Yet Another Explosion at Origin Gas Plant: More EPA Inaction

Below is a copy of an email sent to the EPA following yet another explosion from
the Origin gas plant at Port Campbell, near the Great Ocean Road and the 12 Apostles

Dear EPA,

The Origin gas plant has exploded (1.50pm 27 September) yet again - I wonder how many times this happened without Origin being held to account in the two months we were away.

Also, as directed by the EPA we called the pollution line last week when the noise was a constant for more than 24 hours.

We asked for someone from the EPA to get in touch with us to advise on what action would be taken following our complaint

Not surprisingly we haven't heard from anyone at the EPA.

sincerely
us and us

A Reminder to the EPA

In August (2012) the EPA announced in a strategic plan that finally it was finally going to take the toxic noise produced by the gas plants near the 12 Apostles seriously. This gave us hope that the EPA might actually start fulfilling their charter and actually begin to do something in regard to policing the industrial noise in south-west Victoria.

It's the middle of September (2012) and not surprisingly we are almost certain nothing yet has happened in this regard. So below is a reminder about some readings that were taken more than three years ago, before Origin bough the troubled Woodside gas plant.

Woodside Readings from Sat 31 Jan 2009

LEQ average: 51.7dBA
L90 average: 40.8dBA

Sun 1 Feb:

LEQ average: 48.3dBA
L90: 40.8dBA

Of course, nothing has ever come of this or anything else

sincerely

Mr and Mrs Rogered

Note: the gas plant is only licensed to emit 35db of noise. Noise is not a linear measurment and the above readings are more than double the licence limit. The EPA of course did not act on these readings

Street Talk

The EPA might be finally starting to take our claims about noise seriously if articles at the Standard and the ABC are any indication. But it's still talk on the EPA's behalf and we can only wonder how long these compliance plans will actually take to implement (my family and other concerned residents met with the EPA in February 2012 and nothing yet, not one second of noise monitoring, has happened).

Talk in some respects however can be good. Over the past few months we have received  emails and phone calls and street talk from locals who appear increasingly disaffected by Origin Energy (and other gas plants) and the gasification of the south-west coast. And that is from what is happening onshore.

Origin has plans to explore more of the Southern Ocean for gas reserves. One can only wonder if they will ever stop to consider the fisherman from Apollo Bay, Port Campbell and Warrnambool who will be again affected by their planned seismic booms. Doubtless the fisher folk will, if they haven't already, join an increasingly long line of disaffected south-west coast residents.

Silent Regulators: Loud Gas Plants

The Origin gas plant near Port Campbell and the Great Ocean Road

There are massive amounts of industrial droning noise coming from the gas plants near the Great Ocean Road, Port Campbell and the Twelve Apostles - we believe it is far beyond the 35db permitted by law. For my family the noise makes it far too loud to go outside. As ever, on clear and windless blue sky days we are prisoners in our home. 

 We understand the EPA met with Andrew Mason at the Corangamite Shire some weeks ago and we believe one of our suggestions - about delegating a resident (given the EPA do not have the staff to regulate) to conduct random noise testing was going to be tabled at the meeting.

Not surprisingly we have heard from no one about the suggestion or the details of the meeting. The  bureaucrats are good at silence. If only they could apply such skills to the Twelve Apostles gas plants

Gas Developments Answer for Asian Tourism

I'm off to Asia soon. Going on a tour of some of its great sites, to ramble about its islands, its temples and its history.  There'll be visits to Phuket in Thailand, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Hue in Vietnam.

Of course I'll also be making time to visit all the gas plants, or at the very least all the industrial zones, that have been set up around some of Asia's most renowned tourism assets.

Oh hang on a minute I've got that wrong. Unlike what has happened near the 12 Apostles on Victoria's Great Ocean Road there are no gas plants or monstrous industrialism near Angkor Wat, a place that much like the Twelve Apostles is recognised the world over.

Perhaps valuable tourism assets in Asia have been protected from industry. Or maybe the custodians are clueless to how the glow of gas flares can add to a tourist asset, fill the night sky with light.  Just how wrong can these people get? Don't they want more visitors to their parts of the world?

Best I pass out the Corangamite Shire's contact details to some Asian bureaucrats.
The Corangamite Shire watched over the industrial development near a part of the Great Ocean Road and should be able to set the Cambodians, the Thais and the Vietnamese straight.

A Stab in the Eye on a Winter Day

Some fine winter days near the 12 Apostles recently. The days might even have been considered perfect, at least for June, if not for being bombed by the constant cycle of noise from the Origin gas plant – we emailed the EPA about the demented industrial sounds but so far have yet to hear back. 

We used to send correspondence also to the Corangamite Shire but have given up on them in much the same way they seem to have given up on safe guarding this coast from inappropriate industry. 


That's all for now - have to go and stab myself in the eye: tis a far more pleasant thought than spending any more time contemplating the Origin gas plant or the Corangamite Shire.

More About Waubra Foundation and Noise Watch Inc

Noise Watch Australia Inc and the WaubraFoundation are organisations that have been confronted by a lack of relevant assessment of development conflict by the planning system, especially before the system approves change that dramatically changes  landscapes and causes extraordinary stress in people’s lives. 

While there is no public money to undertake evaluation, and while affected neighbours are often excluded from the development process by the authority, the changes are solely in the hands of the proponents. 

When fallout from industrial sites such as the gas plant increases regulatory responsibility  falls to the EPA to ensure safe conditions. The under-resourced EPA failings in country areas is a tragedy.

Because of these failings the responsibility is with the company to provide evidence for EPA prosecution. Of course, it doesn’t happen, particularly when noise and vibration is the stress source. 

This genuine interest by the above groups in our plight perfectly highlights the failings of both the Corangamite Shire and the EPA to act on what is increasingly recognised as a debilitating issue for the local residents here, and critically, for all Victorian.  Sadly the situation is similar in other Australian states.

NSW Shire Councillor Seeks Advice

The view from 1km of two gas plants near the Great Ocean Road

Here at Twelve Apostles: What a Gas we've had a phone call (via the Waubra Foundation) from a NSW shire councillor. The gas companies have their eyes on one of the small towns in his area. He wants to stop them coming into town, knows that if one gets in more will follow. But he wanted a first hand account of the gas driven calamities that have occurred in the Corangamite Shire, near the Great Ocean Road.

So we told him a few truths:

Be wary of the gas plant consultants/proponents who will try and make even coal-seam gas mines sound like days spas;

Once they're in, they're in: The original consultant employed by the first gas plant to be built near the Twelve Apostles assured the community that only one plant would ever be built - there are now four;

Ask about issues the proponents will never tell you about - like the numbers of trucks that will be shuttling along narrow country roads to and from the gas plant and the night-time lighting which will reconfigure the night-scape (the lights from the Twelve Apostles gas plants are so bright at night that they can be mistaken for a town);

Ask how is it possible that gas companies are permitted to self-regulate for noise: the Environmental Protection Authority are understaffed and under-funded. From our experience the EPA is almost powerless in country areas. The gas companies therefore take their own readings about the noise they emit. And if they do, on the off chance, take an excessive reading, the wind, birds, tractors and perhaps the untimely flatulence of one of the gas company employees taking the reading will be blamed;

The gas companies have a great escape clause in many of their operating licences. This refers to Unplanned Events. Not irregularly does the gas plant near to the home of Mr and Mrs Rogered 'blow up'. A great explosion of sound - like the sound of a fighter jet - shakes houses and results in a flare some 10metres or more high. This is an unplanned event and even if it happens twice a day it will not be regarded as excessive noise;

And about that flare: that 10metre flame is permissible even on days of Total Fire Ban. Hard to believe after the events of Black Saturday. But then, a lot about how gas companies really operate is hard to believe:

And finally, don't fall for the sucker-punch, the lure of the lucre. Gas companies will dole out sponsorship for community programs. At Port Campbell the life savers wear bathers with a gas company logo on them. In this way the companies get under a community's guard: don't let them in. Raise the money the old fashioned way - rally the organisation's troops and cart hay for a farmer or build a farm shed. Keep the integrity.