Australia – Biodiversity – $3,000 fine for wildlife possession
A Western Sydney man has been fined $3,000 for possessing six exotic snakes, which is illegal under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. More.
Australia – Energy efficiency – ACCC concerns lead to undertaking
An electrical and whitegoods supplier has agreed to a court-enforceable undertaking after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) raised concerns it may have misrepresented the energy consumption of its appliances. As part of the undertaking, the company:
- is offering to compensate customers
- will improve its trade practices law compliance program
- will do additional testing on appliances before selling them in Australia. More.
Australia – Marine pollution – Ship’s captain convicted and fined for failing to report faults
The master of the Ocean Emperor has been fined $18,000, after being found guilty of six charges relating to failing to report shipping defects while off the Queensland coast.
The charges, made under the federal Navigation Act 1912, related to the failure to report any defect in the ship, or its boilers, machinery or equipment, that would be likely to affect the ship’s seaworthiness or safety. (The ship, with a full load of coal and fuel oil, drifted towards the Great Barrier Reef). More.
NSW – Land clearing - Consultant convicted and $120K poorer for incorrect advice
A consultant who incorrectly advised a developer that Koala habitat could be cleared was convicted of causing damage to a threatened species’ habitat. He was ordered to pay a $15,000 fine, the prosecutor’s costs of $105,000 and the cost of a newspaper advertisement providing notice of the offence. More.
NSW – Land clearing - Clearing for boundary fence costs miner $125,000
A coal mining company has been prosecuted for breaching the terms of its original planning approval. The company unlawfully cleared Box woodland, an ecologically endangered community, so that a stockproof fence could be built along a lease boundary. While the Minister for Planning subsequently granted a modification of the planning approval to ‘regularise’ the fence clearing, subject to biodiversity rehabilitation and offset conditions, the Minister also prosecuted the company. More.
NSW – Water pollution - Food processing company ordered to carry out audit; $100K in costs
After two prior offences, the Land and Environment Court has ordered a food processor to undertake an audit, after it caused tallow to pollute a creek. The audit and the prosecution proceedings will cost the company over $100,000. More.
VIC – Asbestos – Asbestos spray leads to fine and hefty clean up costs
A house painter has been fined $1,400 after he water-blasted an asbestos roof, spraying asbestos over four homes. The homeowner had to pay $50,000 to clean up the site, which included the removal of vegetation and soil. More.
VIC – Biodiversity – Fisher fined for illegal lobster catching
A Warrnambool-based commercial rock lobster fisher has been fined $2,400 for setting lobster pots in the 12 Apostles Marine National Park, near Port Campbell. More.
VIC – Biodiversity – Jet ski in whale nursery leads to fine
A Warrnambool man has been fined $400, plus $75 costs, and placed on a 12 month good behaviour bond, for entering a Southern Right Whale nursery area on a jet ski during the prohibited period from 1 June – 31 October. More.
VIC – Gas release – Paper company fined for contractor error
A Reservoir paper recycling company has been fined $100,000, plus costs, for permitting an environmental hazard at its premises. The $100,000 penalty will fund a local community environmental project at Edwardes Lake in Reservoir.
The incident occurred when a contractor, making an 18,000 litre delivery of sodium hypochlorite, connected the truck to the wrong tank, causing a chemical reaction and a plume of chlorine gas. The premises, surrounding businesses and the local secondary school were all evacuated. Fourteen people were taken to hospital for eye and lung irritation.
The contractor delivering the chemicals was convicted earlier this year and fined more than $6,500. More.
VIC – General – Numerous companies fined for breaches
A number of companies have been fined $5,841 for environmental breaches. These include:
- a Wodonga rendering company for stockpiling approximately 4,000 tonnes of rendering and abattoir waste, in contravention of its EPA licence. More.
- a liquid waste transport company, for rinsing one of its septic waste trucks onto floodplains, near a waterway. The company had received an EPA fine two years prior for a similar incident. More.
- a Footscray textile company, for allowing hydraulic oil to leak from its premises into Stony Creek. More.
- an Eildon resort company, for breaching its EPA licence conditions, after a waste overflow from a treatment pond at its premises. More.
- a North Coburg marble polishing company, for allowing waste from its operations to enter the stormwater system and pollute Edgars Creek. More.
- a Bendigo chemical company, after a deliberate chemical discharge triggered an emergency. Almost 2,000 L of undiluted sodium hypochlorite was discharged to the stormwater drain after a rupture in the site’s main storage tank. The incident was discovered almost two weeks later and sparked a major hazardous materials response that saw trains delayed, roads blocked and Victoria Police, the CFA and EPA deployed. Almost 18,000 L of water and sodium hypochlorite was educted from the stormwater system in Golden Square. More.
- a Victorian water authority, for a citric acid spill from its Birregurra water treatment plant. More.
- a Melbourne water authority, after 200,000 L of sewage entered a roadside drain at Bangholme. More.
- a Victorian council, for accepting Category A waste at its Dooen landfill. A waste transporter delivered approximately two tonnes of contaminated soil from a transformer fire to the landfill. The soil was accepted by the landfill as Category C waste (a lower grade classification) without any documentation or analytical results to verify contamination levels, in breach of its EPA licence. More.
VIC – Oil spill – $75K enforceable undertaking for shipping company
A shipping company has been required to enter into an enforceable undertaking which will cost at least $75,000, after spilling hydraulic oil while dredging the southern end of the Great Ship Channel.
The enforceable undertaking will require the company to:
- provide $75,000 to Swinburne University to sponsor a PhD project on investigation and monitoring of turbidity in coastal areas of Victoria
- provide additional environmental training to its master and crews working in Victoria
- fund a Swinburne University course on dredging and its environmental impacts
- engage an EPA-appointed auditor to examine the content of the undertaking, and provide written assurance that it has satisfactorily completed and delivered each intended outcome. More.
VIC – Waste – $25,000 fine plus costs for contaminated clean fill
A waste management company has been ordered to pay $25,000 to an environmental project, plus costs of $14,150, after dumping industrial waste at the Werribee Open Range Zoo. The company was meant to supply clean fill, but the material included construction waste, asbestos, low level contaminated soils and acid sulphate soils. The company was placed on a one-year good behaviour bond. More.
VIC – Waste – Environmental services company fails to service
An environmental services company has been fined $10,500, plus costs of nearly $6,500, for permitting industrial waste to be deposited on an unlicensed property near Kyneton, and for failing to comply with an EPA clean up notice. The waste included building and demolition waste, tyres, scrap metal, cardboard, putrescible waste and drums of waste tar and oils. More.
VIC – Waste – Second environmental company fined over waste issues
An engineering and environmental services company has been fined more than $5,000 for leaving four 200 L drums containing drilling waste on land in West Footscray. The drilling contractor received a written warning from EPA. More.
