Alcoa sale must protect heath: ANGAIR

PROTECTION demands for the Anglesea heath need to be written into any sale of Alcoa’s coal mine, according to conservation group ANGAIR.
Dorothy Hutton, long-time member and former president and secretary of ANGAIR — the Anglesea , Aireys Inlet Society for the Protection of Flora and Fauna – raised concerns for the area after recently receiving an International Women’s Day  ‘Inspiring Change’ award.
“We want the Government to have protection of the area as a condition of the sale,” Ms Hutton said.
“Our concern is the huge Anglesea heath, a specific geographic area bounded by the Alcoa leasehold. It’s been managed jointly by Parks Victoria and Alcoa as a type-2 national park.
“They’ve done really good work in managing that area to maximise the biodiversity of the area but we do have major concerns of protection under a new owner.”
Ms Hutton was cited in the IWD awards for her work with ANGAIR and her efforts in building a walking track running around the edge of Anglesea, traversing heathland and the Great Otway National Park.
She suggested the environmental impact of “all power stations and mines”  was questionable but said Alcoa had “probably done a better job than most on the revegetation of its backfill”.
“It has developed methods of using the soil in which they preserve and use the seedbank in that topsoil to spread across backfill so we maintain the genetic prominence of plants in the region. We’ve been thrilled by the diversity of the vegetation that’s come back,” she said
ANGAIR is dedicated to protecting the area’s indigenous flora and fauna, and to maintaining the natural beauty of Anglesea and Aireys Inlet and their local environments.
Its concerns about the future of Alcoa’s coalmine are shared, albeit from a different perspective, by the Surf Coast Air Action community group, which is fighting the anticipated sale of Alcoa’s coal mine and power station.
Surf Coast Air Action argues the mine is one-tenth the size of the Latrobe Valley’s Hazelwood but produces three times the sulphur dioxide – a respiratory irritant – as well as large quantities of particulate the World Health Organisation has classified as carcinogenic.
The coalmine’s future also affects the livelihood of some 80 employees reportedly furious the complex will close if not sold by year’s end, according to the Australian Workers Union.
Ms Hutton was one seven Surf Coast Shire recipients of IWD Inspiring Change awards.
Others were:  Carol Baker for work with Lorne community groups; Janet Smartt for work with the Lorne Football Club; Julia O’Brien for teaching parents CPR and resuscitation skills; Caroline Wood, operator of Aireys Inlet’s Blazing Saddles; Julie Martin for work with Anglesea Primary School Council and Parents Club; and Louise Brown of the Deans Marsh’s choir Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Marsh.