|Findings from the review into the NSW Chief Scientist's report into road tunnel air quality.
Everyone deserves clean and safe air to breathe. Disappointingly, the newly released review of the NSW Chief Scientist's report into road tunnel air quality has confirmed what many in our community have feared for years. There's no safe level of exposure to traffic-related air pollution.
This review only happened because our community demanded it. Together, we pushed the government to take our health concerns seriously, but the results are deeply disappointing.
Findings include:
- There is no safe level of exposure to traffic-realted air pollution
- Previous health assessments potentially underestimated the harm caused by traffic pollution
- On-road vehicle pollution is responsible for around 110 premature deaths each year in NSW, costing the state around $913 million annually
- They suggest the impact of filtering the WestConnex stacks on their own would be minimal, as the problem lies in our over-reliance on cars and road traffic pollution more broadly across the city.
This is disappointing and only reinforces what many of us already know: we need fewer polluting toll roads like WestConnex, not more of them.
I've written formally to the Minister for Roads asking how the government will be responding to the findings in the report, and what their plans are for filtering the toxic WestConnex stacks.
In the meantime, you can read the summary of the review findings below.
