Letters: Wake up, you bureaucrats, and smell the air pollution

Air pollution, locally and globally, occupies the minds of two Chronicle letter-writers today.

I agree with the Pearsons (Chronicle, August 22) that Horizons is ineffective with compliance issues around gaseous air emissions. They look for the stinky smells emitted in the middle of the night during 9-5 daylight hours.

Not only that, but when giving consents to discharge toxic gases that are detrimental to health, they say not to discharge to a level that makes people sick — but do not identify that level, and give multiple companies the same consent without taking into account cumulative effect. So how does each company know they are not emitting to a combined level that makes people sick? They do not know.

We do know that hydrogen sulphide is put through filters to remove the smell but not the toxicity in one company, and another emits it with the smell, yet the test for how much is in the air is supposedly conducted by six people who go and sniff the air, according to court documents I received under the Official Information Act.

On the bright side, however, the Public Health Officer wrote in a letter to the editor, on the same day as a tannery was fined a huge amount for a hydrogen sulphide accident, people would only get mild irritation like asthma, hay fever, coughs and watery eyes from hydrogen sulphide. We now have 28 per cent of children with that mild irritation asthma. One person's chronic illness is another person's mild irritation, it seems.

Good air quality should be advocated for by Whanganui District Council. Horizons should have cumulative effect taken into account when giving consents and a maximum combined level of toxic gases should be set. Recording and monitoring output should be expected. Public Health should have a way of collecting proper data about what goes into the air rather than just looking at company websites to see if they acknowledge polluting (which is what the Public Health Officer told me he does when I asked him).

It is time these three governance organisations had a cup of coffee and woke up and really smelled the air.

ROBYN O'DONNELL
Castlecliff

Cement, not concrete

With reference to my letter published in the Chronicle of Monday, August 26, the editing process has resulted in a slight error. The statement "The manufacture of concrete uses huge quantities of coal," should have read "The manufacture of cement uses huge quantities of coal."

Portland cement is, of course, one of the essential ingredients in concrete but is not concrete per se. This is perhaps a nit-picking distinction but is possibly worth pointing out to avoid any confusion.

While we are discussing greener construction, all new buildings should have solar panels on their roofs, connected to the national power grid.

These could be subsidised by the Government or funded by suspensory loans or similar finance system.

ELWYN EVANS
Gonville

Climate change

Our changing climate is being blamed on the burning of fossil fuels.
Pacific Island leaders want Australia to close down its coal industry to save the planet from being submerged.

New Zealand is going to do its part by shutting our coal-fired power station, which already has to import coal because we won't mine.

Meanwhile, China is building 146 new coal-fired power stations and opening more mines. India likewise — cheap energy to grow their economies.

China talks the talk but does not walk the walk; its stance is just a sucker punch to our believers.

Surely the UNIPCC should be pointing out where the real production of CO2 from fossil fuels is being produced so our protesters can target these countries.

Hopefully our believers then realise there is nothing our local efforts will do to save the planet, but can stuff our economy.

G.R. SCOWN
Whanganui

•Send your letters to: Letters, Whanganui Chronicle, 100 Guyton St, PO Box 433, Whanganui 4500 or email letters@wanganuichronicle.co.nz