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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 1083 asked in the Legislative Council on 14 October 2020 by Hon Peter Collier

Parliament: 40 Session: 1

FORRESTFIELD–AIRPORT LINK — SOIL CONTAMINATION

1083. Hon PETER COLLIER to the minister representing the Minister for Transport:

I ask this question on behalf of Hon Dr Steve Thomas, who is on urgent parliamentary business.

I refer to the spoil extracted during tunnelling in the Forrestfield–Airport Link project.

Hon Alannah MacTiernan: I was missing them. It's so good to have them back!

The PRESIDENT: Order, members! I am looking forward to this question.

Hon PETER COLLIER: I continue.

(1) What is the total volume of soil that has been extracted from the Forrestfield–Airport Link tunnel project?

(2) What is the total volume of spoil that has now been accumulated at the Kewdale–Forrestfield site that was previously used?

(3) What other sites have been used for storage of the spoil and how much is stored at each site?

(4) What volume of the spoil has been re-used in other projects and how much in each project?

(5) How much of the stored and re-used spoil is contaminated with perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances and at what concentrations?

Hon STEPHEN DAWSON replied:

I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question. The following answer has been provided to me by the Minister for Transport.

(1) It is approximately one million cubic metres.

(2) Approximately 600 000 cubic metres of soil is currently stockpiled at 77 Abernethy Road, Forrestfield.

(3) The Perth Airport site, where approximately 110 000 cubic metres is stored.

(4) Approximately 30 000 cubic metres of soil has been transported to the NorthLink WA project for use as engineered backfill. Approximately 120 000 cubic metres of soil has been transported to the Kenwick rail freight facility project for use as engineered backfill. Approximately 160 000 cubic metres of soil is being re-used within the Forrestfield–Airport Link project works.

(5) PFAS are ubiquitous and can be found at low levels in soils, surface water and groundwater in most urban areas in WA and nationally. Although soil from all project excavation locations has been tested for PFAS and detectable levels have been found in some samples, the highest soil readings measured are low and comparable with the low levels present in most urban areas around the world, including in Australia. The soil is capable of re-use in accordance with the PFAS National Environmental Management Plan.