Australian Conservation Foundation names Mount Isa the most polluted postcode in the country

Mount Isa has been named the most polluted postcode in Australia in a brand new report from the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF).

The ACF stated the outback metropolis is certainly one of 4 Queensland areas listed amongst the Top 10 most polluted postcodes in the country, alongside Gladstone, Stanwell and Tarong.

The report was based mostly on evaluation of 5 pollution of concern in the National Pollutant Inventory: sulfur dioxide, mercury, coarse and wonderful particles and oxides of nitrogen.

Mount Isa hosts copper, lead, zinc and silver mines, with 17 amenities reporting pollution of concern to the NPI.

Mines in round the metropolis emitted 400,000 tonnes of sulfur dioxide, 3,800 tonnes of oxides of nitrogen and 860kg of mercury and compounds in the air in the 2020/21 reporting interval, in accordance with the NPI.

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Local residents informed Guardian Australia that once they take their kids to play at the native park, they’ll typically style the sulfur dioxide blowing in from the copper smelter close by.

They additionally spoke of 1 event the place a college meeting completed early as a result of kids had been coughing resulting from fumes drifting into the grounds from a close-by mine.

One resident – a former faculty instructor in the city, who didn’t want to be named – stated she determined to maneuver away from Mount Isa final 12 months when she fell pregnant.

As an asthmatic, she stated remembers occasions the place she needed to cowl her mouth and nostril whereas strolling between buildings at work.

Mount Isa Mines, operated by Glencore, is accountable for 91% of the postcode’s emissions, in accordance with the ACF.

Glencore stated Mount Isa Mines has the “most intensive air quality monitoring network of any city in Australia”, as a part of an “industry-leading” framework used to regulate emissions and mud at the supply and stop contaminates from escaping.

“Mount Isa Mines is regulated by over 75 separate permits and authorities, with stringent and transparent reporting of environmental performance and we operate within our environmental limits for sulphur dioxide emissions and lead,” the firm stated.

“Every resident of Mount Isa is within 1,200 metres of a sulphur dioxide monitor. Mount Isa Mines also engages openly about operations to ensure the community and stakeholders can stay informed.”

Matthew Rose, ACF’s financial system and democracy program supervisor, stated sulfur dioxide is related to “increased respiratory symptoms, difficulty in breathing and ultimately, for some people, premature death.”

“Air pollution kills about 3,000 Australians every year and worsens conditions such as asthma, emphysema, chronic bronchitis and other respiratory diseases,” Rose stated.

But he stated Mount Isa was certainly one of the few “polluted” postcodes in the country that doesn’t host coal-fired energy stations or coalmines.

Muswellbrook in the New South Wales Hunter Valley, Traralgon in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, Collie in Western Australia and Queensland’s Gladstone, Stanwell and Tarong are all centres for coal burning, in accordance with the ACF.

Danielle Slade, the mayor of Mount Isa, stated Glencore has a complete system of emission capturing know-how in place.

“They probably have one of the most intense air monitoring networks in any city in Australia. It operates 24/7,” Slade stated.

Slade stated the metropolis’s copper smelter has an acid plant connected to it that captures all the fumes popping out of the stack. She stated the copper smelter’s emissions are then become fertiliser.

“There are some good, sort of green ways to turn to manage this,” she stated. “Mining of these minerals is critical so that we can have electric cars, smartphones, smart TVs.”

Slade acknowledged it was “very rare” to have a neighborhood residing so near a mine, however described moments the place residents can style sulfur as “isolated incidents” that happen solely when the acid plant was down.

“I grew up in Mount Isa and before the acid plant was here you could taste the sulfur. The mine’s been doing a great job to mitigate this,” she stated.

Queensland’s atmosphere minister, Meaghan Scanlon, stated the Environment Department “takes air quality very seriously and plays an active role in monitoring air quality across Queensland”.

“Right now, the department reports and monitors close to 40 monitoring stations throughout Queensland, including in Mount Isa and in Gladstone, where we have installed eight monitoring stations,” Scanlon stated.

Scanlon stated general air high quality has improved over the final three a long time and stays “relatively good as a result of industry regulation, stricter emission standards for motor vehicles and new emission reduction technology.”

But Rose stated Australia wants new, nationally constant air high quality requirements and a coherent nationwide plan to transition to a clear vitality future.

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