A DUST-monitoring station should be placed near a toxic soil plant approved in Altona, a Hobsons Bay councillor says.
Residents last week reacted with anger and alarm after the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal overturned the council’s refusal and approved a contaminated soil plant on the Dow Chemical site in Kororoit Creek Road.
Innova Soil Technology, which expects to start operations early next year, confirmed some contaminated soil would be treated outdoors, not in an enclosed building.
Managing director John Lucas said the treatment process would remove “an extensive range of hydrocarbon contaminants from polluted soil”.
“From the community’s point of view, the centre will be located in the heart of some of the most polluted sites in Victoria, including 18 in the Hobsons Bay municipality, and it offers a proven and environmentally sound solution,” he said.
The site is 950 metres from homes and within 1.5 kilometres of Altona West Kindergarten, Altona P-9 College and Mount St Joseph Girls’ College. Resident Geoff Mitchelmore, a former chief chemist for the Gas and Fuel Corporation, said: “Hobsons Bay is now the toxic waste and dust capital of Australia.
“I feel dreadfully disappointed after all the effort we’ve gone to. I feel let down by the EPA and VCAT by this facility being allowed to release toxic dust into the atmosphere of Hobsons Bay.”
Altona Laverton Historical Society president Peter Weaver, a third-generation Altona resident whose great-grandfather’s land was acquired by Mobil, said Innova’s soil-treatment plans were “disgusting”.
“It just seems to be uncovered and susceptible to the wind,” he said.
Cr Tony Briffa and the Hobsons Bay Residents Association have launched a campaign to continue opposition to the plant.
“It’s unlikely that we will reverse this decision, so the campaign will focus on lobbying the state government to introduce laws regarding the siting and monitoring of facilities to decontaminate soil, and seek the establishment of a permanent dust-monitoring station to the immediate south of the Innova facility,” Cr Briffa said.
