Broken Bay consultant assessed Adelaide impact

I note that in edition 235 of Peninsula News there is a story about Worley Parsons being awarded a contract for the Open Coast and Broken Bay Coastal Processes and Hazards Reassessment.

Worley Parsons is the company behind the injustice unfolding in relation to the planned scuttling of ex-HMAS Adelaide off Avoca Beach.

The Worley Parsons Review of Environmental Factors document (only released last month) has a primary focus on commercial environmental factors, ie the best way to make money from our environmental resources, and little consideration of pollution and environmental protection factors.

The only measure to monitor pollution impact is shown on page 34, section 4.4.4 which states that environmental monitoring will include "analysis of sediments at six months and 12 months post survey to determine whether sediments around the vessel had become enriched with heavy metals due to flaking of paints and corrosion" and "determine whether bioaccumulation of heavy metals (such as chromate) in hull fouling organisms would be likely (annually for the first three years)".

It seems to me that monitoring the surrounding sand at six months and 12 months and the organisms for only three years is inadequate for a 4100 tonne metal warship that will take hundreds of years to rust away.

The Worley Parsons Ex-HMAS Adelaide Draft Plan of Management document focuses primarily on commercial management and very little on pollution monitoring and management and does not even mention rectification of pollution impact from the planned scuttling.

This Plan of Management states: "Whilst the reserve is extensive, this Plan of Management focuses on the site where the ex-HMAS Adelaide will be scuttled and future management of dive visitation".

"It is intended to reduce the extent of the existing reserve to the area (still to be determined) that will be subject to ongoing, active management".

So the very limited and short term monitoring that is called for under the REF is intended to be limited even more in a geographic sense by the Plan of Management.

It appears the monitoring will be limited to the area of commercial interest, i.e. around the ship, to the exclusion of the beachfront, surfing and fishing reefs as well as excluding the adjoining lagoon and waterways.

I also note that none of Worley Parsons' reports mention what will happen if the metal decontamination or any other pollution from this ship reach unsafe levels, there is no mention of who will clean up this potential mess, or how, or even, if it is possible.

What will be the Worley Parsons' approach to environmental factors when it comes to Broken Bay?

Do not trust Worley Parsons as the residents of Avoca Beach did.

Do not rely on Gosford Council to pull Worley Parsons into line on pollution issues, as Gosford Council has done nothing to help us at Avoca Beach.

In the case of Avoca Beach, Worley Parsons have demonstrated little to no care about the long-term impact of their recommendations on our local community and inadequate care in terms of monitoring, managing and removing the pollution that is dumped on our beach.

Email, 9 Mar 2010 Tim Bowcock, Avoca Beach