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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 20 asked in the Legislative Council on 16 May 2017 by Hon Robin Chapple

Parliament: 40 Session: 1


DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT REGULATION —YARA TECHNICAL AMMONIUM NITRATE PLANT
      20. Hon ROBIN CHAPPLE to the Minister for Environment:
That was a very interesting answer to the previous question.
I refer to a photograph of a fume incident at the Yara technical ammonium nitrate plant on the Burrup Peninsula on 29 April at 21.48 and reported on the ABC North West WA's morning bulletin.
      (1) Was this event reported to the Environmental Protection Authority or the Department of Environment Regulation; and, if so, on what date and at what time?
(2) Did the department attend site?
      (3) What caused the fume event and is there an investigation?
      (4) What was the purpose of Yara staff attending the adjacent Hearson's Cove public beach immediately after the event?
(5) Was this nitrogen dioxide fume a level 1 pantone 155C, level 2 pantone 157C or higher release?
(6) Were staff removed from site and for how long; and, if not, why not?
Hon STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of this question. The following information has been provided to me by the Department of Environment Regulation —
      (1) Yes. Email notification was received by the Department of Environment Regulation at 11.31 am on 1 May 2017.
(2) No.
      (3) The event occurred during start‑up of the technical ammonium nitrate plant. The Department of Environment Regulation is currently investigating the incident.
(4) Yara has not provided information to confirm staff movements such as this.
(5) The Department of Environment Regulation is currently investigating the incident.
(6) The Department of Environment Regulation has been advised that staff were not evacuated from site.