Kealba residents have slammed a decision by the Environmental Protection Authority to withdraw its weekly involvement in meetings about the Kealba Landfill hot spot fires.
Barro has been hosting weekly online meetings for residents over the past few months, with EPA representatives at every meeting.
At a recent meeting, the EPA’s western metropolitan region manager, Stephen Lansdell, said the organisation would only attend the meetings when there were key updates and milestones.
“We are still here prioritising the issue regularly and super closely,” he said.
“We’re hoping to plan face-to-face sessions and hopefully COVID-19 willing, we will be able to start some of those planning sessions soon.“
In an email to community members, the EPA encouraged residents with concerns to contact it directly via email or phone.
Resident Anna Jez said the community felt it was being abandoned by the EPA.
“We’re disappointed and feel abandoned,” she said.
“The community has felt that if they set the appropriate standards in the beginning and enforced more compliance on Barro and protected the environment and our health, they wouldn’t have to do these things.“
Ms Jez said the community felt there were still many unanswered questions about the fires.
She said she had sent multiple emails to key stakeholders in recent weeks that had gone unanswered.
She said considering the impact the hot spots have had on residents’ lives for 18 months, there still needed to be frequent communication from the EPA.
Tara Murray
