Issue 144 11 July, 2018
Your independent community newspaper - Ph: 4325 7369
EPA delays confirmation of PFAS contamination at power stations A
s the NSW Labor opposition makes an election promise to ban toxic PFAS fire-fighting chemicals, the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has not produced any new public information about PFAS contamination at Munmorah and Colongra power stations since October 2017. A national Coalition Against PFAS (CAP) has been established to highlight the growing number of contaminated sites nationwide. Its President, Mr Lindsay Clout, said the EPA’s response to the detection of PFAS at Colongra and Munmorah is typical of its approach to all communities so far impacted by the chemical across the country. “What we want to do is help people understand the symantics and spin that it has taken us years to understand,’ Mr Clout said. “What they are trying to do is hide from it by saying that there is no consistent evidence that there are health impacts from this chemical, but if you take consistent out of that sentence, the whole argument collapses. “Look at the
No fishing signs erected by GPM near Colongra Power Station and (inset) Colongra-Munmorah on a map of PFAS/PFOS contaminated sites in NSW epidemiology study in the US, that included 63,000 people, that concluded PFAS resulted in testicular cancer, prostate cancer, thyroid conditions and birth defects. “We have been fighting for two years to get acceptance that this chemical is airborn and that is another pathway for ingestion.” According to Mr Clout, the community living around the Munmorah and Colongra Power Station sites should form a community group and start demanding answers from the site owners and the EPA, about the exact levels of PFAS that have been detected in the soil, surface water and ground
water. He said contaminated soil needs to be decontaminated. “Yes, there is no question that the soil needs to be cleaned up; there are stockpiles of soil covered with black plastic that they don’t know how to clean up,” he said. Mr Clout said the community around the contaminated site at Colongra-Munmorah also needs to understand that the chemical is mobile. “My word it moves, it is very, very mobile in water, it is slower in soil, but every time you have a rain event, that chemical will spread,” he said.
“Communities have to stand up to the process of the suppression of information that is occurring because this is a multi-billion dollar problem and no one wants to put their hand up for it,” Mr Clout said. D Per-and-polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are used in firefighting foam and are responsible for the contamination at Williamtown, impacting at least 750 homes. There are at least 25 sites in NSW affected by PFAS contamination including the MunmorahColongra site. Generator Property Management (GPM) and
Snowy Hydro advised the EPA that PFAS had been detected in the soil, surface water and groundwater at, and around, the Munmorah and Colongra Power Stations in February, 2015. The EPA did not respond until October, 2015. An initial study was completed in May, 2016, and in December, 2016, the EPA reported to a Contaminated Site Review that information received was under assessment. In October, 2017, it called for additional testing from Snowy Hydro and GPM, but that testing
did not get underway until April this year, more than three years after it was first reported. Member for Swansea, Ms Yasmin Catley, said she had received confirmation from General Property Management that they had undertaken further ground water testing and found that all ground water flows were inward on the site. “The fish testing is underway but has not been finished,” Ms Catley said. “Snowy Hydro was required to pay for the fish testing but it has been coordinated by the EPA,” she said. The EPA has identified a list of species to be tested and is working with commercial fishers to catch and test fish in the Tuggerah Lakes system over a six month period. “I was concerned that this wasn’t happening quickly enough and that is why I am constantly contacting the EPA to find out where it is all up to. “I report this information at every public meeting I go to, just to make sure that the community is informed,” she said. “The fish testing has taken time but it is comprehensive and thorough,” she said.
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