Pyrolysis fears raised at meeting
Residents living near the site of a proposed pyrolysis plant have come together to learn how to oppose the controversial furnace.
More than 60 people turned up to get advice from a lawyer and ask questions at the Blenheim Residents and Ratepayers Association on Thursday evening.
Airborne emissions from the plant was a hot topic, with fatherof-two Brad Watson worried chrome and arsenic could affect his young children.
‘‘If it’s not OK for a kindergarten, it shouldn’t be OK for us,’’ he said, referring to a preschool that was refused resource consent due to concerns about harmful health effects from the nearby Timberlink sawmill.
The sawmill, about 4km north of the proposed pyrolysis plant site, dried timber that was treated with a chemical compound called copper chrome arsenic (CCA).
An air quality consultant at the kindergarten’s consent hearing said toxic chemicals could be emitted into the air through steam, and prolonged exposure to arsenic, which could cause cancer.
Waste Transformation Ltd’s pyrolysis plant, to be built at Bluegums Landfill, would turn Cca-treated timber into charcoal, which the company planned to sell commercially. The plant would emit 200 grams of arsenic a day, the resource consent application said.
‘‘This is obviously a different issue to the kindergarten, but it’s the same, really. It’s the same chemicals,’’ Watson said at the meeting.
‘‘Can we mention that?’’ he asked the association’s lawyer, Julian Ironside.
‘‘Absolutely,’’ Ironside said, ‘‘To show that consistent decisionmaking is required.’’
Residents should focus on issues that affected them on an individual level, Ironside said.
Retired firefighter and neighbour Bill Holvey said the plant posed a huge fire risk on the edge of the Wither Hills Farm Park which became very dry in the summer.
‘‘If you get a crack (in the plant), you’ll get an explosion,’’ Holvey said.
‘‘And then if the Cca-treated wood goes up, the advice I would give is big steps in the opposite direction.’’
Holvey also pointed out there were other ways to recycle treated timber, such as chipping it and using it for chipboard, commonly used in furniture construction.
‘‘The cost of recycling timber seems to be less than the cost of the pyrolysis plant.’’
Biochemist and neighbour Dr John Fullarton said his submission would question aspects such as complications of transporting hazardous materials, who would purchase the charcoal, the noise and the smell of diesel, the cost of regular council inspections, the effect on air quality and possible health effects.
‘‘Adding to poor air quality makes no sense. We should be aiming to improve, not degrade, air quality,’’ Fullarton said.
‘‘And for young growing children you wouldn’t want them to be subject to arsenic emissions because it will affect their brain function. And chromate is a carcinogen. It does cause cancer.’’
One man said he was concerned about how the environmental effect could taint the region’s clean, green image, and its wine, food and tourism industries as a result.
Another man said he moved into Boulevard Park on Taylor eight months ago, only to learn about the plant late last year.
‘‘This is all just to save 13 years on the Bluegums site? This is shocking,’’ he said.
Waste Transformation Ltd was approached for comment but did not respond before publication.
Submissions close on April 16.