Extract from The Guardian
Federal government figures show sulphur dioxide, hydrochloric acid,
fine particle pollution and mercury output rose steeply in 2014-15
Toxic emissions from the power plant that made AGL Australia’s
largest carbon polluter surged in the year the gas company acquired it,
commonwealth figures reveal.
Bayswater power station in New South Wales recorded double-digit rises in sulphur dioxide, hydrochloric acid, fine particle pollution and mercury output in 2014-15, according to the National Pollutant Inventory.
The spike in toxic pollution raises questions about the public health risks posed by the ageing coal-fired plant, which was slated for a 50-year lifetime when acquired by AGL in September 2014.
The board of AGL will face its shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting on Wednesday.
While Bayswater generated 10% more power in 2014-15 than the previous 12 months, the intensity of toxic emissions per megawatt produced also rose.
Intensity of emissions of sulphur dioxide were up 17%, hydrochloric acid up 78%, fine particulates 68% and mercury 4%.
Overall emissions of sulphur dioxide rose by 28% to 76m kg, hydrochloric acid by 96% to 1.8m kg, fine particulates by 85% to 240,000 kg and mercury by 14% to 240 kg (a rise of 458% in three years).
Josh Creaser, from climate advocacy group 350.org, said the figures were concerning and a “real question for the AGL board to answer about why on Earth the community that lives near that power station, the workers that work there, are seeing this already very toxic power station having such a massive increase in a range of toxins that are a risk to human health and the local environment”.
Creaser said there were question marks over the age and efficiency of the plant, as well as the speed of AGL’s broader transition away from coal amid its public announcements of a climate-friendly shift in the business.
Andrew Vesey, the chief executive of AGL, told Guardian Australia in February the company needed to be out of the “CO2 emissions business” to manage the financial risk of climate change. Vesey pledged last year the company would stop burning coal by 2050, then announcing in February it was pulling out of coal seam gas.
AGL also owns Loy Yang power station in Victoria, which is the largest source of carbon pollution in Australia.
Creaser said: “AGL’s own staff are on record saying the ideal lifespan for a power station is something like 20 to 30 years but they’re planning to run Bayswater until it’s 50 years old and Loy Yang until it’s 60 years old.”
“Seeing the spike in pollution from Bayswater really points to the major risks that exist to the community and to people’s health and obviously the climate as well, as these power stations are run longer and longer.
“AGL paints itself as this clean and green company but it really doesn’t add up when you start to look beneath that veneer at the facts and figures around where their energy is coming from and the impact it’s having.”
A new poll of 1,007 power consumers by Essential Research, commissioned by another advocacy group Market Forces, found 21% were AGL customers.
Of these, almost half (46%) said they were more likely to switch suppliers knowing AGL was the nation’s biggest carbon polluter.
Of non-AGL customers, 42% said they were less likely to switch to AGL knowing this.
Creaser said AGL should be “employing absolute best practice right now to clean up the spike in toxic pollutants” at Bayswater.
Beyond that, it needed an exit plan to shut down Bayswater, the nearby Liddell power station and Loy Yang and rehabilitate the sites without “leaving workers and those communities in the lurch”.
A protest rally outside the AGL annual meeting in Sydney, organised by 350.org and Stop CSG Sydney, will call on the company to stop burning coal within a decade, instead of by 2050.
“AGL needs to get out of fossil fuels in 10 years because that’s what the climate science demands but they need to do that in a way that brings communities and workers into the picture,” Creaser said.
Bayswater power station in New South Wales recorded double-digit rises in sulphur dioxide, hydrochloric acid, fine particle pollution and mercury output in 2014-15, according to the National Pollutant Inventory.
The spike in toxic pollution raises questions about the public health risks posed by the ageing coal-fired plant, which was slated for a 50-year lifetime when acquired by AGL in September 2014.
The board of AGL will face its shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting on Wednesday.
While Bayswater generated 10% more power in 2014-15 than the previous 12 months, the intensity of toxic emissions per megawatt produced also rose.
Intensity of emissions of sulphur dioxide were up 17%, hydrochloric acid up 78%, fine particulates 68% and mercury 4%.
Overall emissions of sulphur dioxide rose by 28% to 76m kg, hydrochloric acid by 96% to 1.8m kg, fine particulates by 85% to 240,000 kg and mercury by 14% to 240 kg (a rise of 458% in three years).
Josh Creaser, from climate advocacy group 350.org, said the figures were concerning and a “real question for the AGL board to answer about why on Earth the community that lives near that power station, the workers that work there, are seeing this already very toxic power station having such a massive increase in a range of toxins that are a risk to human health and the local environment”.
Creaser said there were question marks over the age and efficiency of the plant, as well as the speed of AGL’s broader transition away from coal amid its public announcements of a climate-friendly shift in the business.
Andrew Vesey, the chief executive of AGL, told Guardian Australia in February the company needed to be out of the “CO2 emissions business” to manage the financial risk of climate change. Vesey pledged last year the company would stop burning coal by 2050, then announcing in February it was pulling out of coal seam gas.
AGL also owns Loy Yang power station in Victoria, which is the largest source of carbon pollution in Australia.
Creaser said: “AGL’s own staff are on record saying the ideal lifespan for a power station is something like 20 to 30 years but they’re planning to run Bayswater until it’s 50 years old and Loy Yang until it’s 60 years old.”
“Seeing the spike in pollution from Bayswater really points to the major risks that exist to the community and to people’s health and obviously the climate as well, as these power stations are run longer and longer.
“AGL paints itself as this clean and green company but it really doesn’t add up when you start to look beneath that veneer at the facts and figures around where their energy is coming from and the impact it’s having.”
A new poll of 1,007 power consumers by Essential Research, commissioned by another advocacy group Market Forces, found 21% were AGL customers.
Of these, almost half (46%) said they were more likely to switch suppliers knowing AGL was the nation’s biggest carbon polluter.
Of non-AGL customers, 42% said they were less likely to switch to AGL knowing this.
Creaser said AGL should be “employing absolute best practice right now to clean up the spike in toxic pollutants” at Bayswater.
Beyond that, it needed an exit plan to shut down Bayswater, the nearby Liddell power station and Loy Yang and rehabilitate the sites without “leaving workers and those communities in the lurch”.
A protest rally outside the AGL annual meeting in Sydney, organised by 350.org and Stop CSG Sydney, will call on the company to stop burning coal within a decade, instead of by 2050.
“AGL needs to get out of fossil fuels in 10 years because that’s what the climate science demands but they need to do that in a way that brings communities and workers into the picture,” Creaser said.
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