EPA Victoria CEO John Merritt today announced an ongoing air monitoring program in Morwell, Moe and Churchill to follow the Hazelwood open cut mine fire.
EPA CEO John Merritt said monitoring would continue for the foreseeable future to ensure EPA continues to support the Department of Health (DOH) to provide accurate and timely health messaging.
“It’s important to understand what we’re dealing with and restore the community’s confidence through continued access to timely and easy-to-understand information on air quality,” Mr Merritt said.
“We are committed to continuing open, transparent and straightforward dialogue with the community.”
The monitoring programs in Traralgon and Morwell will remain in place, and temporary stations monitoring the very fine particles PM2.5 installed at Moe and Churchill, which also suffered smoke impacts, will also remain in place.
Mr Merritt said monitoring of the smoke components of primary concern, fine particle PM2.5 and the invisible gas carbon monoxide (CO) had continued throughout the fire.
“And for the foreseeable future we’ve strategically identified continued monitoring of PM2.5, the fine particles PM10, CO, sulphur dioxide (SO2), visibility and volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) in Morwell to increase our information on air quality, and meet the community’s needs,” Mr Merritt said
“This increased coverage both adds to our knowledge of air quality in this area, based on years of monitoring and assessment, and will help us make decisions on future air monitoring requirements down the track.
“EPA will continue with the increased air quality monitoring in the Latrobe Valley until data shows that air quality has returned to acceptable levels.”
Latrobe City Council Mayor Councillor Sharon Gibson said Council welcomed the news of the ongoing monitoring.
“We are pleased EPA is undertaking extra air monitoring to capture the data in our city. The units in Moe and Churchill along with the existing ones in Traralgon and Morwell will help residents make informed decisions about what is best for them.”
EPA will work with Council to review the results over time and develop an agreed plan for the future. All monitoring results will be shared with Latrobe City Council and be available from EPA’s website
www.epa.vic.gov.au