Plan’s chemical reaction
THE group behind efforts to have strict conditions put on a chemical plant proposed for the outskirts of Charters Towers has spoken out against suggestions it does not want the project to go ahead.
The Townsville Bulletin met with group members this week, who said they had pursued the matter through the courts out of concerns over the proposed location of the Direct International Food Supplies large-scale chemical manufacturing facility. Last month the Charters Towers Regional Council granted a four-year extension on a material change of use development permit over the land in the Cunningham Industrial Estate in Queenton adjacent to the railway line.
DIFS is proposing to build a dicalcium phosphate and monocalcium phosphate manufacturing facility with the product to be used in livestock and agricultural sectors as a food supplement.
Group spokeswoman Sadie
Hasthorpe said they had lobbied hard for the facility to be built on the western side of town because they had concerns about emissions from two 25m chimneys that would blow over the northeastern side of town, including over the top of three schools.
“The council was originally told that it was a pet food and stock feed factory, but the EPA has classified it as a chemical factory. It’s in the wrong place,” she said.
“Why does the proposed plant need to be on the very leeward side of town when there’s a risk of adverse environmental effects.
“Research shows the wet chemical processing in the proposal from DIFS is banned in the US and some countries in Western Europe. It creates a by-product, phosphogypsum, which frequently contains a relevant amount of radioactivity due to radium that occurs in most phosphate rocks.”
When the original application was lodged in 2015 an adjoining landholder was notified of the request by council because of a single star picket point that touched his property, which meant that legally he had to be notified.
He spoke with other nearby landowners who then challenged the council’s decision in the Planning and Environment Court, where they were successful in getting new conditions added in 2017.
Ms Hasthorpe said until the town was given all the information the group would continue to oppose the facility in that location.
Council regional development manager Matt Kelly told councillors the developers were keen to start the project at the site, which was attractive because it was on the rail line.
“My understanding is that this can’t go ahead without the rail. If that’s not provided then that wouldn’t go ahead,” Mr Kelly said.
Mayor Frank Beveridge told the meeting that contrary to the pushback from the people around the project, the general business community told him at the time they “wanted it”.