13th October 2004
ADI MULWALA COMMUNITY CONSULTATION MEETING
mulwala rsl kokoda room 13th october 2004, 3pm
Attendees
Alf Smale, Clive and Beth Macaulay, Alistair Wylie, Alan Abrahams, Sharon O’Brien, Bob Parr (Corowa Shire Council), Mark Imber (Department of Defence), Doug Wilson (ADI), Stuart Jobling (ADI), Jamie McDonald (ADI).
Apologies
Stuart Spinks
A request was made that hard copies of the meeting minutes be sent to the regular attendees as many of them did not have access to a computer to be able to view meeting minutes posted on the internet.
1.business arising from the last meeting
1.1Mercury Remediation - Report
The final report on the remediation of the Mercury contaminated areas on site can be viewed on the Internet website. A copy of the report containing photos of the works was handed around for the group to look at.
2.News
2.1Modernisation Project
The preferred tenderer should be announced very soon. The decision was delayed because of the election. ADI has made a recommendation based on a thorough review of the tender documents taking into account production capabilities, possible future demands for products, safety and environmental factors. Progress is now waiting on the Government and Department of Defence.
2.2MHF (Major Hazards Facility) Update
Stuart Jobling presented an updated handout for the meeting attendees. As yet there is still no NSW Legislation for MHF. It is expected to be announced by the end of 2004, however Stuart thinks it will more likely be early 2005. The MHF team, currently comprising of three people with another position just advertised, is drafting an implementation plan to ensure adequate resources are available to meet the requirements of the Legislation. The plan is based on the National Standard, which Victoria has already introduced, and assuming NSW will follow. Detailed Systematic Risk Assessments will begin in the next few weeks, which are aimed at identifying all areas where additional work to adequately define and control the risks is required. A review of the Safety Management System is underway and the ADI Mulwala Emergency Response Plan is currently being revised.
Sharon O’Brien raised the concern of community involvement and the need to alert the community in case of off site emergencies. She suggested that the Emergency Response Plan be brought to the Community Consultation Group for comment.
Stuart explained that the Legislation to be brought in would dictate communication and consultation with the community. The community will be informed about the type of risks to the areas surrounding the facility and how communications will flow if there is an emergency, which may impact the community.
Local Fire Brigades will be involved in the Emergency Response Plan and ADI will be trying to organise a drill with the fire brigades soon.
As the revised Emergency Response Plan won’t be completed until mid 2005, an outline of progress made will be presented at the next meeting.
ACTION: Stuart Jobling to update at next meeting.
2.3NPI Report to the EPA
The NPI is the National Pollutant Inventory and is an Internet database containing details of all emissions from every EPA Licensed operation in Australia. The annual submission to the database is an overall estimate of the total amount of specified chemicals emitted to the environment over the 12 months and includes vehicle emissions, fuel and gas consumption as well as all of the emissions from the manufacture of product. The database can be accessed on . The table below details the main emissions to the environment from ADI Mulwala.
Substance / 2002-2003 emissions (tonnes) / 2003-2004 emissions (tonnes)Carbon monoxide / 77 / 74
Ethanol / 171 / 195
Oxides of Nitrogen / 30 / 53
Particulate matter (dust) / 20 / 30
Sulphur dioxide / 6 / 10
Total VOCs / 437 / 505
The increases in emissions from the 2002-2003 year to this reporting year are due to the use of black coal in Boilerhouse, because of the unavailability of brown coal briquettes, and increased production including a product which was not produced during the 2002-2003 year.
2.4Annual Report to the EPA
ADI Mulwala submitted its Annual Compliance Report to the EPA in mid October. A summary of the main issues is shown in the graphs and table below.
It is thought that the lack of complaints from the community during the 2000-2001 licence year was due to the uncertainty surrounding the original decision on whether to upgrade the facility or to close it down.
Table 2: 2003-2004 ComplaintsDate / Complaint / Category
26 Nov 2003 / Ether smell / Odour
23 Jan 2004 / Smell from Bioreactors / Odour
24 Feb 2004 / Smoke from the Boilerhouse / Air Emissions
26 Feb 2004 / Haze in the air around Bayly Street / Air Emissions
9 Mar 2004 / Letter of complaint to URS (EIS consultants) about ether smells / Odour
20 Apr 2004 / Ether smell in evening / Odour
21 Apr 2004 / Ether smell in evening / Odour
27 Apr 2004 / Strong ether smell / Odour
Complaints about odour continue to be ADI Mulwala’s largest source for community complaints.
More control over conditions of operation of the Bioreactors at the Effluent Treatment Plant, and amendments to the monitoring requirements in the EPA Licence are the major reasons for the reduction in non-compliances for the 2003-2004 licence year.
3.Issues being worked
3.1CMP – Capping Project.
Contractors have been employed to work out exactly where to put the capping to stop infiltration of rainwater washing the nitrates and sulphates out of the soil and into the groundwater. A report on the location and extent of the capping is due in the next month or so, and then after that they will be looking at the best type of capping to seal out rainwater.
3.2CMP – Carbon Source Addition (CSA) and pumping trials.
The Carbon Source Addition trials are still in the proposal stage. It is an expensive option to look at as a source of carbon must be added to the soil to encourage the growth of the naturally occurring bacteria, which use the nitrates in the soil.
3.3Replacement of the briquette fired boilers with gas fired units
An application was made to Defence to bring forward the current proposals for gas fired boilers from the modernisation project, to replace the existing briquette fired boilers. Due to the unavailability of brown coal briquettes, these boilers were being run on black coal, which has a high ash content and higher emissions to air than briquettes. The Department of Defence were concerned about spending the money to install the boilers before a final decision was made on the modernisation. In the mean time, briquettes became available again and so installation of the gas fired boilers were again deferred until the modernisation.
3.4AO (Ammonia Oxidation) Plant Noise Reduction
The ammonia oxidation plant manufactures nitric acid from ammonia and is a source of noise close to the southern boundary of the site. A simple modification to the top of the air emissions stack will be installed before the next meeting to lower the noise levels from the AO.
3.5Pest Plant and Animal Management at ADI Mulwala
ADI’s on site Landcare Section is currently upgrading pest control. Broad leaf weeds have been sprayed and we will be improving the pasture by planting lucerne. It was noted that the nature strip along the Bayly Street boundary is a fire hazard and the grass needs slashing before summer.
4.other items
4.1Proposed Report on the use of Contaminated Groundwater.
John Sykes, an agronomist from Albury has put together an outline to indicate to people what the groundwater can be used for. When the ADI legal people reviewed the report, concerns were raised regarding ADIs liability.
It was decided at the meeting that a summary should be put out to give guidance on groundwater usage.
4.2Committee Membership
It was decided that recruitment of members from the wider community was a good idea.
ACTION: Doug Wilson to determine best way to recruit new members.
4.3Next Meeting
The next meeting will be scheduled for February/March 2005
4.4Homestead
Sharon O’Brien said that she had been speaking with the Sloane family, who were considering moving the old Sloane family homestead off the ADI site. Mark Imber was concerned about the heritage value of the homestead if it was relocated. He also said that the homestead was not owned by the Sloane family any more, but by the Government. If the Sloanes seriously wanted to move the homestead, they will be required to put forward a written proposal making sure they address all the relevant issues.
ACTION: Sharon O’Brien to give Mark Imber's contact details to the Sloane family.
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