By Kate Taylor<\/p>\n
Bacchus Marsh will receive a truck load of contaminated soil every six minutes, 24-hours a day, seven days a week if Maddingley Brown Coal\u2019s tender for the contract is successful.
\nThe confirmation comes as Moorabool Shire Council released the answers to 24 questions it put to Transurban and project partners about the proposal to store, categorise and dispose of contaminated soil at the Bacchus Marsh site.
\nTransurban is, along with its partners, building the $6.7 billion West Gate Tunnel Project and last year called for tenders to manage 1.5 million cubic tonnes of soil from the project.
\nThe soil is known to be contaminated with PFAS but has never been publicly classified.
\nMaddingley Brown Coal put in a tender bid to use its site for the contaminated soil and that bid was shortlisted.
\nMoorabool Mayor David Edwards revealed the confirmation last week that under the shortlisted proposal, trucks carrying soil will travel to the site every six minutes, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Contaminated soil will be stored, categorised and disposed of at the site, in proximity to local schools and market gardens.
\nHe said the 24 questions asked by Council were based around five key themes: Community Consultation; Soil Contamination; Net Community Benefit; Road Infrastructure; and the Environment.
\n\u201cIn line with our commitment to openness and transparency, Council is making the answers to these questions available for all to see at www.moorabool.vic.gov.au,\u201d Cr Edwards said.
\n\u201cThis follows Council\u2019s earlier decision to make available all the letters it has sent to State Government Ministers on this matter.\u201d
\nIn the responses, a request to provide Council with the nine technical assessments on environmental, socio-economic, amenity and traffic impacts was again turned down.
\n\u201cDue to the competitive process currently underway, we are not able to provide commercially sensitive material contained in the technical assessments,\u201d Transurban and its partners stated.
\nBut Cr Edwards said it was bizarre that Council, as the local planning authority, was being denied access to the documentation.
\n\u201cCouncil has made it very clear that we are not interested in seeing any commercially sensitive material. We have even gone as far as offering to view redacted versions of these technical assessments where all commercially sensitive material has been blackened out,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cThe fact remains that without these technical assessments, Council remains largely in the dark about the potential risks for the community, as well as the actual impacts to our roads, our environment and our reputation as a major food provider for Melbourne.\u201d
\nThe answers from Transurban and its partners can be found at www.moorabool.vic.gov.au<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Kate Taylor Bacchus Marsh will receive a truck load of contaminated soil every six minutes, 24-hours a day, seven days a week if Maddingley Brown Coal\u2019s tender for the contract is successful. The confirmation comes as Moorabool Shire Council released the answers to 24 questions it put to Transurban and project partners about the […]<\/p>\n