MCU15/0095 & REC15/0022 PM Submission Object - Petition - principal submitter - Tracy Stevens

59.      Despite the developer's claim that it is following "best practice", other jurisdictions in
         Australia have more stringent requirements. The Western Australian Environmental
         Protection Authority (EPA) in its policy document, Guideline for the Assessment of
         Environmental Factors - Recommended Separation Distances for Industrial Residual
         Air Emissions2005, at Appendix 1'6, recommends a separation distance of 200 meters
         between a service station operating 24 hours a day and a sensitive land use, which
         includes a school.        "Separation distance" is defined to be the shortest distance
         between the boundary of the area that may potentially be used by an industrial land
         use, and the boundary of the area that may be used by a sensitive land use.


60.      Accordingly, given that the site boundary directly adjoins GSLC,for the purposes of the
         WA EPApolicy, there would be NO separation distance, and accordingly, the present
         DAwould not meet the recommended criteria and would not be approved in Western
         Australia.


61.      The World Health Organisation in 2010 in its policy document, "Exposure to benzene:
         a major public health concern"'7, recommended that benzene exposure be reduced
         by:

         (a)     petrol filling stations, as far as possible, following best practices in location,
                 design and extraction; and
         (b)     Separate dwelling spaces from areas where vehicles and benzene-containing
                 products are kept. In particular, isolating children from indoor exposure to
                 vehicle emissions.

               Precautionary principle

62.      Section 4 of SPA imposes a !!J!!y on assessment managers and decision makers
         generally, to advance the purposes of the SPA. Section 5 of the SPA states that
         advancing the "precautionary principle"" is one of the ways of advancing the SPA's
         statutory purpose.


63.      The precautionary principle is the need to take precautionary measures and is
         triggered by the satisfaction of two conditions precedent:


         (a)     a threat (which must be sustained by scientific evidence)'9 of serious or
                 irreversible environmental damage (including on human systems); and
         (b)     scientific uncertainty as to the nature and scope of the threat of environmental
                 damage.


16 See http://www.epa.wa.gov.au/EPADocLib/1840_GS3.pdf
17 See http://www.who.int/ipcs/features/benzene.pdf
18 Defined in s 5(2) of the SPA.

19 The level of public concern, and the rationality of and scientific or other evidentiary basis for the public

concern is taken into account.
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