NATIONAL AIR PROGRAM COMES TO NEWPORT

17 January 2006

EPA Victoria is about to commence monitoring pollutants in the Newport area, as part of a national air quality study.

“This monitoring is being done as part of a national program to learn more about a series of pollutants, known as air toxics,” said EPA Victoria senior manager, Science, Tony Robinson.

“Whilst previous studies have indicated that levels of these pollutants are generally very low, a National Environment Protection Measure (NEPM) has been designed to learn more about these chemicals and to help set appropriate goals and effective programs for their management.”

The NEPM sets the ‘rules’ for the monitoring program, such as what should be monitored and the types of locations that should be included in the study. EPA has been charged with undertaking this monitoring in Victoria as a contribution to the national study.

EPA will be collecting data in Newport for twelve months and will be mainly looking at the potential impacts of several petroleum tank farms located in the one concentrated area.

As part of the NEPM, EPA will be monitoring benzene, toluene, and xylenes, which are common components of petrol. Monitoring equipment has been established, in cooperation with local Newport residents. EPA will publish the results of the study following the 12 month monitoring period.

“With many improvements at the terminal over recent times and the introduction of low benzene fuels in early 2006, it is anticipated that ambient benzene levels should be reasonably low, however the main focus of the NEPM study is to collect as much information as possible on chemicals such as this and clearly validate the levels present ,” Mr Robinson said.

“Newport provides a unique opportunity to measure this pollutant close to a large potential source.”

More information on the NEPM is available at www.ephc.gov.au or by contacting EPA Victoria 9695 2560.