The EPA has given works approval to a plant for grinding imported clinker after Geelong lost 90 jobs making the key cement ingredient at Waurn Ponds.
Boral wants to run the facility 24 hours a day, 50 weeks a year, unloading the shipped material with conveyor belts for milling at a site on North Shore’s Walchs Road.
Boral needed the works approval because of the “potential for significant environmental impact”, the EPA’s Tim Faragher said.
After construction the company would need an EPA licence to begin operating the plant, Mr Faragher said.
Noise and dust were two major considerations during the approvals process, which included consultation with residents, he said.
“These environmental issues are of particular concern in this region, both to the EPA and the community.
“EPA has assessed that Boral’s plant has proposed best practice control measures to prevent impact from dust and noise at its operation. EPA has imposed strict conditions on Boral to have monitoring and management plans in place, and will require that Boral demonstrate the effectiveness of their controls prior to issuing any operational licence.”
The plant met recommended separation distances from “sensitive residential receptors” and neighbouring industrial operators, Mr Faraher said.
Boral announced in December 2012 that it would cease making clinker at the company’s Blue Circle Southern Cement plant in Waurn Ponds.
The decision affected 90 jobs, with most gone by 2014.
The company initially blamed the decision on factors including the plant’s high fixed costs and a downturn in demand.
But Corangamite MP Sarah Henderson later suggested the former carbon tax was the final straw for the plant, adding “some 18 per cent” to clinker manufacturing costs.
A Blue Circle spokesperson confirmed the tax was a factor.
