NSW EPA Chair, Barry Buffier, said the EPA has and will continue to take action against those who harm the environment and flout laws and conditions they are legally bound to comply with under their environment protection licences.
“The message is clear, if you break the law and cause environmental harm, chances are high that you will be caught and face legal action,” said Buffier. During the 2011-12 financial year five of the most significant prosecutions brought by the EPA resulted in Court orders requiring the offenders to pay over $1 million.
Earlier this year, in what has been one of its biggest cases yet; the EPA successfully prosecuted a Bathurst waste transport company, BMG Environmental Group and one of its directors. Both the company and the director were convicted of offences involving the illegal disposal of more than one million litres of untreated liquid waste onto a local farm during much of 2009. The court ordered the offenders to pay close to $375,000 in penalties and costs.
“The successful prosecution and resulting fines imposed on that company and one of its directors was a significant decision for environmental protection law in this State, indeed in Australia. It sent a clear message to industry and to the community, that negligent harm to the environment will not be tolerated,” Buffier added.
In May this year, Tea Garden Farms was convicted and ordered to pay almost $200,000 for contaminating North Arm Cove at Port Stephens in May 2009. And in two separate cases, the EPA was successful in prosecuting Moolarben Coal Operations. The Court ordered the company to pay a total of $342,000 in financial penalties and costs for polluting Goulburn River with contaminated water from its coal mine near Mudgee, on two separate occasions in 2009.
In March this year, the Court convicted Wyong Shire Council of offences involving the illegal disposal of large quantities of waste at a number of sites in the region over several years. The Land & Environment Court ordering the Council to pay $135,000.
So far, the EPA has prosecuted 56 cases in the last 12 months and currently has 66 matters being investigated with a view to prosecution, ranging from minor ones to major ones.
The EPA’s role has been bolstered by the NSW Government, making it an independent Statutory Authority in February this year, with its own Chair and Board and new powers under the Protection of the Environment Administration Act 1991.
The EPA also announced last month that as of July 1, all holders of environment protection licences under the Protection of the Environment Operations (POEO) Act 1997 must publish monthly summaries of relevant pollution monitoring data that has been collected as a result of a condition of their licence.
The NSW Government introduced changes to how pollution incidents are both reported and managed, with licensees required to immediately report any pollution incidents and prepare and implement pollution incident response management plans and have these in place by September 1, 2012.
This article courtesy of BEN-Global.com
