Ipswich Residents Against Toxic Environments Inc.

Dump operators BMI have submitted a development application for a new toxic mega -dump next to the suburbs of Collingwood Park, Dinmore, Riverview and Ebbw Vale despite promising to inform the community before doing so. In January this year, representatives of BMI (CPR Group) met with IRATE community members to gauge opposition to their plans and gave a promise to inform them before lodging any application. IRATE members and Bundamba MP, Jo Ann Miller made it very clear to them that plans for a new dump would be vehemently opposed. It has also emerged that Division 3 Councillor Kerry Silver and other members of the Council met with representatives of BMI on at least two occasions prior to the application being submitted. Ipswich City Council have refused to release minutes of those meetings. IRATE oppose this new dump on several grounds: There is already an existing dump operated by Cleanaway next door which is causing considerable nuisance to the community The proposed site...

BMI have applied to build one of Australia's largest waste dumps right in the middle of known Koala habitat but even more concerning is the fact this is in the last known area which supports Australia's rarest shrub, the Cooneana Olive ( Notelaea ipsviciensis ). "The plant only exists in a two square kilometre area of Dinmore and Ebbw Vale and this listing by the Threatened Species Scientific Committee will allow for conservation advice to be notified on the species which was only discovered in these two Ipswich suburbs in 1976." https://www.ipswich.qld.gov.au/about_council/media/article-archive/2009/cooneana-olive-on-critically-endangered-list " Hiding under power lines and growing between abandoned mines and clay pits near Ipswich is one of Australia’s rarest plants.  Only 17 of the native Cooneana Olive shrubs have been identified in Australia and all of them grow along the Cunningham Highway at Ebbw Vale and New Chum. " https://www.uq.edu.au/ne...

Local MP Denied access to Environmental DG by Minister Fire at Cleanaway New Chum site - July 2017 In an   "Unprecedented response"  from the Minister, Leeanne Enoch, local MP Jo-Ann Miller was denied access to have a meeting with the Director General (DG) of Environment Department. Jo-Ann Miller was requesting such a meeting as a consequence of concerns raised by community organisation, IRATE, after the recent CRG meeting with Cleanaway, Dept of Environment and ICC. (See below) Hi Jo-Ann Last night at the New Chum CRG meeting the following significant issues were raised. Cleanaway has been issued an updated Environmental Authority (EA) under the new "streamlined EA approach" of DES.  This new EA is significantly less arduous for Cleanaway and any other future dump in Queensland as the document is less "prescriptive" than previous approvals. At the meeting IRATE challenged Cleanaway about the issues of dust and fires, and parti...

from: Geoff Yarham   < geoff.yarham@hotmail.com > to: Pollution Hotline <pollutionhotline@ehp.qld.gov.au> cc: "kerry.silver@ipswich.qld.gov.au" <kerry.silver@ipswich.qld.gov.au> , "kylie.stoneman@ipswich.qld.gov.au" <kylie.stoneman@ipswich.qld.gov.au> , "dpahlke@ipswich.qld.gov.au" <dpahlke@ipswich.qld.gov.au> , David Morrison <DMorrison@ipswich.qld.gov.au> , Paul Tully <PTully@ipswich.qld.gov.au> , "cbromage@ipswich.qld.gov.au" <cbromage@ipswich.qld.gov.au> , "environment@ministerial.qld.gov.au" <environment@ministerial.qld.gov.au> , Bundamba Electorate Office <Bundamba@parliament.qld.gov.au> , "Ipswich.West@parliament.qld.gov.au" <Ipswich.West@parliament.qld.gov.au> , "Ipswich@parliament.qld.gov.au" <Ipswich@parliament.qld.gov.au> , Mayor of Ipswich <Mayor@ipswich.qld.gov.au> , "wayne.wendt@ipswich.qld.gov.au" <wayne.wendt...

from: Geoff Yarham   < geoff.yarham@hotmail.com > to: Pollution Hotline <pollutionhotline@ehp.qld.gov.au> cc: "kerry.silver@ipswich.qld.gov.au" <kerry.silver@ipswich.qld.gov.au> , "kylie.stoneman@ipswich.qld.gov.au" <kylie.stoneman@ipswich.qld.gov.au> , Paul Tully <PTully@ipswich.qld.gov.au> , David Morrison <DMorrison@ipswich.qld.gov.au> , "dpahlke@ipswich.qld.gov.au" <dpahlke@ipswich.qld.gov.au> , Mayor of Ipswich <Mayor@ipswich.qld.gov.au> , Bundamba Electorate Office <Bundamba@parliament.qld.gov.au> , "environment@ministerial.qld.gov.au" <environment@ministerial.qld.gov.au> , IpswichSARA <IpswichSARA@dilgp.qld.gov.au> , "Ipswich.West@parliament.qld.gov.au" <Ipswich.West@parliament.qld.gov.au> , "Ipswich@parliament.qld.gov.au" <Ipswich@parliament.qld.gov.au> , "scott.blanchard@ehp.qld.gov.au" <scott.blanchard@ehp.qld.gov.au> , P...

from: Geoff Yarham   < geoff.yarham@hotmail.com > to: Pollution Hotline <pollutionhotline@ehp.qld.gov.au> cc: "kerry.silver@ipswich.qld.gov.au" <kerry.silver@ipswich.qld.gov.au> , "kylie.stoneman@ipswich.qld.gov.au" <kylie.stoneman@ipswich.qld.gov.au> , Mayor of Ipswich <Mayor@ipswich.qld.gov.au> , David Morrison <DMorrison@ipswich.qld.gov.au> , President IRATE <president@irate.org.au> , "scott.blanchard@ehp.qld.gov.au" <scott.blanchard@ehp.qld.gov.au> , "dpahlke@ipswich.qld.gov.au" <dpahlke@ipswich.qld.gov.au> , Paul Tully <PTully@ipswich.qld.gov.au> , Bundamba Electorate Office <Bundamba@parliament.qld.gov.au> , "Ipswich.West@parliament.qld.gov.au" <Ipswich.West@parliament.qld.gov.au> , "Ipswich@parliament.qld.gov.au" <Ipswich@parliament.qld.gov.au> , "scott.blanchard@ehp.qld.gov" <scott.blanchard@ehp.qld.gov> , "environment...

Last week a tip-off was received that BMI at Redbank Plains was moving large volumes of waste from the front of it's site to a quarry at the back of the property. This led to some investigations. BMI Redbank Plains "100 percent NSW Waste" We have been told by delivery drivers that 100 percent of the waste at the site is from NSW. Normally, it gets delivered and stockpiled here then moved by local truck drivers to Cleanaway at New Chum. We followed several trucks between the two sites to confirm this. It is believed that BMI have a license to rehabilitate the old mine quarry at the back of the site but we believe this has conditions and limitations so that only clean, inert material can be used for fill. We have obtained before and after photos which appear to show that mixed general waste from NSW has been used to fill the unlined quarry. BMI quarry - December 2017 Recent photos appear to corroborate the tip-off that 10s of thousands of tons of waste has b...