WA has its own problem, but like Gunns it’s kept under wraps. This is a real David and Goliath story.

Residents of Cockburn have tried to stop Cockburn Cement’s toxic fumes but in October they will double production and test new products. This is a serious matter that will have health consequences for Cockburn and residents as far away as the Swan Valley and plains.

There may also be a future danger for workers if the dangerous product of fly ash is mixed with cement and plaster. Has the inclusion of fly ash been tested for safety? I leave that with you. Fly ash may well prove to be as dangerous as asbestos for anyone who uses cement and plaster that includes fly ash in future. Many PCB’s have been dumped in a quarry in Cockburn.

Cockburn Cement wants to sign off on environmental approval on 6 September to expand and double their output in future and do tests in October.

The community has not been consulted on a massive $200 million extension or the trials from October that will burn power station fly ash, plastics and other heavy metal toxic products. The present closed community consultation with CCL is flawed and needs to be open to public and independent scrutiny.

With tests in October and another kiln planned for production, monitoring of lead, arsenic et al toxic polluters must be legitimately identified and recorded for the sake of public health.

Cockburn City Council and the State Government have a duty of care to ensure public health safety from industrial polluters in residential areas. I believe Unions also have a duty of care to their workers and families. CCL intends to reduce their stack testing from four times a year to twice a year in the future. Who will monitor the safety of their products?

Are we being poisoned while we sleep at night in Cockburn and further a field? The CCL emission allowance new license in March 2004 increased the allowable Sulphur content from 6 to 7. A CCL list of annual emissions include many known carcinogenic compounds, and many compounds which are accumulative toxins and may have long term danger to public health.

Even though Cockburn Cement has made token improvements they still have not eliminated the problems. Doubling the output will do nothing to improve the clean air in the whole region. With increased burning of more toxic products like fly ash in kiln 3 and 4 (which already cause pollution) present a greater danger. How old are these kilns?

Now is the time to address these issues, not when the population has exploded in Cockburn, as is the present plan along the new railway line.

Our children and grandchildren’s health may be under threat in future if these important emission issues are overlooked today. The whole population could be held to ransom if the problem is not addressed now.

The use of fly ash in cement and plaster may be as dangerous as asbestos for workers as well as the community at large.

Opposition environment spokesman Peter Garrett’s responses to our questions of yesterday didn’t arrive in time for our deadline today. His office assures us they are on the way. We’ll try again tomorrow.