Archive for the ‘Dust Management’ Category
Two politicians have raised concerns about Penrice mine dust.
One has suggested a drastic remedy.
David Winderlich, independent member of the Legislative Council, called for the state government to ban Penrice from mining on hot and windy days.
Mr Winderlich and Ivan Venning – the Member for Schubert – have both highlighted Penrice dust as a health and environmental issue.
They believe Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) tests show the mine has produced dangerous levels of fine-particle dust – in breach of the National Environment Protection Monitoring standard.
The results were recorded by a ‘hotspot caravan’ that has been located near the mine for the past nine months.
Penrice Soda Holdings, the company that owns the Barossa mine, has rejected the figures.
Guy Roberts, Penrice managing director and chief executive officer, revealed the mine’s own EPA dust monitors had not recorded any dust emissions that breached standards.
“We deny these exeedences,” Mr Roberts said.
“The supposition is those results picked up by the hotspot caravan were due to outside mine factors.”
The ‘hotspot caravan’ monitoring station was put in place on March 31, for a period of 12 months.
Mr Venning said it was installed after appeals by nearby neighbours.
But he was worried the monitor did not meet national standards.
“The EPA is supposed to be the community’s watchdog authority with regard to environmental issues, but in this case it appears they have dropped the ball,” Mr Venning said.
“Is this body serious about enforcing environmental standards or are they merely a toothless tiger?”
Meanwhile, the mine has already committed to install a new dust suppressant system in coming months.
This will come at a cost of $200,000 and be located inside the mine’s aggregate crushing plant – one of the known sources of dust emissions.
This move follows trials of a water soluble, biodegradable foaming dust suppressant system.
However, Mr Venning urged the mine to do more.
He wants the crusher and conveyer belts enclosed, to help reduce dust emissions.
“No one including myself wants to see the mine closed,” Mr Venning said. “Everyone is aware of the employment the mine provides for locals and that the soda ash extracted from the mine is used to make glass bottles – in particular wine bottles.”
Mr Venning believes the mine can fit in with the community.
“But measures need to be taken to ensure this happens,” he said.
Tags: dust suppressant, dust monitors, environmental protection authority, dust emissions, toothless tiger
Sydney based road tanker manufacturer and rental business, Water Trucks Direct, have made a decision to standardise on Aussie Quik Prime pumps from Australian Pump Industries ’ product range. The company, operating from a facility at McGraths Hill in Sydney make a complete range of water tankers equipped for both dust suppression and water transport.
“We chose the Aussie pumps high pressure pumps because of their big flow, high pressure performance and overall reliability” said Water Trucks Direct Managing Director, Brenden Bastian. “The 5 year warranty offered by Australian Pump is a tremendous bonus” he said.
Water Trucks use both high volume transfer pumps for fast filling in 3”, 4” and 5” sizes. The big volume pumps are either PTO or hydraulic drive with diesel options being available. Smaller tankers in the 10,000 litre range use Aussie 3” self priming gushers that produce flows of up to 1,500 litres per minute. Genuine Japanese Honda petrol engines, one of the major features offered by Australian Pump and Yanmar diesel drives are both used depending on the application and customer’s requirements.
Tags: high pressure pumps, volume pumps, water distribution system, yanmar diesel, water tankers
Asarco is promising to modify its tailings-dam construction practices to reduce the odds that dust will blow off its Mission Mine property into neighboring homes in Sahuarita.
The Tucson-based multinational company also is disputing most of Pima County’s allegations of violations stemming from two major dust storms late last year in which mine tailings landed in Sahuarita homes and gardens. The dust storms stirred neighbors’ concerns that the tailings damaged their homes and threatened their health.
Those violations, alleged by the county in December, could prompt hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, the maximum allowable under state law, County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry has said. Now the county Department of Environmental Quality will review Asarco’s statement – submitted Wednesday to meet a county deadline – to determine if fines are warranted and, if so, how large they should be.
While Asarco has acknowledged that the tailings dust blocked visibility by more than county standards allow, it said that contrary to the county’s allegations, it did take reasonable precautions to prevent the dust from leaving its property. The county’s allegations failed to account for the high winds blowing on Nov. 12 and Dec. 22 when the violations occurred, the company said.
Late Wednesday, Ursula Kramer, the county DEQ director, said her staff still believes the violations cited in the notices to Asarco were valid.
Tags: construction practices, dust storms, pima county, tailings dam, property boundary
Posted in Dust Management, Dust Problems, Mine dust, Mining, Mining dust | 
Tags: construction practices, dust storms, pima county, property boundary, tailings dam | 
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The recent Desert Sun editorial addressing problems of the Salton Sea was very important. We must be informed because it could affect us all.
Remember, if no plan gets approved, the biggest problem is doing nothing. Although the sea lies 10 to 20 miles away from our cities, it is ultra serious. It could affect our health, our livability and our tourist industry, which has economic disaster proportions.
Much of the support to date has been on environmental grounds as an important bird wetlands. Absolutely true. But overlooked is the potential multifaceted damage in the cities of the Coachella Valley, almost a half-million residents.
When I produced “Community Dialogue” on local television, I did research for eight Salton Sea programs and a glaring point was the devastation if we let it dry up.
I interviewed three executive directors of the Salton Sea Authority plus the late Roy Wilson, then Riverside County supervisor, and Andy Horne, Imperial County supervisor. Tom Kirk, executive director of the Coachella Valley Association of Governments, and Rick Daniels, city manager of Desert Hot Springs, had good ideas when each of them was directing the Salton Sea Authority.
State takes over, drops the ball
Then the state came in and took it out of local hands and did nothing. Now it’s now playing second fiddle to the Sacramento Delta, nearer and dearer to Northern California voters.
We all need a heads-up on this because eventually some entities may have to pay far more than they can handle out of emergency necessity.
Look at this: According to Ted Schade, air pollution control officer at Owens Valley, the Salton Sea problem resembles Owens Valley when its water supply was diverted by the Los Angeles water system. It became a dust bowl with the dangerous particle, PM10, reaching many miles. The Coachella Valley already has a PM10 problem that affects asthmatics. With our swirling winds, the Salton Sea potentially has a larger area of exposure than Owens Valley.
Los Angeles Water & Power spent $400 million constructing dust-control measures at Owens Lake. It costs $40 million per year to sustain it. That’s heavy.
Odor could chase away tourists
There’s more! Drying up could take years but look what can happen in the process. The terrible odor we get occasionally in summer could become much more frequent as more fish keep dying with less water to sustain them. That’s unthinkable. Not only would it make our lives horrendous but we could say farewell to tourists and hello to red ink, especially Rancho Mirage, Indian Wells, Palm Desert and Palm Springs, where the tourist occupancy tax and sales tax revenue are major income sources.
Drying up is not as rapid as it could be due to agricultural runoff. But, San Diego is trying to cure its water problems by buying water rights of large growers in the Imperial Valley. Danger. Less agriculture lowers the runoff substantially and speeds up the dust bowl process.
The water districts and the supervisors have been fighting the fight. They should enlist the cities to join in because only intense pressure on the Legislature can make things happen. Our legislators need all the help they can get. The more voices the better.
The counties and the cities would certainly not be able to pay the bill if this calamity occurs. It’s time to get involved.
Tags: salton sea authority, salton sea, playing second fiddle, coachella valley association of governments, pollution control officer
Neighbors of the tailing piles at Asarco’s Mission Mine are complaining that the wind-blown dust is hurting their health by aggravating asthma and other respiratory problems leading to coughing, clogged sinuses and wheezing.
Some want federal and state regulators to shut down the mine, at least until it’s clear that the problem of blowing tailings dust is fixed for good.
At a public meeting in Sahuarita Friday, an Asarco official apologized for the two incidents last November and December in which tailings blew into the neighboring Rancho Resort and led Pima County officials to slap the company with violation notices. But Asarco’s Tom Aldrich said company efforts to fix the problem already are working, since tailings didn’t blow off the site during 50 mile per hour winds as recently as Jan. 21.
Tags: sinus problems, state regulators, tom aldrich, environmental protection agency, valley fever