Assessing Environmental Contamination from Metal Emission and Relevant Regulations in Major Areas of Coal Mining and Electricity Generation in Australia

Science of the Total Environment 728 (2020) 137398 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Science of the Total Environment journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv Assessing environmental contamination from metal emission and relevant regulations in major areas of coal mining and electricity generation in Australia Larissa Schneider a,⁎, Neil L. Rose b, Anna Lintern c, Darren Sinclair d, Atun Zawadzki e, Cameron Holley f, Marco A. Aquino-López g, Simon Haberle a a Archaeology and Natural History, School of Culture, History and Language, College of the Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, 2601, Acton, ACT, Canberra, Australia b Environmental Change Research Centre, Department of Geography, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK c Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia d Instituto of Governance and Policy Analysis, University of Canberra, Kirinari Street, Bruce Canberra, ACT 2617, Australia e Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Lucas Heights 2234, NSW, Australia f Faculty of Law, UNSW, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia g Maynooth University, Arts and Humanities Institute, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland HIGHLIGHTS GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT • Metal contamination was assessed in two major coal production centres in Australia. • Metal concentrations increased with commissioning of coal mining and power generation. • SCP appeared in sediments at the time coal fired power stations were commis- sioned. • Metal emissions are still increasing in Australia, following the trend in Asian countries. • Our results provide grounds for a review of current regulatory approaches in Australia. article info abstract Article history: The Hunter and Latrobe Valleys have two of the richest coal deposits in Australia. They also host the largest coal- Received 1 November 2019 fired power stations in the country. We reconstructed metal deposition records in lake sediments in the Hunter Received in revised form 14 February 2020 and Latrobe Valleys to determine if metal deposition in freshwater lakes have increased in the region. The current Accepted 16 February 2020 regulatory arrangement applied to metal emissions from coal-fired power stations in Australia are presented, Available online 19 February 2020 discussing their capacity to address future increases in metal deposition from these sources. Sediment records fl Editor: Filip M.G. Tack of spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCPs), a component of y-ash, were also used as an additional line of evidence to identify the contribution of industrial activities related to electricity generation to metal deposition in Keywords: regions surrounding open-cut coal mines and coal-fired power stations. Sediment metal concentrations and Hunter Valley SCP counts in the sedimentary records, from the Hunter and Latrobe Valleys, both indicated that open-cut coal Latrobe Valley mining and the subsequent combustion of coal in power stations has most likely resulted in an increase in atmo- Bituminous coal spheric deposition of metals in the local region. In particular, the metalloids As and Se showed the greatest en- Lignite coal richment compared to before coal mining commenced. Although the introduction of bag filters at Liddell Metal deposition Power Station and the decommissioning of Hazelwood Power Station appear to have resulted in a decrease of ⁎ Corresponding author at: School of Culture, History and Language, College of the Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, 2601, Acton ACT, Canberra. Australia. E-mail address: [email protected] (L. Schneider). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137398 0048-9697/© 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 2 L. Schneider et al. / Science of the Total Environment 728 (2020) 137398 metal deposition in nearby lakes, overall metal deposition in the environment is still increasing. The challenge for the years to come will be to develop better regulation policies and tools that will contribute to reduce metal emissions in these major electricity production centres in Australia. © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Little information on past levels of industrially-derived air pollution is available in Australia, and the few studies published have mainly fo- Metal contamination has markedly increased in water bodies proxi- cussed on estuaries (Lafratta et al., 2019; Schneider et al., 2014a, mal to where coal-fired power stations have been constructed and oper- 2014b, 2015b, 2015c; Serrano et al., 2016). Furthermore, we still have ated (Meij and te Winkel, 2007; Schneider et al., 2014a). Many studies little understanding of how various management practices in coal- in Europe (Barbante et al., 2004), North America (Donahue et al., fired power stations (e.g., retrofitting of pollution control devices) 2006; Ouellet and Jones, 1983)andJapan(Han et al., 2002)havedem- have affected the deposition of metals in the environment. onstrated a significant increase in metal contamination in depositional This study investigates the historical metal and metalloid contami- environments, however, little is known about how metal concentra- nation records of dams in the Hunter and Latrobe Valleys, to assess if tions have increased in the Australian environment since the commis- metal concentrations in these environments have increased since the sioning of open-cut coal mines and associated coal-fired power establishment of coal-fired power stations and associated open-cut stations. Identifying historical trends in metal concentrations in coal mining. Temporal metal contamination from both atmospheric Australia since the commissioning of coal-fired power stations is, there- and catchment sources are measured in sediment cores collected from fore, critical for informing policy for the future management of coal- dams adjacent to open-cut coal mines and power stations. Spheroidal fired power stations in the country. carbonaceous particles (SCPs), a component of fly-ash only derived Coal mining has defined Australian's economy through providing from the high combustion temperature of coal and oil fuels (Rose, a critical energy supply to Australia and other coal-dependent econ- 2001), are also measured in sediments as supporting evidence for omies, particularly in Asia (Cottle and Keys, 2014). Coal is central to metal sources. Finally, we discuss the current regulatory arrangement both Australia's domestic energy requirements (accounting for 62% applied to metal emissions from coal-fired power stations in Australia, of total electricity generated in 2016–2017 DEE, 2018)andalsoto and their capacity to address future increases in metal deposition from the national economy as it represents the largest Australian export these sources. commodity (Geoscience Australia, 2019a). Australia is currently the biggest net exporter of coal internationally with 32% of global ex- 2. Methods ports (389 Mt out of 1213 Mt total), and is the fourth-highest pro- ducer, with 6.9% of global production (503 Mt out of 7269 Mt total) In Australia, coal mining occurs mainly in Queensland, New South (IEA, 2017). Wales and Victoria (Mohr et al., 2011). The major coal deposits in The mining and subsequent combustion of coal generates significant these areas have resulted in the largest coal-fired power stations being environmental challenges. These activities release metals and metal- developed in these regions, including the Hunter and Latrobe Valleys loids (hereafter collectively referred to as metals) to the environment (Fig. 1). We selected dams that are proximal to coal-fired power stations both via the dust produced during the extraction of coal (open-cut in these two valleys to study the temporal trends in metal deposition coal mines), as well as during the combustion process (Tang et al., and the relationship between these trends and the establishment and 2012). Metal emission rates are, therefore, dependent on the total operations of coal-fired power stations (Fig. 1). amount of metal present in the coal, the amount and method of coal There are two types of coal mined in Australia. Bituminous black mined and combusted and the type of pollution control devices coal, with varying volatile matter and ash content, is about 250 million employed within power stations (Gade, 2015). years old. This type of coal is mostly mined in the state of New South Coal-fired power stations are ageing in Australia and it is rare for Wales (in the Sydney-Gunnedah Basin) (NSW Planning and modern devices to control particle (and consequently metal) emissions Environment, 2019), and supplies coal-fired power stations in the to be retrofitted (Sinclair and Schneider, 2019). By 2030, around half of Hunter Valley (Table 1). Power generation in the state of Victoria is the 24 coal-fired power stations in Australia will be over 40 years old, mainly in the Latrobe Valley, (Table 1) and uses brown coals from the with some stations having operated for nearly 60 years (Stock, 2014). Gippsland Basin (Australia Government Regional Assessment Program, The most modern metal emission control devices used in these power 2019). Lignite brown coal is about 15–50 million years old and has a stations are filter bags in New South Wales (NSW), and electrostatic high water content (Australia Government Regional Assessment Pro- precipitators in Victoria (VIC). gram, 2019; Nelson, 2007). Once metals are released to the atmosphere, they return to the sur- face environment by both wet and dry depositional processes. As soils and lake sediments

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