Neighbour sceptical about test results

The kiln at the centre of gas emission and safety fears at Pan Pac Mill, Whirinaki.

A Whirinaki dad remains sceptical about the safety of gas emissions from a new kiln at Pan Pac mill, despite assurances tests have found no link to health issues among workers and mill neighbours.

Father of four Glen Kohlis said he wanted to hear health officials say there were "no" dangerous emissions from the Thermally Modified Timber (TMT) process Pan Pac Forest Products has had to install for tests monitored by the regional council and the district health board's public health unit.

Pan Pac invested about $2.5million to diversify and meet a growing export market with the TMT kiln, which has been in place 18 months, but out of action since April, apart from tests the company hopes will allow it to soon resume fully compliant production.

In statements to Hawke's Bay Today yesterday and in flyers since delivered to residents around the coastal Napier-Wairoa landmark as the latest four-day test cycle continued, authorities have conceded that tests showed levels of air pollutants were "well below" recommended guidelines when the kiln was operating "normally".

But they suggested acrolein and acetic acid levels could exceed standards if a burner used to eliminate noxious gases stopped working during the kiln operation, and it was possible acrolein levels had exceeded guidelines during the past six hours of normal operations, when steam was added into the kiln.

Mr Kohlis said residents had heard little from the authorities and the company, and he was aghast to hear suggestions consequences of acrolein emissions were no different from someone smoking in the same room - which he noted was banned everywhere except private homes. A resident of the area for 15 years, he was outraged by the "possibility" his children were being slowly poisoned.

"We are right in the thick of it. Our house is within the highest off-site concentration," he said. "It definitely carries to us. The mill said the emissions don't go over the fence but there is no force field around it.

"Who knows what has been coming over?

"People are getting sick. My mother got sick."

He said she smelt a pungent smell while walking past the site and became "very ill", and others had complained of illness to which the mill had responded, "It's all in your mind."

He said Pan Pac and the authorities had not been particularly forthcoming, with responses motivated mainly by contact from media.

"You need to be able to guarantee 100 per cent that my kids won't be affected. You can't sneakily start trialling it. I'd like to see Pan Pac to be transparent with us and I don't want to see that thing work until they can guarantee it's safe, and I don't think that's too much to ask."

Pan Pac managing director Doug Ducker last week disputed the claims, saying the company was focusing on safety, and had the track record to prove it.

"These claims aren't correct at all," he said. "We have always consulted with residents when there is something to communicate."