Yabulu

John Boucher, a spokesman for the Townsville Bucket Brigade today expressed the group's concern with the emissions coming from the smokestack at Queensland Nickel. He said  "We were contacted by workers at Yabulu who claimed that this was not a normal event and that they were concerned about what was in it".

Mr Boucher said, " I contacted the Environmental Protection Agency who said that these were normal startup emissions and that the EPA would not be doing any testing. Apparently the EPA will rely on Queensland Nickel to monitor its own emissions and advise the EPA if allowable limits are exceeded."

"The EPA say the smoke is normal particulate matter from Yabulu, but I would like to know what the particles are - mercury, arsenic, cadmiun, lead or whatever else".

"If this is allowable at Yabulu, imagine what it will be like when the alumina refinery is built upwind of the city and they are allowed to pump stuff like that over us - I dont want to be breathing it".

"The Townsville Bucket Brigade has a website where people can get information and leave messages, but we can also see the need for a hotline where people can phone in with pollution reports."

"People need jobs but they want to work in a healthy workplace and a clean environment to work in." he said. "We will be making contact with other groups to press the state government to be more active in protecting public heath. We dont want to wait until birds start dying like they did in Esperance before something is done".

Media Contact:

John Boucher 0410 938 961 

Jenny Stirling 0418 773 287