By Jorge Jorquera
Inner Westies may have won the first battle against plans to expand a steel cement facility but the war is not over against that and other proposals in the pipeline.
In December Maribyrnong City Council unanimously rejected its executive’s recommendation to grant a permit for the expansion of Steel Cement in Yarraville. The decision came on the back of significant community concerns addressed by members of the Maribyrnong Truck Action Group.
Opposition to the Steel Cement expansion is part of a range of community concerns regarding proposals likely to amplify existing pollution and health issues in the inner west.
These issues were addressed in a letter sent to local MP Katie Hall in September 2024, signed by 14 community groups.
This community letter was sparked by the Steel Cement planning application, which Council officers were recommending approval for on the basis of it being a ‘sizeable investment in manufacturing’, promoting ‘Council’s efforts in facilitating a circular economy’, and providing ‘secure employment’. None of these claims were quantified substantially in the approval recommendation put forward by the Council executive.
The concerns expressed in the September 2024 Open Letter to the State Member, Katie Hall, addressed the specific impact of the expansion of Steel Cement, but also questioned whether Steel Cement’s claims balanced against pollution and health risks, the general impact on liveability, and the cumulative impact when understood in context.
At full capacity the expanded Steel Cement facility would import and process cement materials producing approximately 1,500,000 tonnes of cement per year, with a planned 370 truck movements a day. The factory would be grinding slag 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, all within one kilometre of residents. The release of Respirable Crystalline Silica PM2.5 ‘dust’ from ‘fugitive dust emissions’ is a real health risk, as is the dust released from trucks as they travel through our streets. Additionally, the unloading of raw materials using heavy fuel oil would produce 5.5 tonnes of PM2.5, which long term exposure associates with a range of major health effects. The gas powered factory would also produce 1.9 tonnes of CO2 per hour, for thousands of hours a year.
The Environment Protection Act 2017 makes specific reference to the fact that ‘harm may arise as a result of the cumulative effect of harm arising from an activity combined with harm arising from other activities or factors’.
The bigger picture is critically important in assessing planning applications such as that of Steel Cement, which may still be contested in VCAT.
Currently the EPA is considering a new licence application for the storage of dangerous goods in Coode Island. The proposed facility would store approximately 230 tanks containing foodstuffs, combustible liquids and dangerous goods, 1.2km from the Yarraville Village. The EPA will be making a decision on this licence application this year. This sort of application is of great concern as there has been no transparency about the application and what the potential hazards might be.
Residents in Yarraville and across the inner west face undetermined health hazards from the unfiltered West Gate tunnel ‘stacks’, and may well be subject to additional issues in the event that the hazardous zone associated with the Melbourne Port Authority is expanded. It is noteworthy that a September 11, 2024 meeting of Maribyrnong Council voted unanimously to oppose the minister’s request to excise from the Maribyrnong planning scheme and incorporate into the Port of Melbourne planning scheme land in Somerville Road (Footscray), Whitehall Street (Footscray) and Whitehall Street (Yarraville). If this is forced through by the state government, the inner west will face decades of expanded industrial pollution and increased health hazards.
It would be irresponsible to add to the myriad of longstanding community concerns about PM2.5 ‘dust’, low level vibrations, infrequent pollution checks, road safety and the larger environmental consequences.
In this context, the unanimous December 2024 decision of Councillors to oppose the Steel Cement expansion draws an important line in the sand. The decision honours the health emergency declaration resolved by Maribyrnong City Council in 2023, noting the impacts of air and noise pollution in the inner west, including the excessive rates of illness and hospitalisation in our municipality due to air pollution.
The Council decision also demonstrates the ongoing importance of community organising and campaigning to effect change.
