Bega Valley
Indicator: Air Emissions
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What the results tell us for Bega Valley
In 2006/07 more than 15 substances were reported as emissions to air in Bega Valley shire. The sources of air emissions were associated with dairy product manufacturing, which made up 68.8% of all emissions, and with petroleum industry activities (classified in the NPI reporting methodology as 'Mineral, Metal and Chemical Wholesaling') which constituted 18.8% of total emissions in Bega Valley in 2006/07.
Five facilities in Bega Valley Shire area reported air emissions to the NPI during all or part of the period — the Bega Cooperative Society (Bega Cheese Factory), Cocks Petroleum (Kameruka Depot), Malcolm Slater Pty Ltd (Caltex Bega Depot–Bega North Petroleum Depot), Cocks Petroleum (Mobil) (Cocks Petroleum Eden Depot) and BP Australia Limited (Air BP Merimbula). All are classified as low emitters of all reported substances, relative to other facilities in Australia.
For comprehensive details of air emissions in Bega Valley shire, such as the types and quantities of substances emitted, see the National Pollutant Inventory website www.npi.gov.au.
About the Data
The National Pollutant Inventory (NPI) is a publicly accessible database with information on the types and amounts of substances emitted to the Australian environment. The report in 2008 was the ninth since the NPI began; since its inception the number of facilities reporting to the NPI has trebled. All information in this section was obtained from the NPI website (http://www.npi.gov.au/), which is maintained by the federal Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (2008).
The NPI holds pollutant emissions data reported by industrial facilities and diffuse data determined by state and territory environment agencies. Industrial facilities are required to report annual emissions to the NPI if they exceed NPI reporting thresholds for one or more NPI substances. Diffuse emissions to air include sources such as transport (e.g. motor vehicles) and non-industrial (e.g. barbeques).
Commonwealth, state and territory environment agencies have approved the techniques used to estimate emissions for the NPI. It is important to note that the accuracy of these techniques varies. For the diffuse data in particular, comparative analysis of the data may be misleading, because jurisdictions may have used different approved estimation techniques. Industrial facilities estimate pollutant emissions using techniques described in an industry NPI manual, or else otherwise approved.
NPI substances have a wide range of toxicities. A small emission may not necessarily be insignificant; for example, a small emission of a highly toxic substance may be of more concern than a larger emission of a substance of relatively lower toxicity. All emission amounts reported here have been rounded to two significant figures - totals may differ from the sum of the individual amounts on these reports because of this rounding. Some minor discrepancies may also occur with catchment and airshed data, particularly when queried at a fine spatial resolution such as a postcode. This is because these data are collected at varying spatial resolutions.
Following a review of the National Pollutant Inventory (NPI) in 2005, Australian, State and Territory Environment Ministers meeting at the Environment Protection and Heritage Council in June 2007 agreed to vary the National Environment Protection Measure (NEPM). The variation puts into place a number of changes including the reporting of transfers of NPI substances in waste to final destination, reporting of new substances, a lowered usage threshold for mercury and compounds and a change in the release date of annual data. The variation to the NPI NEPM will expand the program to fulfill its potential as a major environmental management and cleaner production tool, whilst also fulfilling its role as an accessible information source for the community and other stakeholders.
