TO:
Director – Transport Assessments
MAJOR PROJECTS TEAM,
NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment
Application Number: SSI 6136 MOD3
GPO Box 39,
SYDNEY NSW 2001
Please find below my submission in response to - EXHIBITION OF STATE SIGNIFICANT INFRASTRUCTURE MODIFICATION REQUEST NORTHCONNEX(M1-M2) PROJECT- MODIFICATION- SS6136 MOD 3
Firstly I would like to state that I OBJECT to the modification request by RMS to amend condition of approval E-11- Ventilation Outlets-Limits. That is to modify the approved Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) limit from 1mg/m3 to 4 mg/m3.
We have a high level of concern regarding the following issues:
1. The increased level of VOC's from 1mg/m3 to 4mg/m3 will increase the concentrations of emissions from the northern ventilation stack in a densely populated residential area in Wahroonga, where 9,300 school children will be exposed, as well as multiple aged care facilities, hospitals, businesses and homes.
2. I am highly concerned about the multiple large scale research studies that suggest the impacts of air pollutants on health are serious. These include increased death from heart disease, increased risks of lung cancer, stroke, poor lung growth in children, increased asthma, and recent research suggesting low birth weight for pregnant women, increased autism, and congenital heart defects. These studies confirm air pollutants have prothrombotic and inflammatory effects on humans which cause the above health problems. Specifically, many of the VOC's, including benzene and formaldehyde from vehicle exhaust, are classified as Group 1 carcinogens to humans (IARC 2009). When VOC's and NOx react in the presence of sunlight, ozone is formed. In the short term, exposure to ozone can result in reduced lung function and exacerbation of asthma and chronic respiratory diseases, as well as irritation and inflammation of eyes, nose, throat and lower airways. In the long term, as well as causing cancer, there is a growing body of evidence to support that exposure to ozone increases death from respiratory and cardiovascular causes. There is currently inconsistent evidence to indicate there is a threshold below which exposure to ozone is not associated with adverse health effects. That is to say, there is NO SAFE LEVEL.
To address my concerns I request that the following actions are undertaken:
1. Due to the significant health concerns that will occur in the community, I request the department of planning does not approve of the proposed modifications
2. That the ventilation outlet emissions are filtered before release into the air, as per Recommendation 13 in the December 2018 NSW Parliament Legislative Council Public Accountability Committee Report on the Impact of the WestConnex Project.

My children are studying in 2 private school of Wahroonga. and I clearly want to make my objection to this request for modification of VOC (Volatile organic compounds) levels; I highly demand for filtration of the tunnel emissions from the Wahroonga ventilation stack.As I am very worry of all children's health in the local schools. My support in this matter is vital to mitigate the health risks posed by NorthConnex and ensure clean and unpolluted air for our local community.

I have not made any political donations in the previous two years

I OBJECT to the modification request by RMS to amend condition of approval E-11- Ventilation Outlets-Limits. That is to modify the approved Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) limit from 1mg/m3 to 4 mg/m3.

I have a high level of concern regarding the following issues:

1. The increased level of VOC's from 1mg/m3 to 4mg/m3 will increase the concentrations of emissions from the northern ventilation stack in a densely populated residential area in Wahroonga, where 9,300 school children will be exposed, as well as multiple aged care facilities, hospitals, businesses and homes.

2. I am highly concerned about the multiple large scale research studies that suggest the impacts of air pollutants on health are serious. These include increased death from heart disease, increased risks of lung cancer, stroke, poor lung growth in children, increased asthma, and recent research suggesting low birth weight for pregnant women, increased autism, and congenital heart defects. These studies confirm air pollutants have prothrombotic and inflammatory effects on humans which cause the above health problems. Specifically, many of the VOC's, including benzene and formaldehyde from vehicle exhaust, are classified as Group 1 carcinogens to humans (IARC 2009). When VOC's and NOx react in the presence of sunlight, ozone is formed. In the short term, exposure to ozone can result in reduced lung function and exacerbation of asthma and chronic respiratory diseases, as well as irritation and inflammation of eyes, nose, throat and lower airways. In the long term, as well as causing cancer, there is a growing body of evidence to support that exposure to ozone increases death from respiratory and cardiovascular causes. There is currently inconsistent evidence to indicate there is a threshold below which exposure to ozone is not associated with adverse health effects. That is to say, there is NO SAFE LEVEL.

To address my concerns I request that the following actions are undertaken:
1. Due to the significant health concerns that will occur in the community, I request the department of planning does not approve of the proposed modifications
2. That the ventilation outlet emissions are filtered before release into the air, as per Recommendation 13 in the December 2018 NSW Parliament Legislative Council Public Accountability Committee Report on the Impact of the WestConnex Project.

The change will severely compromise the health of all the residents, school children & the elderlys in the ages care facilities in the area!!!

See my attachment

FROM:

Michelle Ngan
35 Congham Road
West Pymble NSW 2073


TO:

Director – Transport Assessments
MAJOR PROJECTS TEAM,
NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment
Application Number: SSI 6136 MOD3
GPO Box 39,
SYDNEY NSW 2001

Please find below my/our submission in response to  - EXHIBITION OF STATE SIGNIFICANT INFRASTRUCTURE MODIFICATION REQUEST NORTHCONNEX(M1-M2) PROJECT- MODIFICATION- SS6136 MOD 3

Firstly I/we would like to state that I/we OBJECT  to the modification request by RMS to amend condition of approval E-11- Ventilation Outlets-Limits. That is to modify the approved Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) limit from 1mg/m3 to 4 mg/m3.

I have a high level of concern regarding the following issues:

1. The increased level of VOC's  from 1mg/m3 to 4mg/m3  will  increase the concentrations of emissions from the northern ventilation stack in a densely populated residential area in Wahroonga, where 9,300 school children will be exposed, as well as multiple aged care facilities, hospitals, businesses and homes.

2. I am highly concerned about the multiple large scale research studies that suggest the impacts of air pollutants on health are serious. These include increased death from heart disease, increased risks of lung cancer, stroke, poor lung growth in children, increased asthma, and recent research suggesting low birth weight for pregnant women, increased autism, and congenital heart defects. These studies confirm air pollutants have prothrombotic and inflammatory effects on humans which cause the above health problems.  Specifically, many of the VOC's, including benzene and formaldehyde from vehicle exhaust, are classified as Group 1 carcinogens to humans (IARC 2009).  When VOC's and NOx react in the presence of sunlight, ozone is formed.  In the short term,  exposure to ozone can result in reduced lung function and exacerbation of asthma and chronic respiratory diseases, as well as irritation and inflammation of eyes, nose, throat and lower airways. In the long term, as well as causing cancer, there is a growing body of evidence to support that  exposure to ozone increases death from respiratory and cardiovascular causes. There is currently inconsistent evidence to indicate there is a threshold below which exposure to ozone is not associated with adverse health effects.  That is to say, there is NO SAFE LEVEL.

To address my/our concerns I request that the following actions are undertaken:
1. Due to the significant health concerns that will occur in the community, I request the department of planning does not approve of the proposed modifications
2. That the ventilation outlet emissions are filtered before release into the air, as per Recommendation 13 in the December 2018 NSW Parliament Legislative Council Public Accountability Committee Report on the Impact of the WestConnex Project.

I have not made any political donations in the previous two years

Your signature
Michelle Ngan

Dear Sir/Madam,

Here I'm commenting to object this modification (to increase emission rate limit by 300% to 4mg/m3. The reason are:
1. Keep the original emission rate limit 1mg/m3 unchanged, so that any abnormal emission can be exposed and trigger a notification for proper handling
I don't think a emission rate limit is used to allow a spike (meaning occasional incident).

2. Install more pollution monitor stations, and collect as much as we can so that, in the future, we have data to verify if the tunnel has no impact on our environment
This is very important, because we should NOT depends on our engineering prediction (calculated on paper) without monitoring the real pollution.
Currently, there is
-- NO pollution monitor in circle of 0.25km radius
-- NO pollution monitor in circle of 0.5km radius
-- NO pollution monitor on the east side of the NorthConnex in Wahroonga area
-- NO pollution monitor close to those two WPS (Waitara Public School ~500m circle, and Wahroonga Public School ~1.25km circle)

3. Increase the stack to appropriate height; current stack height is ~26m only
I doubt the 26m height is higher than the buildings close to the stack. E.g. Waitara Public School, which has ~960 students, is on the top of the mountain just ~ 500m away. I think the top of the stack isn't higher than WPS's location.
According to an Australia standard(https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2017-12/documents/62.7-2017.pdf ):
"Good Engineering Practice" (GEP) Stack Test Height - The greater of:
1. 65 meters, measured from the ground-level elevation of the base of the stack;
2. Hg = H + 1. 5 L,
where Hg = good engineering practice height, measured from the ground-level elevation at the base of the stack,
H = height of nearby structure(s) measured from the ground-level elevation at the base of the stack,
L = lesser dimension, height or projected width of nearby structure(s)
The Department or EPA may require the use of a field study or fluid model to verify GEP stack height for the source

4. Install filter into stack, to actually reduce the emission
First, existing use case like "other tunnel like the Sydney Harbor Tunnel doesn't use filter" should NOT be used as a reason for Northconnex not to use filter in stack. Every tunnel has its special situation; they are independent. Even we say the "Sydney Harbor tunnel" is a okay not to use filter, I do think the following reasons which makes it okay:
1) It's much shorter, and its depth is much less than NorthConnex
2) There are far fewer trucks passing the "Sydney Harbor Tunnel"; most of them are general sedans/cars. While NorthConnex is built for heavy trucks
3) when "Harbor Bridge Tunnel" was built, it was not designed for today's high traffic per day
In short, it's not an excuse to refer to the "Sydney Harbor Tunnel" as the reason for no filter in stack

In short, I don't think 1) it's a good idea to increase the emission rate limit 2) we need more actions to improve the air quality.
What would be your advice, if you live here within 500m scope of the NorthConnex north stack? Appreciate your time and advice!

I strongly object to the modification request by RMS to amend condition of approval E-11- Ventilation Outlets-Limits being the modification of the approved Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) limit from 1mg/m3 to 4 mg/m3. I have a very high level of concern regarding the following issues:
1. The increased level of VOC's from 1mg/m3 to 4mg/m3 will increase the concentrations of emissions from the northern ventilation stack in a densely populated residential area in Wahroonga. This area also includes several schools, daycare and pre-school facilities (estimated at over 9,000 children), multiple aged care facilities and hospitals: in short those vulnerable members of our community who are at increased risk of illness caused by emissions and in most need of protection.
2. That the emissions will not be filtered. There is no safe level of emissions but with the increase in VOCs there must be some attempt to mitigate the damage and negative impact to our health that will occur from the emissions. It is understood that the increase is sought as it will “allow for management of short term incidents of less than a few hours duration – such as a breakdown that brings traffic movement to a standstill until it is cleared” (email from Emily Kemp to Richard Broome 9 July 2019 11.56am). However with increased traffic due in part to population growth this is likely to be a frequent, almost daily, occurrence.
3. Even if the VOC limit is not increased it is of serious concern that the emissions will not be filtered at all.
4. There is strong evidence by way of multiple large scale research studies showing that the impacts of air pollutants on our health are serious and wide ranging. These include increased asthma, lung disease including lung cancer, increased death from heart disease, increased risks, stroke and poor lung growth in children. Recent research suggesting low birth weight for pregnant women, increased autism, and congenital heart defects. Many of the VOCs, including benzene and formaldehyde from vehicle exhaust, are classified as Group 1 carcinogens to humans (IARC 2009). As such, it is submitted that the increased emissions will be of detriment to the future long term health of our community.
To address my concerns I request that the following actions are undertaken:
1. The Department of Planning does not approve the proposed modifications
2. That the ventilation outlet emissions are filtered before release into the air, as per Recommendation 13 in the December 2018 NSW Parliament Legislative Council Public Accountability Committee Report on the Impact of the WestConnex Project.

Firstly I would like to state that I OBJECT to the modification request by RMS to amend condition of approval E-11- Ventilation Outlets-Limits. That is to modify the approved Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) limit from 1mg/m3 to 4 mg/m3.

I have a high level of concern regarding the following issues:

1. The increased level of VOC's from 1mg/m3 to 4mg/m3 will increase the concentrations of emissions from the northern ventilation stack in a densely populated residential area in Wahroonga, where 9,300 school children will be exposed, as well as multiple aged care facilities, hospitals, businesses and homes.

2. I am highly concerned about the multiple large scale research studies that suggest the impacts of air pollutants on health are serious. These include increased death from heart disease, increased risks of lung cancer, stroke, poor lung growth in children, increased asthma, and recent research suggesting low birth weight for pregnant women, increased autism, and congenital heart defects. These studies confirm air pollutants have prothrombotic and inflammatory effects on humans which cause the above health problems. Specifically, many of the VOC's, including benzene and formaldehyde from vehicle exhaust, are classified as Group 1 carcinogens to humans (IARC 2009). When VOC's and NOx react in the presence of sunlight, ozone is formed. In the short term, exposure to ozone can result in reduced lung function and exacerbation of asthma and chronic respiratory diseases, as well as irritation and inflammation of eyes, nose, throat and lower airways. In the long term, as well as causing cancer, there is a growing body of evidence to support that exposure to ozone increases death from respiratory and cardiovascular causes. There is currently inconsistent evidence to indicate there is a threshold below which exposure to ozone is not associated with adverse health effects. That is to say, there is NO SAFE LEVEL.

To address my/our concerns I request that the following actions are undertaken:
1. Due to the significant health concerns that will occur in the community, I request the department of planning does not approve of the proposed modifications
2. That the ventilation outlet emissions are filtered before release into the air, as per Recommendation 13 in the December 2018 NSW Parliament Legislative Council Public Accountability Committee Report on the Impact of the WestConnex Project.

I have never made a political donation.

Regards
Hong Nguyen

Dear Sir / Madam
Firstly I would like to state that I OBJECT to the modification request by RMS to amend condition of approval E-11- Ventilation Outlets-Limits. That is to modify the approved Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) limit from 1mg/m3 to 4 mg/m3.

I have a high level of concern regarding the following issues:

1. The increased level of VOC's from 1mg/m3 to 4mg/m3 will increase the concentrations of emissions from the northern ventilation stack in a densely populated residential area in Wahroonga, where 9,300 school children will be exposed, as well as multiple aged care facilities, hospitals, businesses and homes.

2. I am highly concerned about the multiple large scale research studies that suggest the impacts of air pollutants on health are serious. These include increased death from heart disease, increased risks of lung cancer, stroke, poor lung growth in children, increased asthma, and recent research suggesting low birth weight for pregnant women, increased autism, and congenital heart defects. These studies confirm air pollutants have prothrombotic and inflammatory effects on humans which cause the above health problems. Specifically, many of the VOC's, including benzene and formaldehyde from vehicle exhaust, are classified as Group 1 carcinogens to humans (IARC 2009). When VOC's and NOx react in the presence of sunlight, ozone is formed. In the short term, exposure to ozone can result in reduced lung function and exacerbation of asthma and chronic respiratory diseases, as well as irritation and inflammation of eyes, nose, throat and lower airways. In the long term, as well as causing cancer, there is a growing body of evidence to support that exposure to ozone increases death from respiratory and cardiovascular causes. There is currently inconsistent evidence to indicate there is a threshold below which exposure to ozone is not associated with adverse health effects. That is to say, there is NO SAFE LEVEL.

To address my concerns I request that the following actions are undertaken:
1. Due to the significant health concerns that will occur in the community, I request the department of planning does not approve of the proposed modifications
2. That the ventilation outlet emissions are filtered before release into the air, as per Recommendation 13 in the December 2018 NSW Parliament Legislative Council Public Accountability Committee Report on the Impact of the WestConnex Project.

I have not made any political donations in the previous two years

Yours sincerely

Mark Chan