and that trains should be covered when transporting coal dust. The committee also called for “buffer zones” around houses so that dust particles don’t reach residents. BUT, the NSW Minerals Council said that covering coal wagons would be expensive and have no significant impact on air quality near rail lines, while the Minerals Council of Australia pointed out that not all harmful airborne particles are created by the coal industry. Greens senator Richard di Natale, who participated in the Senate inquiry disagrees. “The standards we have are weak and in some cases non-existent,” he said. "Monitoring is a complete dog’s breakfast and is back to front. We have handed monitoring over to industry, rather than independent bodies, and we set different standards for the city to those people living in a small town next to a mine. theguardian/environment/2013/aug/16/senate-inquiry-coalmine-buffer-zones
Posted on: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 21:24:28 +0000
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