health Archives - Coal Action Network Aotearoa

CANA supports improved Air Quality Standards, questions the state of public health in the Buller

Rob Taylor — Sun, 02 Aug 2020 04:44:59 +0000

CANA supports the Ministry for the Environment’s proposed tightening of the National Environmental Standards for Air Quality for airborne particles and mercury emissions from domestic and industrial sources.

The MFE consultation document also acknowledges the importance of transport emissions for air quality (p.24), but defers to the Ministry of Transport, which also has a goal of reducing 2.5 micrometer particulate emissions.

In the process of researching these issues, however, CANA has found a distinct lack of information on air quality and public health in the communities below the Buller Coal Plateau. These communities, such as Waimangaroa and Granity (pictured) are exposed to coal dust from the mining and transport of coal, as well as emissions from coal- and wood-burning domestic appliances.

The situation in these communities appears very similar to that of Australian towns in coal-mining areas a decade ago.

To quote from the conclusion of a 2009 study of public health in the Upper Hunter Valley of New South Wales (emphasis ours),

“…residents face serious obstacles in their quest for rigorous air monitoring and a health study. These include the interdependence of state government and corporations in reaping the economic benefits of coal production and export, lack of political will and regulatory inertia…

Residents articulate their embodied experiences of malaise and illness from a disempowered position. Their experiential knowledge is discounted against dominant positions of industry and government that use state-sponsored science and regulatory regimes to deny, minimise or obfuscate the link between dust and disease.

We argue that environmental injustice and health inequity… has arisen because political economic interests outweigh concerns about long-term damage to the health of this relatively small… and electorally insignificant rural population. Governance issues, including decisions relating to the siting, regulation and supervision of coal mining and combustion in the Upper Hunter, have been instrumental in residents’ disproportionately high exposure to health risks from air pollution.

It is apparent, however, that the balance of power is shifting as residents’ pressure gains momentum… and resonance in important social and cultural domains such as local government, green politics and mass media. The companies are in a more defensive position, not only because of wider public awareness of local health impacts, but also because of the emergent societal concern about the unfettered expansion of coal mining and coal combustion, climate change and inadequate government policy responses.”

The last comment was prescient; within five years, the Climate and Health Alliance had published a report on coal and health in the Hunter and was pressuring local, State and national governments for:

A ban on new coal projects in the Hunter Valley
The development of a transition plan to assist the region develop new industries as coal is phased out
Stronger regulation of any projects in the planning pipeline to adequately evaluate and limit health, climate, and environmental damages
Stricter air quality standards and monitoring of all coal sources, with data publicly available
Increased consultation with communities affected by coal projects
The implementation of mandatory health impact assessments as part of all project assessment processes still in the planning phase
Comprehensive health research studies to evaluate: the environmental health risks faced by local communities from exposure to pollutants associated with the coal industry, and the social impacts associated with disruption to communities, to landscapes, ecosystems and other industries.

CANA believes it is well past time for similar actions in the Buller.

It is time for the coal industry to accept and assume the full costs of their activities, rather than “externalise” (i.e. ignore) them, and continue to pollute the air and water – and damage the health – of neighbouring communities.

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Coal, Air Quality, Health and Deprivation

Rob Taylor — Tue, 21 Jul 2020 04:09:32 +0000

This is the first of several posts on the impact of fossil fuels on air quality and health.

To begin, here is an overview of local issues from Massey University, including the New Zealand index of Social Deprivation.

It should come as no surprise that the Buller coal-mining region is one of the most deprived in the country.

For the big picture, here is a seminal paper from the US on the overall cost to communities of mining, transporting, and burning coal.

NB: Coal prices have collapsed since this paper was published in 2011. If the costs outweighed the benefits then, the balance must be far worse today.

Here are some useful links from OraTaiao, the New Zealand Climate and Health Council:

Fossil fuels, Climate Change and Health;

The 2017 Royal Society report Human Health Impacts of Climate Change for NZ has a section on outdoor air quality;

More recently, here is a 2019 Lancet report on climate change and health and a 2019 review of air pollution and health from the American College of Chest Physicians.

For those who want to go deeper, there is a large body of relevant scientific evidence from the Appalachian coalfields in the US, where coal is mined by much the same methods, and in similar terrain, as in the Buller.

The following is a list of publications from one researcher, Dr. Michael Hendryx, Professor of Public Health at Indiana University. The titles show the many ways by which coal mining poisons communities and blights children’s lives.

Full cost accounting for the life cycle of coal.
Unintended consequences of the Clean Air Act: Mortality rates in Appalachian mining communities.
An examination of the effects of mountaintop removal coal mining on respiratory symptoms and COPD using propensity scores.
Mortality in Appalachian coal-mining regions: The value of statistical life lost.
Mortality from heart, respiratory and kidney disease in coal mining areas of Appalachia.
Increased risk of depression linked to mountaintop coal mining.
Appalachian mountaintop mining particulate matter induces neoplastic transformation of human bronchial epithethial cells and promotes tumor formation.
Improving the environmental quality component of the county health rankings model.
Self-reported cancer rates in two rural areas of West Virginia with and without mountaintop mining.
Health-related quality of life among Central Appalachian residents in mountaintop mining counties.
Association between mountaintop mining and birth defects among live births in Central Appalachia.
Atmospheric particulate matter size distribution and concentration in West Virginia coal mining and non-mining areas.
Childhood asthma in rural-urban areas.
Chronic cardiovascular disease mortality in mountaintop mining areas of Central Appalachian states.
Atmospheric particulate matter in proximity to mountaintop coal mines: Sources and potential environmental and human impacts.
Personal and family health in rural areas of Kentucky with and without mountaintop coal mining.
Air pollution particulate matter collected from an Appalachian mountaintop mining site induces cardiovascular dysfunction.
Adult tooth loss for residents of US coal mining and Appalachian counties.
A comparative analysis of health-related quality of life for US counties with and without coal mining.
A geographical information system-based analysis of cancer mortality and population exposure to coal mining activities in West Virginia, USA.
Higher coronary heart disease and heart attack morbidity in Appalachian coal mining regions.
Ecological integrity of streams related to human cancer mortality rates.
Lung cancer mortality is elevated in coal-mining areas of Appalachia.
Relations between health indicators and residential proximity to coal mining in West Virginia.
Hospitalization patterns associated with Appalachian coal mining.
Residence in coal-mining areas and low-birth-weight outcomes.
Mortality rates in Appalachian coal mining counties: 24 years behind the nation.
Cancer mortality rates in Appalachian mountaintop coal mining areas.
The public health impacts of surface coal mining.
Increased risk of depression for people living in coal mining areas of central Appalachia.
Atmospheric particulate matter in proximity to mountaintop coal mines: sources and potential environmental human health impacts.
The long-term economic benefits of wind versus mountaintop removal coal on Coal River Mountain, West Virginia.
Mountaintop mining consequences.
Learning outcomes among students in relation to West Virginia coal mining: An environmental riskscape approach.
Association between residence near surface coal mining and blood inflammation.
Health disparities and environmental competence: A study of Appalachian coal mining.

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A hospital that makes people sick?

tjonescan — Wed, 09 Nov 2016 11:20:51 +0000

by Jeanette Fitzsimons

The long-running question of whether the new Christchurch hospital will run on coal or wood waste is still not resolved, but seems to be heading back to coal. See my blog A tale of two hospitals from March 2016.

Every new coal installation is a blow against the climate and it is particularly ironic that a government agency charged with keeping people well seems to be about to install a boiler that will increase respiratory and other illness.

This is a decision not of the Canterbury District Health Board, but of the Ministry of Health, so on September 9 CANA wrote to the Director General of Health, Mr Chai Chuah, and to Dr Stewart Jessamine, acting director of public health, pointing out that this is a not just an engineering decision, but a question of public health policy which runs contrary to international agreements they have signed to put health first in all decisions, and which could damage people’s trust in our health authorities. More than six weeks later we have had no reply or acknowledgement.

Today we are bringing the matter to the attention of other ministry staff and making our letter public. Staff arriving at work at the Wellington offices will be given a flier that directs them to our letter that is posted below. It sets out the evidence and our reasoning to avoid this dangerous fuel.

CANA’s open letter to the Ministry of Health.

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A Tale Of Two Hospitals

tjonescan — Sun, 20 Mar 2016 20:23:12 +0000

Christchurch is rebuilding two hospitals – the central one and one at Burwood. One is installing state-of-the-art waste wood boilers, the other plans, bizarrely, to move two existing coal boilers on to the site, costing millions of dollars just to shift in some dirty energy.

Climate and health conscious people around the country and particularly in Canterbury have been vocal about the insanity of this and now there is a glimmer of hope. The tender documents were withdrawn last year and have been reissued. The wording is such that it could be possible to avoid coal.

Jeanette Fitzsimons gives the background and explores the arguments in The Press last week: http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/77738911/why-a-hospital-should-not-be-burning-coal

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The Grand Round: Dr Briary Crawford Zachernuk Speaks On Climate Change And Health

tjonescan — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 18:35:04 +0000

Climate change is a public health emergency – the biggest health threat of the 21st century, but also the biggest opportunity to improve health. Dr Briary Crawford Zachernuk recently told Kew Hospital doctors in Invercargill what that public health emergency will mean for the medical profession, and what they can do in response, and you can listen to her excellent talk in four parts here:

https://soundcloud.com/briary-crawford-zachernuk/introduction

https://soundcloud.com/briary-crawford-zachernuk/direct-impacts

https://soundcloud.com/briary-crawford-zachernuk/ecosystem-mediated

https://soundcloud.com/briary-crawford-zachernuk/human-system-mediated-impacts-cobenefits-what-you-can-do

Briary is a member of OraTaiao, the NZ Climate and Health Council, and you can find out much more about their vital work on their website.

Briary also provided doctors with these links explaining how we know climate change exists, and is caused by humans:

http://nca2014.globalchange.gov/report/our-changing-climate/introduction

http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/science/human-contribution-to-gw-faq.html#.Vrl2w1L81dg

http://climate.nasa.gov/faq/

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