Project Outline
Project Aims
The Clean and Healthy Air for Gladstone Project aims:
- to assess the impact of air emissions on the ambient air quality in the Gladstone area
- to assess the potential risks to human health associated with those emissions
- to assess whether the community has experienced adverse health outcomes as a result of those emissions
- to develop a contemporary approach to the management of emissions in the Gladstone area, including better targeted conditions for development approvals, improved planning and forecasting capability, and targeted regulatory compliance activities
- to identify whether further health monitoring or evaluation is required
Outcomes
The Clean and Healthy Air for Gladstone Project is seeking the following project outcomes:
- a chief executive's report on the impact of air emissions on the ambient air quality of the Gladstone area, and the potential risks to human health associated with those emissions. This report will include an analysis of potential and measured impacts of emissions on human health, and if necessary, include recommendations on further assessment or monitoring of ambient air quality or adverse health impacts
- improved ambient air quality surveillance, forecasting and planning systems for the Gladstone area
- more effective assessment of the cumulative environmental and human health impacts of industrial projects involved in the industrial expansion of the Gladstone area
- improved contemporary conditions on development approvals relating to air emissions from specific industrial sources
- confidence by government on actions necessary to ensure that the Gladstone area can continue to grow and develop as a premier port and industrial city supporting a quality lifestyle for its residents
- an informed community aware of the issues and the action being taken to manage the cumulative impacts of air emissions from industries in the Gladstone area
Method
The project involves collaboration between the department and QH, with the EPA leading the project and contributing expertise in air quality, and QH contributing expertise in population health.
The project is following accepted environmental health risk assessment principles and guidelines, including the key components as follows:
- hazard identification and dose response assessment
- exposure assessment and risk characterisation
- community health assessment
- chief executive's report and system enhancements
The hazard identification component of the project will include the development of a detailed emissions inventory, which identifies and quantifies past and present air pollutant discharges within the Gladstone area. This inventory includes emissions from a comprehensive range of sources such as rail, shipping and material storage facilities around the Port of Gladstone, current and past industrial activities, various biogenic sources such as bushfires, and a range of diffuse sources such as vehicular transport. The emissions inventory will include a large range of potential pollutants and draw data from the National Pollutant Inventory (NPI), source monitoring carried out by industry, and indirect estimation techniques. The reliability of various data sources included in the inventory will be established and recorded.
Emissions from each of the large industrial sites in the Gladstone area will be subjected to benchmarking. The benchmarking studies compare reported air emissions from Gladstone's large industrial sites, with reported emissions from similar operations (equivalent processes, technology and pollution control systems) elsewhere in Australia and around the world. The benchmarking work is used as a tool to assess whether reported emissions from these industries are within the range of expected limits and are therefore of suitable reliability for inclusion in the emissions inventory. If critical data gaps are identified during the development of the emissions inventory, direct measurement of emissions at source may be undertaken at the direction of the department.
Following on from the hazard identification component of the project, accepted dose - response information will be used for each identified pollutant species to develop a preliminary list of key pollutants for further investigation.
The exposure assessment component of the project involves the use of computer modelling to assess population exposure to key pollutants. To ensure accuracy, the modelling will be backed by direct measurements from the project initiated and expanded air monitoring network. The modelling will be used to predict detailed exposure assessments for a range of release scenarios. The risks will then be assessed from the predicted exposures and the likelihood of the various scenario occurring.
The risk characterisation component will identify the potential for adverse health effects to occur based on the hazard and exposure assessments.
The community health assessment will include a focussed population survey designed to provide enough detail to identify any specific health concerns and investigate geographic variations. This survey will be complemented by analysis of data from various datasets (including the Cancer Registry and hospitalisation data) relating to potential adverse health outcomes associated with the identified key pollutants. The key pollutants identified in the initial stages of the project will be used to inform the design of the health analysis.
The findings of these first three components will be used to produce the project outputs.
The project is being undertaken in a rigorous and transparent way so that the findings and outcomes can be relied upon by the community and government. To ensure this occurs, the project includes:
- recognised non-Queensland government experts in environmental toxicology and population health, who have been engaged to undertake independent reviews of key project processes and findings
- a Community Reference Group, which was established to ensure that the community is engaged and has a way to effectively contribute and participate in the planning and progress of the project, its methodology and findings, and actions that follow from those findings. The former Gladstone City and Calliope Shire Councils, which are now part of the Gladstone Regional Council, facilitated the formation of this group
- an Industry Reference Group, which was established to ensure that there is effective involvement of industry in the implementation of the project, and actions that may follow from the findings of the project. The Gladstone Area Industry Network (GAIN) facilitated the formation of this group
Project Flow Diagram
Study Area
The study area for the air quality component of the project is indicated below, and encompasses a 30 kilometre radius from Auckland Point Wharf, Gladstone. The study area includes the significant population centres that are potentially affected by poor air quality. Furthermore, it also captures all of the major industrial sources in the Gladstone area, including past and present, along with potential future sources.
The study area for the community health assessment component of the project includes the total population of the Gladstone Regional Council local government area (formerly Calliope Shire and Gladstone City). This is in recognition of the occupational and social interactions across the two local government areas.
Contact Us
For further information contact the Environmental Protection Agency at cleanair.gladstone@epa.qld.gov.au
Last updated: 19 August 2008