Lithgow City Council will raise concerns with the Department of Planning and Environment about an EnergyAustralia application to cover ash depositories in Wallerawang with millions of cubic metres of soil largely sourced from Sydney.
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Councillor Wayne McAndrew raised EnergyAustralia’s planning application as a matter of urgency at the council meeting on Monday, March 26, concerned about the quality of the soil and its transport to Wallerawang via truck.
The planning application to transport 2.5 million cubic metres of soil, the majority sourced from Sydney infrastructure projects, to bury three ash depositories is part of EnergyAustralia’s rehabilitation of the Wallerawang Power Plant site.
Currently the deposits of ash are uncovered and EnergyAustralia says they need to be ‘capped’ so the company can cease regular wetting of the ash preventing the spread of dust from the site.
An environmental assessment written by Aurecon states that soil from Wallerawang Power Station will be exhausted and suitable quantities of “virgin excavated natural material and excavated natural material” could not be located in the Bathurst/Lithgow region.
“It is expected that the majority of capping material for the project will be obtained from major construction projects in Sydney and will comprise crushed shale and sandstone,” the assessment states.
Transportation of the material will be by truck using the Great Western Highway, the Castlereagh Highway and the turn off to the power station near Lidsdale, as well as private roads linking the power station and Angus Place Colliery.
“It is anticipated that up to 150 deliveries [return] of capping material would occur per day, using road registered trucks with a capacity of around 20 cubic metres,” states the assessment.
Cr McAndrew said an increase in trucks on these roads, potentially 150 trips in and out of Wallerawang per day, would not be tolerated by the community.
“This council would need to be convinced soil from wherever it is sourced is not contaminated and is safe for landfill,” he said.
“Once we are satisfied the soil is OK, it should be transported by rail not trucks.”
Aurecon has estimated that truck movements in the Lithgow region would not be more than when the power station was operational.
Mayor Stephen Lesslie said he could not verify the truth of that statement.
“Just because something was bad in the past, there’s no reason we should accept it in the future,” Mayor Lesslie said.
“The point is there is an alternative there is rail transport, and we should be looking to see how we can be making things better.
“I’m very concerned about the truck movements as they would badly affect people in Lithgow and the Blue Mountains and we have a responsibility to everyone on this matter.”
Lithgow’s councillors voted unanimously to authorise a submission to the Department of Planning requesting that lack of contaminated material in the soil be guaranteed and that transport of the soil occurs via existing rail to Wallerawang.
What is Virgin Excavated Natural Material?
EnergyAustralia has stated they will use Virgin Excavated Natural Material (VENM) and Excavated Natural Material (ENM) to cover the deposits.
VENM is natural material (such as clay, gravel, sand, soil or rock fines) that has been excavated from areas that are not contaminated and do not contain any sulfidic ores or soils or any other waste.
ENM is material that has been excavated and contains at least 98% natural material. It must not have been excavated from a location that contains asbestos, Acid Sulfate Soils (ASS), Potential Acid Sulfate soils (PASS) or sulfidic ores.
Via the EPA.