Central Queensland mining firms should be checked for air pollution: environmentalists
Environmental Justice Australia said that the government should take relevant action to ensure Queensland mining firms are not polluting the environment.
The state government was supposed to reconsider the previous standards of environmental policies that have remained the same since 1998. The assessment of whether the air quality standards are negatively affecting the health of people should be done at regular intervals, as advised by the environmental law firm.
It is important to find out if the exposure to particulate matter (PM 10) would pose health threats to the community beings. “More Australians die each year from being exposed to particulate pollution than from car accidents,” EJA researcher James Whelan said as quoted by the ABC . “In central Queensland, there’s quite an extraordinary situation where many communities are exposed to PM10 emissions from coal mines and they just don’t know what levels of PM10 they’re being exposed to.”
The Department of Environment and Heritage Protection said that after monitoring the air pollution level, it found that air in the central Queensland environment normally remained “within the current 24-hour average standards.” However, the level increased in situations where extra sources, including dust storms and smoke, were added.
PM10 is a toxic element that when inhaled can be harmful. This is because it contains acids like sulphates and nitrates along with organic chemicals, dust particles and more. Whelan added coal mining produces more than 90 percent of PM10 in central Queensland.
The National Clean Air Agreement, introduced in December 2014, provided the state with standardised policies relating to particulate matter concentrations.
Australia’s Queensland is not alone in planning to raise environmental policy standards; US, too, is following on the same track. The US Commission on Civil Rights is going to conduct a hearing on environmental justice as well as the Environmental Protection Agency.
Coal ash has been regarded as the second largest source of industrial waste in the US as mentioned by the joint report from the non-profit environmental law firm, Earthjustice. The exposure to coal ash leads to health harms, including cancer and failure of several body organs.
