Greens welcome Transport Minister’s decision on iron ore exports

Submitted by Louise Sales on Tue, 17/05/2011 - 13:57

The WA Greens Spokesperson for Transport Lynn MacLaren cited two reasons to welcome the Transport Minister Troy Buswell’s rejection of a proposal to export iron ore through Fremantle:

"Firstly, Esperance Port invested millions in upgrading it to world’s best practice for the export of iron ore to protect residents from the dust. We simply don’t have the same safeguards in Fremantle, said Ms MacLaren.

"Secondly, Fremantle’s roads are already clogged with trucks accessing the port and the noise and pollution associated with these trucks is already at unacceptable levels. The last thing we need is more trucks on our roads," Ms MacLaren added.

The Transport Minister’s rejection demonstrates how easy it is to set standards for the port city and bypass all existing approval processes.

“Why didn’t the State Government show this leadership on the proposal to transport lead through Fremantle?” Ms MacLaren asked.

Cazaly’s proposal to temporarily export iron ore through the port of Fremantle at 1.4 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) from March 2012 should be rejected.

Ms MacLaren is calling for more freight going to and from the port to be carried by rail.

“Trucks are dirty, noisy and polluting. We really need to be shifting more freight onto rail to preserve our environment and the quality of life of Fremantle’s residents,” she concluded.