Port Kembla Coal Terminal Project (MP 08 0009)
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MAJOR PROJECT ASSESSMENT: Port Kembla Coal Terminal Project (MP 08_0009) Director-General’s Environmental Assessment Report Section 75I of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 June 2009 Cover photo: Aerial view of the Port Kembla Coal Terminal © Crown copyright 2009 Published June 2009 NSW Department of Planning www.planning.nsw.gov.au Disclaimer: While every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that this document is correct at the time of publication, the State of New South Wales, its agents and employees, disclaim any and all liability to any person in respect of anything or the consequences of anything done or omitted to be done in reliance upon the whole or any part of this document Port Kembla Coal Terminal Project Environmental Assessment Report EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Port Kembla Coal Terminal (PKCT) is an export coal terminal located at Port Kembla, in the Wollongong LGA. PKCT receives coal by both road and rail from the Southern and Western coal fields, where it is blended and loaded on ships for transport to domestic and international markets. PKCT is currently permitted to receive coal by public road between 7 am and 6 pm Monday to Saturday, with provision for these times to be extended during declared emergencies or rail transport disruptions. Whilst there is no formal limitation on the total tonnage which can currently be received by road, these time restrictions constrain PKCT’s capacity to receive coal by public road to around 5.2 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa), unless an emergency is declared. PKCT is now seeking approval for: • delivery of up to 10 Mtpa of coal and bulk products to its terminal by road 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; and • continuation of its existing rail and road receival, stockpiling and shiploading operations. The proposal would provide continued employment for up to 123 people at PKCT, and is classified as a project to which Part 3A of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act) applies. Consequently, the Minister is the approval authority for the project. The Department of Planning exhibited the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the project from 16 September 2008 until 17 October 2008 and received 155 submissions on the project, including 5 from public authorities, 9 from special interest groups and 141 from the general public, including a petition. No objections to the proposal were received from public authorities, however 122 of the public submissions, including the petition, objected to at least some aspect of the proposal. The Department has considered these issues carefully during its assessment of the project and has recommended conditions of approval to address significant issues. It has also incorporated particular recommendations from public authorities into the recommended conditions of approval. The Department of Planning has assessed the project application, EA, submissions on the proposal and PKCT’s Response to Submissions in accordance with the relevant requirements of the EP&A Act, including the objects of the Act and the principles of ecologically sustainable development. The EA indicates that the additional 446 truck movements a day (each way) required to deliver up to 10 Mtpa of coal and bulk products would form a very small percentage of the overall vehicles travelling along nearly all coal haulage routes and that normal traffic growth would have a significantly greater impact on the road network. The EA also indicated that whilst road traffic noise levels generated on proposed coal haulage roads are currently in excess of noise objectives set by the ECRTN, the predicted additional noise levels increases due to 24/7 coal haulage are generally within the 2dB(A) level allowable by ECRTN criteria for all roads. The sole exception to these conclusions is in respect of Bellambi Lane during night time (ie between 10 pm and 7am). However, potential traffic and noise impacts on residences along Bellambi Lane are unlikely to be as significant as modelled in the EA for a number of years as coal dispatches from NRE No 1 are unlikely to rise above 1.1 Mtpa (from the current 800 ktpa) before the end of 2010. NRE No 1 Colliery must obtain a project approval under Part 3A of the EP&A Act prior to December 2010 if it is to continue production after that date. The Department considers it is appropriate that long-term management of trucking numbers from NRE No 1 and related noise and traffic impacts on Bellambi Lane are assessed under that mine’s current project application and managed through any resulting project approval. Notwithstanding, to minimise potential traffic and noise impacts on residences along Bellambi Lane, the Department concurs with PKCT’s commitment to limits receivals from NRE No 1 to between 7 am and 10 pm Monday to Friday, and between 8 am and 6 pm on weekends and public holidays. This would eliminate the modelled night time exceedances. The EA also indicates that air quality and greenhouse gas emissions are minor and manageable. Finally, the project offers a number of social and economic benefits for the region, as it would: • assist the ongoing viability of PKCT; • use existing facilities at PKCT more efficiently; • provide continued employment for 123 people; and • facilitate significant royalty income and generate significant tax income for Government. The Department of Planning is satisfied that the project’s benefits sufficiently outweigh its costs and that the project is able to be conducted in a manner that is consistent with the objects of the EP&A Act. Consequently, it believes the project is in the public interest, and should be approved subject to conditions. NSW Government 2 Department of Planning Port Kembla Coal Terminal Project Environmental Assessment Report 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background Port Kembla Coal Terminal (PKCT) is an export coal terminal located at Port Kembla, in the Wollongong local government area (see Figure 1). PKCT receives coal by both road and rail from the Southern and Western coal fields where it is blended and loaded on ships for transport to international and domestic markets. PKCT is therefore a key link in the export coal supply chain for the Illawarra and Lithgow areas . Figure 1: Location of PKCT PKCT currently receives coal from the following collieries: Appin, West Cliff, Dendrobium, NRE No 1, Wongawilli, Metropolitan, Tahmoor, Baal Bone, Charbon, Clarence, Ivanhoe No 2 and Springvale. Coal from Appin, West Cliff and NRE No 1 is delivered to the PKCT by public roads (see Figure 2). Coal from the remaining collieries is delivered to PKCT via rail, except for Dendrobium, where coal is delivered by rail first to the Dendrobium Coal Preparation Plant (Dendrobium CPP) located within the BlueScope Steel precinct, and then transported to PKCT by private road. PKCT also receives and dispatches other “bulk products”. Currently these comprise coke from Coalcliff Coke Works, Corrimal Coke Works and BlueScope Steel and slag from Australian Steel Mill Services. In financial year 2008 PKCT received 12.6 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of coal, of which 39% was delivered by road and 61% was delivered by rail. Over 90% of coal received is exported, with the remainder being shipped to Australian markets (principally Whyalla). Bulk products comprise only a small NSW Government 3 Department of Planning Port Kembla Coal Terminal Project Environmental Assessment Report proportion of throughput, commonly around 500 kilotonnes pa (ktpa), although dispatches have varied between 150 ktpa and 600 ktpa. PKCT also dispatches small quantities of coal by road to the coke works. Currently, coal dispatches by road average just 550 tonnes per week. Currently, PKCT is limited in its ability to receive coal deliveries by public road (ie via its Springhill Road / Port Kembla Road entrance) to between 7 am and 6 pm Monday to Saturday. It is important to note that these times can be extended during declared emergencies and rail transport disruptions. In addition, coal from Appin and West Cliff Collieries and Dendrobium CPP may be delivered to PKCT via BlueScope Steel’s internal roads outside of these hours (see Figures 2 and 4). NRE No 1 currently does not deliver coal outside of the approved hours. 1.2 Surrounding Land Use PKCT is located on the north-eastern side of the Port Kembla Harbour. Various industrial activities associated with port operation and Port Kembla Steelworks are also located in this area, including the Grain Handling Terminal and the General Cargo Handling Facility. The closest residents to PKCT are located approximately 700 metres (m) to the north and north-west of the northern site boundary (see Figure 1). Residential receivers are also located along proposed coal haulage routes, namely Bellambi Lane, Mount Ousley Road, the Northern Distributor, Southern Freeway, Masters Road and Springhill Road (see Figures 3 and 4). 1.3 Planning Approvals PKCT currently operates under a 1979 development consent, granted by Wollongong City Council, which limits the quantity of coal which can be received by PKCT via public roads to 2 Mtpa. This restriction was overcome in 1982, when the Government gazetted State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) No 7 – Port Kembla Coal Loader , to manage the hours during which coal could be received at PKCT by public road. The 1979 council consent is otherwise very limited in scope. SEPP 7 has since been replaced by clause 73 of the State Environmental Planning Policy (Infrastructure) 2007 . Both SEPP 7 and the Infrastructure SEPP limited the hours in which PKCT is permitted to receive coal deliveries by public road to between 7 am and 6 pm Monday to Saturday, with provision for these times to be extended during declared emergencies and rail transport disruptions. Neither instrument contains a formal limitation on the total tonnage which can be received by road, only the hours in which it can be delivered.