EPA management of contaminated sites 'inadequate, inconsistent and unclear'

We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.

Advertisement

This was published 9 years ago

EPA management of contaminated sites 'inadequate, inconsistent and unclear'

By Natalie O'Brien
Updated

The Environment Protection Authority's management of contaminated sites in NSW has been criticised as inadequate, inconsistent and lacking transparency in decision making.

A report by NSW Auditor-General Grant Hehir also found the environmental regulator had no systematic processes for prioritising contaminated sites and there was a backlog of almost 800 sites awaiting assessment.

Target: Contamination in the Botany area had residents concerned.

Target: Contamination in the Botany area had residents concerned.Credit: Sahlan Hayes

The report said 550 of them had been waiting to be assessed since 2009-2010, which means the public and local government "may have no knowledge of significant contamination, if present, at these sites".

The release of the audit report on Thursday, with 13 recommendations for improvements, comes as a parliamentary inquiry is about to start into the performance of the EPA. It will focus on several case studies of its perceived failures, including issues of air pollution in the Hunter, land contamination in Botany, water pollution in the Pilliga and protection of koalas and their habitats in the state's north.

The parliamentary inquiry, which was successfully moved in the upper house by Opposition Environment spokesman Luke Foley, followed months of revelations by Fairfax Media about controversies involving the EPA's performance including botched prosecutions, accusations of cover-ups, mismanagement and a referral to the corruption watchdog.


The Auditor-General's report revealed there was a range of sites that the EPA could have declared as significantly contaminated but decided not to. Although the EPA documented the reasons with "appropriate sign off by management", those decisions were not supported by clear principles meaning there was a lack of transparency which could result in inconsistencies and poor regulation.

"An inconsistent approach may also leave the community and/or the environment vulnerable to the impact of significant contamination," Mr Hehir said.

“The EPA should implement a streamlined process for prioritising and assessing sites, with clear rules around whether a significantly contaminated site should be declared.”

The performance audit, which notes the EPA has established some performance indicators and has overseen remediation of some sites, said the regulator "lacks the management controls to ensure that all significantly contaminated sites are actively monitored."

Advertisement

It found its databases were not integrated – which made it hard to track the history and progress of sites – its compliance policy does not provide specific guidance on how to escalate regulatory activities, and that the EPA does not take steps to recover costs for compliance actions from land owners and polluters, even though the act allows it to recover government money.

It also found the EPA was reluctant to declare residential properties contaminated because previous experience had shown heightened concerns about health impacts that were not in proportion to the actual risks.

"The EPA considers declaring residential sites [contaminated] as problematic and an unfair penalty for innocent owners," but the report said that was different to the way the EPA treated commercial sites and there was nothing in the act that "exempts residential sites from being declared to protect residents and potential buyers".

Greens NSW MP and environment spokeswoman, Dr Mehreen Faruqi, said many communities were losing faith in the environmental regulator, and whether they had the resources and management to investigate and take on polluters.

EPA chief executive Barry Buffier said the EPA was "well advanced" in developing a range of programs that would allow the recommendations to be realised.

The report also examined the management of contaminated sites by the Department of Trade and Investment, Regional Infrastructure and Services, the largest public land holder, and other government agencies. It made eight recommendations for improvements in identifying and managing their sites.

Most Viewed in National

Loading