Agendas |Minutes 

DRAFT

COMMUNITY LIAISON GROUP
EIS FOR REMEDIATION OF THE ALLIED FEEDS SITE
MEETING 3 NOTES
Location: Allied Feeds Site, 42 Walker Street, Rhodes; and
Rhodes Community Centre, Blaxland Road, Rhodes. 
Date: 7 March 2002
Time: 5:30 pm - 8:30pm

Attendees: 
Committee Members 
Dietrich Willing Friends of the Earth
Louise Hayes Meadowbank and West Ryde Progress Association
John Pym Independent Technical Reference Person
Jenny Nicholls Rhodes Residents' Group
Kate Hughes Independent Technical Reference Person
John Kent Independent Chairman
Carol Kendall Rhodes Residents' Group
Laurie Gordon Auburn Greenspace
Paul Hanly Rhodes Peninsula Group
Don White Nature Conservation Council
John Toohey Meadowbank and West Ryde Progress Association
Carmel del Duca Mayor of Canada Bay
Observers
Franco Fuccenecco Meriton Apartments
Jeff Holdsworth Rhodes Resident
Project Team
David Snashall ERM
Ruth Kelly ERM
Genevieve Kelly ERM
Bengt von Schwerin Earth Tech Engineering
Apologies: 
Committee Members
Nicole Campbell Sydney Olympic Park Authority
Craig Redfern Ryde City Council
Nigel Routh Concord West Public School P&A Association
Sundar Mahtani King Street Areas residents
Andrew Komli Liberty Grove
Paula Majstorovic Rhodes Resident
John Pike Rhodes Peninsula Group

1 INTRODUCTION
The third Community Liaison Group (CLG) meeting consisted of a site walkover and formal meeting at the Rhodes Community Centre. The site walkover involved a tour of the Allied Feeds site by Earth Tech Engineering representative Bengt von Schwerin, who provided information on the location of the haul roads, the thermal and water treatment compound areas, and the location of the deep fill and shallow fill soils. The progressive remediation works program was discussed as part of the site tour.
The meeting at the Rhodes Community Centre began with apologies from CLG members, and confirmation of the second CLG meeting notes with minor amendments (held 24th January 2002).

2 DIRECTLY HEATED THERMAL DESORPTION CONTRACTOR 
2.1 Previous experience of the DHTD contractor
The core business of the nominated DHTD Contractor is thermal treatment of contaminated material. The Contractor has remediated many sites in the USA, and has extensive experience in site remediation. The Contractor has had great success in establishing good rapport with community groups in the USA. This is evident in a letter from the Chairman of a Neighbourhood Council who "praised" the Contractor for their community consultation during the remediation works, and for completing the remediation within the specified timeframe. It was also stated that even though the project had been undertaken adjacent to a mobile home park and several restaurants, no complaints had been made throughout the works (a copy of this letter will be included in an Annex of the Environmental Impact Assessment).
2.1.2 Operating the DHTD unit
The DHTD Contractor will provide employees to implement and oversee the operations of the unit. The operation of the DHTD unit will be performed by local employees, trained and supervised by the DHTD Contractor.
The NSW EPA will receive a Commercial in Confidence Report detailing all the mechanisms of the DHTD unit. In addition to the NSW EPA assessing the unit's operational and mechanical requirements, the DHTD unit's technology will comply with all local standards and guidelines, including the NSW Gas Act and Australian Standards.
The DHTD unit operates from the main power supply. Should the main power supply temporarily fail, a back-up generator will be used as a power source. If the power supply is interrupted and the back-up generator fails to work, the DHTD unit will immediately shut down. The DHTD unit will not operate again until power is re-established and the unit parameters, such as temperature and pressure meet processing guidelines.
A Preliminary Hazard Analysis has been prepared in accordance with SEPP 33 - Hazardous and Offensive Developments. This sets out safety parameters and contingency plans in the event of incidents or accidents occurring.

3 DUST AND AIR QUALITY
Feedback from the community has indicated that the greatest concern from the potential remediation works impacts are dust and stack emissions. 
3.1 Dust
The air quality assessment to date has shown that the largest potential source of dust is anticipated to be from the two haul roads used to carry either clean or contaminated soil around the site. The high moisture content of the soil (up to 30 per cent) will reduce the potential for airborne and wind blown dust during transport. 
Mitigation measures that will be introduced to minimise potential dust include:
* watering unsealed roads (ie. haul roads);
* ensuring that truck movements are restricted to designated routes;
* washing truck wheels for trucks transporting building materials or cleared vegetation off the site;
* limiting the area of excavation, so that soils are removed in small, controlled sections;
* installing wind breaks and other screens to protect potential dust generating areas; 
* establishing trigger levels to ensure that works are amended or ceased in periods of high wind or extreme dry periods, and covering exposed areas during these period. (a weather station will be installed on site to monitor the climate patterns such as wind speed);
* a misting system on the feed point of the machine to control potential dust;
* water sprayers, sprinklers and water carts to dampen stockpiles, work areas and exposed soils to prevent the emission of dust from the site; and
* dust monitoring around the site to determine compliance with dust goals (dust gauges etc).
Different combinations of these mitigation measures are currently being considered to determine the best way to minimise potential dust. The EMP will outline specific trigger levels and prescriptive actions to be undertaken should dust issues arise. 
3.1.1 Dust issues raised by the CLG 
Installation of a negative pressure shed on-site 
The CLG have been informed by PPK and Thiess that they will be using a negative pressure shed on the adjoining Lednez site to enclose pre-treatment works. The CLG have a consensus view that they would like pre-treatment works on the Allied Feeds site to be carried out in an enclosed area in the absence of clear justification that it is not required. 
Earth Tech Engineering noted that the adjoining Lednez site will be handling approximately six times the quantity of material of the Allied Feeds site, will be handling Bay sediments which may be very fine, and that the remediation process will be over a much longer time frame. 
Mitigation measures will be implemented to ensure that the main potential source of dust such as the roads and stockpiles are minimised, and comply with NSW EPA standards. However, Earth Tech Engineering has taken the community's concerns into consideration and will continue to evaluate different options for the reduction of potential dust impacts, including the potential incorporation of a structure for stockpiling material awaiting treatment in the thermal unit compound. 
Other CLG dust issues
There was concern that potential dust problems will be cumulative through the Lednez site and Allied Feeds site operating at the same time. The potential cumulative impacts are being modelled by Holmes Air Sciences and will be included in the impact assessment. 
3.2 Unit Safety and Stack Emissions
The operation of the DHTD unit depends on the level and type of contaminants, moisture content, the clean-up levels, specific temperature and oxidisation times for the impacted soil being fed through the unit.
Should the operational parameters of the DHTD unit be exceeded, an alarm is triggered and the unit shut down. Prescriptive emergency shut down procedures, and prescriptive steps on how to re-commence unit operations will be followed in accordance with the Operations Manual and the Emergency Response and Contingency Plan. 
The temperature, pressure and quantity of impacted soils being passed through the machine will be monitored and logged by staff in the control room. The NSW EPA acts as the independent body responsible for auditing the stack emission levels from the DHTD unit. The EPA will check the stack emission levels at scheduled intervals and non-scheduled times. 
Per the CLG's request, a list of contaminants have been attached to the meeting notes. Further information will be provided in the EIS.

4 HEALTH RISK ASSESSMENT (HRA) UPDATE
Earth Tech Engineering and ERM have continued discussions with Thiess and the Site Auditors for both sites to ensure that clean up criteria for both sites is appropriate, and that potential impacts to the community are minimised.
The HRA includes discussions of clean up goals based on the Department of Health and Ageing recommended Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) levels. 
The confirmed clean up criteria will be released when the HRA has been confirmed and signed off by the Site Auditor. 
4.1 Tolerable Daily Intake
Human exposure standards for dioxins differ internationally. A TDI range of 1-4 picograms Toxic Equivalence/kg of body weight was established by the World Health Organisation in 1998 and has been used by the NSW EPA.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration of the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing has recently recommended a level of 2.3 pg/TE/kg. These figures will be considered in the HRA in order to determine an appropriate clean up standard.

5 EIS UPDATE
The EIS is to be lodged in mid-April. Exhibition times will be advertised by Planning NSW. Guidelines on how to make a submission will be provided in the EIS. The EIS should be available for viewing in approximately four locations, including the Concord West Library, Canada Bay Council, Ryde Council and Planning NSW. 
Air quality assessment: assessed potential impacts from inert dust, odours and stack emissions. Mitigation measures and monitoring regimes are now being developed. 
Noise: a variety of scenarios have been modelled for potential noise impacts. These comprise of best-to-worse case scenarios, including high winds and dry days, for both days and night works.
Traffic: the majority of vehicles will arrive outside peak time. The modelling suggest that even in peak hour times, the impacts will be low. 

6 FUTURE MEETINGS 
A third newsletter will be sent to residents around the time that the EIS is published. The newsletter will inform the public on how submissions are made to PlanningNSW. The newsletter will also invite the public to attend an open day to discuss the EIS with technical experts from ERM. CLG members are welcome to attend the open day.
A copy of the EIS will be made available to CLG members via CD-ROM. A fourth CLG meeting may be scheduled during the EIS exhibition to allow the members to discuss any issues in the EIS. This will be determined after the EIS is finalised and may be held after the community open day. 

List of contaminants on the Allied Feeds site 
Chemical 
Poly-chlorinated dioxins/furansPhenoxy acid herbicides 
Organachlorine pesticides Lindane ChlordaneOxy-chlordane Heptachlor Heptachlor-expoxide Aldrin Dieldrin Endrin DDT/DDD/DDE
Polychlorinated benzenes (PCBs) 
Chlorinated phenols p-, o-chlorohenol 2,4-dichlorophenol2,4,5-trichlorophenol 2,4,6-trichlorophenol pentachlorophenol
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) 
Hexachlorabenzine (HCB) 
Other chlorinated benzenes 1,4-dichlorobenzene 1,2,4,5-tetrachlorabenzene pentachlorobenzene
Heavy metals Chromium
Lead
Cresols: o-, m- and p- 
Herbicides 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacidic acid (2,4,5-T)
Oil and grease