EPA approved methane gas risk: council

The Melbourne council at the centre of a housing estate gas scare says the
Environment Protection Authority has concluded the risk was acceptable despite
advising that residents should evacuate their homes.
Acting on advice from the EPA, fire authorities told residents last September they
may have to leave their homes because dangerous levels of methane gas leaking from a
nearby landfill could cause an explosion at the Brooklands Greens estate in
Cranbourne.
As a result, many residents evacuated their homes, house prices in the estate
plummeted and now hundreds of residents are taking legal action against Casey
Council, in Melbourne's south-east.
The City of Casey on Friday said the EPA did two risk assessments in October and
both showed the risks in September were within an acceptable range.
"Two risk assessments were conducted by the EPA in October and both workshops
determined that the risk on September 9 was not in the 'intolerable' range or even
in the 'tolerable' range but was in the 'acceptable' range," said Mayor Geoff
Ablett, who was elected in November last year.
The EPA has not yet released its report showing this, Mr Ablett said.
Environmental consultant ENSR provided advice to the council and said it was
surprised the EPA used it to warn residents to move out.
The City of Casey released a letter it received from ENSR which says the EPA had
taken its advice "out of context".
"We were somewhat surprised by the fact that the EPA's email implied that ENSR's
letter dated 4 September 2008 advised the circumstances that necessitate the
relocation of residents," the letter stated.
"This phrase has been taken out of context in relation to the letter in its entirety
and it is concerning that the EPA failed to refer to the other actions that were
identified in our letter."
Mr Ablett said the council anticipated an ombudsman's inquiry would investigate the
basis for the EPA's advice.
He said future high methane readings would be dealt with differently under new
Country Fire Authority guidelines.
Under these guidelines, a house with a high reading would be vented and fitted with
a range of measures, while homes within a 250-metre radius would no longer need to
be evacuated.
The council has said the guidelines are the same approach used before the emergency
being declared.
In a statement, the EPA confirmed information provided by ENSR was part of the
evidence it used when advising the CFA and said it remained confident the advice was
the most appropriate at that time.
The council says there has only been one incident where methane levels have exceeded
the lower explosive limit and this was dealt with before the warning of imminent
danger was issued.
It says more than 300 homes have been monitored and 95 per cent did not show any
methane reading.