BlueScope will soon have to form a community consultation committee to bring the public greater information on the steelmaker’s environmental workings, under conditions set by the Environmental Protection Agency.
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The EPA and Bluescope held public meetings at Warrawong Community Centre on Thursday, letting residents air concerns and ask questions regarding the fire that ignited and collapsed a fibreglass stack at the sinter plant last Monday.
Peter Bloem, Illawarra manager for the EPA, said licence conditions set around the plant restart compelled Bluescope to supply more information to the public regarding its pollution emissions.
‘‘The committee is to promote and encourage public access to information,’’ Mr Bloem said.
By December 16, Bluescope is required to establish the committee with ‘‘an independent chair and appropriate representation from... recognised environmental groups and the local community.’’
Bluescope also has to publish emissions data on its website.
Information up to October 21 has been published online, showing emissions from the restarted sinter plant to be well below allowable levels.
‘‘We are sampling everyday, and the results are in compliance, as we predicted,’’ said Bluescope general manager manufacturing John Nowlan.
‘‘Results are taken four times, then averaged out.’’
Mr Bloem said the EPA could impose a range conditions if Bluescope breached its licence conditions or exceeded allowable emissions, with the most extreme case being an order to shut down the plant.
Mr Nowlan said investigations were still ongoing as to the cause of the fire. Containers of activated char near the sinter plant, thought to have caused the shutdown of the waste gas cleaning plant, are to be inspected.