Tell the NSW EPA to make Vales Point power station clean up its act

Tell the NSW EPA to make Vales Point power station clean up its act

The figures are out and once again it's clear that coal-fired power is bad for our health.  

Communities are being exposed to dangerous toxins like sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particle pollution that cause serious health issues like asthma, heart attack, stroke and premature death. 

The amount of toxic air pollution pumped out by Australia’s fleet of ageing coal-fired generators would be illegal in most other countries. 

Yet the people in charge of protecting our health from pollution – the Environment Protection Authority NSW – continue to let ageing and failing power stations pollute unchecked.  

This toxic industry has not ...

The figures are out and once again it's clear that coal-fired power is bad for our health.  

Communities are being exposed to dangerous toxins like sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particle pollution that cause serious health issues like asthma, heart attack, stroke and premature death. 

The amount of toxic air pollution pumped out by Australia’s fleet of ageing coal-fired generators would be illegal in most other countries. 

Yet the people in charge of protecting our health from pollution – the Environment Protection Authority NSW – continue to let ageing and failing power stations pollute unchecked.  

This toxic industry has not moved to control and reduce air pollution, despite technologies being readily available.  

Our recent analysis of the National Pollutant Inventory revealed that at the Vales Point power station, emissions of deadly PM2.5 air pollution increased a whopping 3000% over 6 years.   

279 people die prematurely each year in NSW as a result of toxic air pollution. Nationally this number is at 4800 and with coal-fired power stations responsible for an annual health bill of $2.6 billion, we must speak out.  

Together with community groups, we’ve lodged a legal complaint with the Environment Protection Authority in NSW about the shocking increases in toxic fine particle pollution from the Vales Point Power Station.  

Join the call and demand that the NSW Government and the EPA get Australia’s most toxic polluters to clean up its act. 

 

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Add your name to the complaint

Read the full legal complaint that we just launched with a coalition of health, environment and community groups and add your name to demand that the NSW EPA makes Vales Point coal-fired power station clean up its act.

Dear Mr Bean,

I refer to the legal complaint sent to you on behalf of Doctors for the Environment, Lung Foundation Australia, Asthma Australia, Healthy Futures, Lake Macquarie & Central Coast Coal Ash Alliance, Keep Lake Macquarie Clean, Nature Conservation Council NSW, Australian Conservation Foundation, and Greenpeace asking you to investigate significant increases in particle pollution at Vales Point power station.

I request that my name be added to the complaint because I am concerned that Delta Electricity may be putting the community at risk from exposure to toxic pollution.

I request that the investigation the EPA has confirmed they will conduct of Vales Point power station includes all possible breaches of the Protection of Environment Operations Act 1997 and the Vales Point Power Station EPL 761, as outlined in the legal complaint mentioned above.

Recently released data from the National Pollutant Inventory for the period 2018-19 shows that Vales Point power station increased dangerous PM2.5 pollution by 181 percent on the previous reporting year and an extraordinary 3000 percent over 6 years. This steep and unexplained rise in particulate emissions from Vales Point warrants investigation.

The linkages between particulate pollution and human health are well established. There is no known safe limit of exposure. The list of human health impacts to which air pollution contributes continues to grow and includes heart disease, stroke, asthma attacks, low birth weights of babies, lung cancer and type 2 diabetes PM2.5 is considered to have the strongest effect on human health.

It appears that Delta Electricity has failed to operate and or maintain plant and equipment at Vales Point in a proper and efficient manner, which has caused air pollution.

We request you investigate Delta Electricity’s conduct, with a view to prosecuting Delta Electricity for any breaches of the Act and that you will notify the NSW Health Minister of the risk to public health.

The EPA has a duty of care to protect us from pollution. I ask that you fulfil that duty with this investigation.

Yours faithfully