so2 solution the action plan for Anglesea anglesea environment report MAY 2006 Inside the ‘Best Practice’ Environment Report: Air Emissions Water Monitoring Sulphur Dioxide Action Plan Plants of the Anglesea Heath: Argentipallium obtusifolium Updates on Rainfall, Town Water Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Environmental improvement - progress towards 2006 targets Plus we talk to an employee about their contribution to improving the environment ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPOR T MAY 2006 REPORT air Air Monitoring Stack Monitors Average Maximum Opacity g/m3 10-minute average 0.055 0.338 Stack SO2 kg/min 1-hour average Licence limit 111.34kg/min 73.65 87.32 Ambient Monitors SO2 1 hour ppb Average Maximum Community Centre 5 44 Primary School 1 94 Mt Ingoldsby <1 10 Scout Camp 7 162 Camp Wilkin <1 48 Camp Road 7 176 Ambient Monitors SO2 Maximum 1 hour averages (ppb) Date 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Community Centre 3 4 4 4 5 44 11 5 4 5 5 5 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 6 6 5 5 5 6 6 5 5 5 6 40 Primary School - - 0 1 17 64 64 50 37 0 0 1 1 1 0 94 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 Mt Ingoldsby 0 1 2 1 2 2 0 0 2 1 7 2 2 2 1 3 4 1 2 3 - - 1 10 7 Scout Camp - 61 162122 3 13 108 93 55 76 6 6 31 8 10 109 75 0 81 9 99 1 1 0 0 1 0 5 1 3 2 Camp Wilkin 0 1 48 2 1 1 1 1 1 0 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 2 27 Camp Road 2 135 31 13 83 59 22 12 176 5 4 4 3 3 2 18 5 3 5 5 5 4 5 4 6 5 4 4 3 7 7 EPA Intervention Level 210 Alcoa Local Standard 170 0 1 1 1 0 1 2 0 1 1 3 13 ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPOR T MAY 2006 REPORT water Water Storage Barwon Region water storage levels continue to decrease, with the Geelong system at 25.9% capcity. Water Discharge ML May Total Ashponds (SP1) 151.5 714.6 Mine (SP4) 0 0.8 Water Monitoring SP1 SP4 SP3 17/05/2006 Ashpond Mine Final EPA limit Lab Result EPA limit Lab Result EPA limit Lab Result pH 4-10 7.8 3-9 - 5-9 7.4 Susp. Solids 100 3 100 - 30 <2 Colour 50 5 50 - 50 10 Aluminium 10 0.5 10 - 5.5 0.1 Iron 10 0.7 0 - 4.0 0.2 Zinc 0.4 < 0.1 2.0 - 0.3 < 0.1 WATER WATER USAGE PER MONTH (ML) Date JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG Town Water 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.5 1.6 6.1 Bore Water 279 243 285 237 210 1254 Mine Water 81 82 81 92 106 442 SEPT OCT NOV DEC TOTAL 300.0 3000 250.0 2500 200.0 2000 150.0 1500 100.0 1000 50.0 0.0 500 0 ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPOR T MAY 2006 REPORT sulphur dioxide During May, Alcoa Anglesea presented an action plan to the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) to reduce the SO2 ground level concentrations in the Anglesea township. Alcoa, EPA and the community have been working hard in recent years to understand and minimise our SO2 emissions. Activities undertaken include the installation of the stack gas instrumentation, extra monitoring locations in Anglesea, detailed emission modelling and the load reduction strategies. Although somewhat effective, these actions have not completely eliminated the high readings we sometimes see during specific weather condition events. Many potential solutions for reducing ground level SO2 concentrations were examined and the best option for Alcoa Anglesea is installing SO2 scrubbing technology. This technology is used widely in Europe and the US however there is currently no SO2 scrubbing system installed on any other power station in Australia. It involves the gas passing through limestone with the end result as gypsum, a salable by-product depending on it’s quality . The solution is not ideal, it is very expensive, the technology uses more water, there is no greenhouse gas reduction and we will see a slight loss in station efficiency. However, this solution will result in a significant reduction (50%) in SO2 emissions. Approval, design and construction will take approximate;y three years, with the final stage of commissioning envisaged to line up with the 2009 shutdown. Following the approval from the EPA in May, the project has commenced immediately with a search for a project manager already underway. ANIMALS OF THE ANGLESEA HEATH BLUNT EVERLASTING (Argentipallium obtusifolium) Argentipallium Argentipallium....from Latin, argenteus, silver, and pallium, mantle, in reference to the silvery covering of fine hairs that covers the leaves and branches obtusifolium obtusifolium... from Latin, obtus, blunt, and folium, leaf, referring to the blunt leaves Size: Form: Habitat: Foliage: Flowers: 10 - 30 cm high twiggy multibranched perennial herb widespread in sandy soils in heathland, mallee-heathland and stringybark woodland leaves narrow-oblanceolate 0.4—2.5 cm long, 1—2 mm wide upper surface glabrous* + green lower surface silvery-white + woolly daisy-like flowers with a central yellow button surrounded by white papery petals August to November *glabrous = smooth without hairs ARGENTIPALLIUM OBTUSIFOLIUM ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPOR T MAY 2006 REPORT LAND RAINFALL (mm) Month JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG 2006 Rainfall 46.2 19.6 7.3 37.1 129.4 239.6 1968-2005 Average 44.6 43.9 42.5 53.5 59.3 243.8 SEPT OCT NOV DEC TOTAL 100 7 0 0 .0 0 90 6 0 0 .0 0 80 5 0 0 .0 0 70 60 4 0 0 .0 0 50 3 0 0 .0 0 40 30 2 0 0 .0 0 20 1 0 0 .0 0 10 0 .0 0 0 WATER TOWN WATER USE (ML) 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC Process 23.9 14.6 13.1 16.7 15.0 13.5 4 . 2 0.7 0.7 0.8 1.1 0.9 Amenity 11.6 6.6 1 . 9 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.4 0.7 1 .8 6.6 5.0 4.0 2.6 4 0 .0 1 .6 3 5 .0 1 .4 3 0 .0 1 .2 2 5 .0 1 .0 2 0 .0 0 .8 1 5 .0 0 .6 1 0 .0 0 .4 5 .0 0 .2 0 .0 0 .0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 JA N F E B M A R A P R M A Y JUN JU L A U G S E P O C T NO V D E C AIR GREENHOUSE GAS (GHG) TOTAL (Mt) & GHG EMISSION EFFICENCY (t/MWh) 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 1.42 1.62 1.56 1.45 1.34 1.25 1.20 1.38 1.42 1.53 1.23 1.27 1.50 1.45 1.47 1.31 1 . 5 1 GHG Mt GHG t/MWh 1.34 1.35 1.33 1.32 1.31 1.33 1.38 1.34 1.30 1.30 1.24 1.19 1.21 1.21 1.20 1.21 1 . 2 1 2 1600000 1 .8 1400000 1 .6 1 .4 1 .2 1200000 1000000 1 800000 0 .8 600000 0 .6 400000 0 .4 0 .2 0 200000 0 ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPOR T MAY 2006 REPORT environmental improvement Environmental Management Targets May 2006 Total Forecast 2006 Target Reportable Environmental Incidents 0 0 0 0 Monthly EHS ASAT Audit Completion (%) 100 100 100 90 Air Emission Targets May 2006 Total Forecast 2006 Target Ambient SO2 ( no. readings > 210ppb) 0 0 0 0 Stack SO2 (no. hrs > 100kg/min) 0 0 0 0 SO2 Load Reductions 10 39 94 N/A 1.21 1.21 1.21 1.20 0 0 0 0 GHG Efficiency (t CO2 e/MWh) Opacity (10 min av > 0.25g/m normal operation) 3 # Visible emissions may have been observed from the stack during the month as a result of station outages. Water Targets May 2006 Total Forecast 2006 Target Town Water (ML) 1.6 6.1 14.6 17.2 Bore Water (ML) 210 1254 3010 2440 Waste Targets May 2006 Total Forecast 2006 Target Waste to Landfill (t) 0.0 2.7 6.5 10.0 Solid Prescribed Waste to Landfill (t) 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 Mine Rehabilitation Targets 2006 Total 2006 Target 2006 Area Cleared (ha) 3.3 3.3 2006 Area Rehabilitated (ha) 7.5 > 3.3 2005 Mine Rehabilitation Species Richness (%) N/A 100 OUR ENVIRONMENT AND OUR EMPLOYEES.. You have rrecently ecently rretur etur ned to V ictoria as the EHS Victoria Manager e has your car eer with Alcoa taken Manager.. Wher Where career you? My family and I have just returned from four years in China. We spent two wonderful years in Qingdao where I was the General Manager at Alcoa’s chemicals business, followed by a further two years as the General Manager of Alcoa’s Shanghai Aluminium Foil Products. Anglesea’ s SO 2 emissions ar e a hot topic. Ar e we on Anglesea’s are Are the right track with a solution? Absolutely. The location has worked diligently over the past several years with employee, community and EPA input to continually manage ground level concentrations of SO2 that might impact those in our community. It has now become clear that to totally eliminate risk of SO2 impacting even the most sensitive community members, we need to make a step change to reduce the amount of SO2 discharged into the local air shed. Our plans to install SO2 scrubbing on our discharges to air will achieve this. And your impr ession of the Anglesea location? Alcoa’s impression best kept secret! Located on the doorstep of possibly the most beautiful coastline in the world, amongst a wonderful heathland and operating at a level of performance that is the envy of other power stations nationally. ...GERARD KENNEDY