Ammonium nitrate tankers

Dear Echo News,

When returning home from Perth to the hills recently I have on several occasions found myself behind tankers carrying ammonium nitrate slurry, or trucks and trailers loaded with ammonium nitrate.

Huge explosions can occur when for instance brakes overheated on a trailer as at Cosmo Newbury in November 2022, or when crashes occurred as on the Mitchell Highway (2014) and Bruce Highway (2024) in Queensland.

If such an accident occurred in Midland or Mundaring or any built up area, the damage would be enormous and there could be a considerable death toll.

I believe it is current practice when an ammonium nitrate carrying vehicle catches fire to make no attempt to extinguish the fire but to evacuate the area.

Ammonium nitrate is an extremely powerful explosive that is much more sensitive to detonation than military explosives like RDX or TNT.

As electric vehicles are becoming more common and high currents and burning batteries could be involved.

The chance of an explosion after such a crash would probably be greatly increased.

There have been many ammonium nitrate explosions worldwide some equivalent to a low yield nuclear weapon, (Beirut 2020, Texas City 1947, Tianjin China 2015) producing hundreds of deaths.

Considering the distinct possibility and devastating effects of ammonium nitrate explosions I can’t see how the manufacture or transport of this chemical through populated areas is permitted.

Crashes and overheating brakes can occur anywhere and anytime. It is pure good fortune that the accidents that have occurred in Australia have been in remote areas.

Currently ammonium nitrate is manufactured at Kwinana and at Wubin in WA.

The Kwinana plant plans to expand production to 580,000 tonnes per annum.

It would be possible to manufacture this explosive near to its point of use, and as a matter of public safety the WA Government should ensure that this happens.

K Pratley

Chidlow

Vegetation turned to stone

Dear Echo News,

I grew up in Beechboro bordered to the north by bush and wildlife.

I accept that where we built our house in 1993 was once bush and I encourage people to view a time lapse on Google Earth of this shire and the surrounds to watch the majority of the native vegetation turned to stone over the last 40 years.

One thing an ignorant person can’t stand is another ignorant person.

Maybe the only thing that can stop our parasitic spread is to run out of fuel?

Do they have electric bulldozers yet?

Why don’t we create a potent identity for ourselves by recycling our exisiting structures and investing in rapid revegetation?

Isn’t that why every man and his dog loves Bridgetown?

God bless Guildford, just try and mess with their heritage.

The hottest band on the planet this month actually bothered to come here and while being heckled by bogans about New York he said, “Perth’s not that great.”

Maybe paying someone from Portugal to build a $2.2 million sculpture trail will change his mind?

He could come and shoot his music videos at Perth Film Studios.

He better be quick if he wants to see a real kangaroo though because that thin shelf of adjacent pastoral land is classified as, ‘strategic and underutilised’.

If you’re wondering where the joeys formerly huddling under developers’ billboards in the diminishing paddocks of Whiteman went, you can cut straight through this landscape on the new Ellenbrook line.

We’d obviously have to pause our feeds of American pop culture for three minutes.

Chris

Swan

Wattle Grove South plan

Dear Echo News,

At its March 24 meeting, the City of Kalamunda Council voted to support an urban Structure Plan over approximately 126ha of environmentally sensitive foothills land in Wattle Grove South - despite around 77 per cent of community submissions opposing the proposal.

The decision did not occur in isolation.

It follows a series of actions that point to a consistent and concerning shift away from the values that have long defined this community.

Residents will recall the earlier revocation of local planning policy 33 (tree canopy policy) - a policy that recognised the importance of preserving Kalamunda’s unique environmental assets.

A council decision to support the urbanisation of environmentally sensitive Maida Vale South, also raised significant concerns about cumulative environmental impacts and the loss of valued landscape.

More recently, the council has considered proposals involving the use of Jorgensen Park, a public asset known to contain nationally threatened species, for private commercial purposes.

Taken together, these decisions reveal a clear pattern.

Time and again, proposals affecting environmentally sensitive land are being advanced by the City of Kalamunda despite strong community opposition and unresolved environmental concerns.

The message from the community has been consistent over many years: the natural environment is not a secondary consideration - it is central to the identity and liveability of the City of Kalamunda.

Yet the recent decision on Wattle Grove South suggests that this message has not been adequately reflected in council’s decision-making, with the notable exception of deputy Mayor Kathy Ritchie, who consistently demonstrates a principled and well-informed commitment to environmental protection and sound planning.

Urbanisation of areas identified only for ‘investigation’ is not inevitable. It is a choice - one that must be justified through proper assessment of environmental, infrastructure and community factors.

When that process is brought into question, and when overwhelming community opposition appears to carry limited weight, it is reasonable to ask whether council remains aligned with the community it represents.

Kalamunda residents have always placed a high value on protecting the natural environment that makes this area unique,

Council decisions should reflect that.

At present, many in the community are left wondering whether they do.

M Ryan

Wattle Grove