Wambo Coal AEMR 2010-2011 - Peabody Energy

2010-2011 AEMR3.2 Air Quality3.2.1 Environmental ManagementDust generation is primarily managed by roadmaintenance and consolidation, and utilising watercarts to apply recycled mine water onto internalroads and other disturbed areas. Other dust controlmeasures during the reporting period included:Induction training to all employees highlightingtheir responsibility to limit the level of dustproduced; Rehabilitation of disturbed land on aprogressive basis to reduce total disturbedarea;Keeping disturbance areas to a minimum byminimising the disturbance in advance ofmining operations until mining is due tocommence in the area and clearly definingroads; Modifying mining operations duringunfavourable weather conditions to reduce dustgeneration;Dust suppression equipment is fitted andoperated on drills;Regular servicing of water carts for effectiveroad watering and continual operation;Revegetating topsoil stockpiles which are notplanned to be used for over three months;Designing blast holes with stemming to provideoptimum confinement of the blast charge;Constraints on blasting operations to reduceimpact of immediate neighbours (e.g. reschedulingblasts when wind blowing towardsimmediate neighbours);Cleaning up coal spillage around the CHPP toprevent dust; andFitting dust suppression systems at transferpoints where necessary.WCPL operate under an approved Air QualityMonitoring Program (AQMP), a requirement ofConsent Conditon 5, Schedule 4 of DA305-7-2003.The AQMP was revised to address operationalchanges and re-submitted to the DoPI in June 2008.In accordance with Consent Conditon 4, Schedule4, DA305-7-2003 and the AQMP, WCPL maintainedfour air quality monitoring stations AQ01, AQ02,AQ03 and AQ04 (see Figure 3.1). Each air qualitymonitoring station consists of a Tapered ElementOscillating Microbalance (TEOM) unit monitoringPM 10 , a High Volume Air Sampler (HVAS) unitmonitoring Total Suspended Particulates (TSP) anda dust depositional gauge.In accordance with the AQMP, WCPL hasmaintained and operated the following air qualitymonitoring equipment, throughout the reportingperiod:Four HVAS units measuring TSP; Four real time TEOM units measuringparticulate matter of 10 microns in diameter(PM 10 ) on a continuous basis; andSixteen depositional dust gauges.3.2.2 Environmental PerformanceAll air quality monitoring conducted at WCPL duringthe 2010-2011 reporting period was measured andmonitored against the impact assessment criteriastipulated in Consent Condition 2, Schedule 4 of DA305-7-2003 and in accordance with EPL 529, whichapply at any privately owned residences as follows:Use of additional contractor water trucks towater frequently used roads around the CHPPas required;Operation of two water truck fill points duringthe reporting period to reduce the time betweenroad watering;Operation of water sprays during raw coalunloading at the ROM dump hopper;Regular use of a road sweeper on the mainaccess road into WCPL;Implementing speed limits on roadways; TSP Annual Average Impact Assessmentcriteria less than 90 µg/m3;PM 10 annual average assessment criteria lessthan 30 µg/m3;PM 10 24 hour assessment criteria of less than50 µg/m3;Deposited dust annual average assessmentcriteria less than 4 g/m2/month; andDeposited dust maximum increase in depositeddust level of less than 2 g/m2/month.Page 40