When asked whether dangerous fallout could settle on the roofs of properties in Dalton or Gunning, AGL’s Neil Cooke said there was “no chance” that could happen.

However, locals aren’t convinced and Chris Morgan, who has a property in Dalton, said huge volumes of exhaust gas will be carried south-east by prevailing winds to Gunning and pool around the site, blanketing the village of Dalton.

“The issue is that the fallout will end up on people’s roofs… it gets washed into people’s water tanks,” where Mr Morgan said it would accumulate over time and finally people would start to get sick.

Mr Morgan said he brought up the issue of exhaust fumes at AGL’s recent meeting with the Gunning Chamber of Commerce, and the AGL managers dodged the question.

Last week, however, Mr Cooke said the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) wouldn’t allow them to build the plant if it was putting poisonous chemicals into the atmosphere.

He also said, with regard to noise and air emissions, AGL had to comply with the Office of Environment and Heritage regulations.

“We absolutely will meet those requirements.”

Mr Morgan just wasn’t happy with the response that the project would be “within accepted limits”.

“The sufficient limit is zero, which we already have,” he said. “Medical advice informs us that ‘acceptable levels’ certainly does not mean there is no impact on resident’s health.”

In the preliminary environmental assessment the Dalton Power Project was deemed a “potentially hazardous and offensive industry… on the basis that if no measures were to be employed, the development would pose a risk to property and would emit polluting discharges.”

AGL submitted information in its Environmental Assessment for air quality testing from a site in south Canberra.

“There is a distance between that and the Dalton power station site,” Mr Cooke said. “The levels of oxides of nitrogen and oxides of carbon and particles, which are in that area, are higher than would be within the Dalton area.”

And, because AGL still meets the requirements using the higher air pollution levels, Mr Cooke said the actual results would be better than the tests.

A natural gas power plant was knocked on the head in south Canberra due to health concerns regarding the exhaust emissions. Mr Cooke said he wasn’t aware of the failed power plant in Canberra and couldn’t comment on similarities and differences between the two sites.