Locals rallied in Newcastle today in protest of a plan to allow power station on the shores of Lake Macquarie to go on exceeding an emissions cap.
Time is ticking for the Environmental Protection Authority as it weighs up the bid for another 5-year exemption on air pollution levels from Delta Electricity’s Vales Point site.
A decision has to be made before the December 31 deadline.
Will Belford from environmental group Future Sooner says its time Vales Point cleans up its act.
“The EPA have got a mandate to protect the environment and the citizens of Lake Macquarie from pollution and it’s time that they lived up to their role and took some action on this,” Mr Belford said.
If the application is accepted, it will be the third time an exemption has been granted for the facility.
Mr Belford says Delta Electricity has had a chance to clean up its act and it has failed to do so.
“They’ve had 10 years to clean this power station up and they’ve done nothing about it.”
“So giving them another exemption to continue over-polluting for another 5 years is just pointless, they’re not going to make any effort to clean this power station up, there is no justification for the EPA to renew this license at all,” he said.
