DIRTY DEEDS: A Coal train passing through Fairfield railway station. Picture: Mark Calleja Source: The Courier-Mail
A NEW coal dust monitoring program along the southeast urban rail corridor will not accurately measure the effect of accumulated exposure on nearby residents, experts say.
A leading environmental doctor and an air quality expert yesterday questioned the value of the testing, which will monitor coal dust emissions over a 24-hour period, potentially diluting the results of spikes in coal dust when a train passes.
The monitoring program, announced by the Queensland Resources Council on Wednesday, also will not test for accumulated coal dust on houses close to train lines.
Queensland University of Technology air quality expert Dr Zoran Ristovski said "spikes" in coal dust emissions could be averaged out by the use of ambient air monitoring over 24-hour periods to produce results meeting environmental pollution standards.
Dr Ristovski said the month-long tests were not adequate and other forms of testing could be conducted to detect coal dust exposure.
The QRC is paying for the two rounds of testing, which will be conducted by the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Sciences Branch of the Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts (DSITIA) at dedicated sites near the rail corridor at Oakey, Toowoomba, Ipswich, Tennyson, Fairfield and Coorparoo.
Queensland Resources Council chief executive Michael Roche said a second round of testing would be conducted and a complete evaluation report on both rounds of monitoring would be published on the DSITIA and Department of Environment and Heritage Protection websites.
Doctors for the Environment secretary David Shearman said it was "outrageous" that government scientists were contracting for the coal industry.
"That's a gross conflict of interest. The Government should be doing it, and it should be transparent and using the best experts," he said.
"There is no safe limit. If dust is accumulating on people's houses it suggests a significant exposure.
"They are getting it in bursts," he said.
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