Multiplex Constructions Pty Ltd and Kooragang Bulk Facilities Pty Ltd have been fined by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA), with penalties totalling $30,000, for alleged breaches of environmental legislation in Newcastle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Multiplex failed to comply with a Prevention Notice and was fined $15,000 after a pollution control structure known as a \u201cwet basin\u201d failed, causing sediment-laden water to leak from the site of the John Hunter Health and Innovation Precinct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wet basins are designed to contain and control sediment-laden water on-site to prevent this material entering our creeks and rivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NSW EPA Director of Operations, David Gathercole said it\u2019s not the first time we\u2019ve taken regulatory action against Multiplex for activities at the hospital site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMultiplex have now received two penalty notices, one clean-up notice and one prevention notice over the duration of this project,\u201d Mr Gathercole said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is a vital piece of infrastructure for the region, and we know the community would expect operations are undertaken in a manner that protects people and the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Even more concerning is that Multiplex remained unaware of the situation until days after it occurred.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A $15,000 fine for water pollution was also issued to Kooragang Bulk Facilities after almost 2000kg of alumina dust was released from a dedust hopper, with some entering and polluting the Hunter River. The incident also allegedly caused air pollution around the Port Newcastle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The operator has also been issued a formal warning for failing to have appropriate operations and maintenance in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Gathercole said Kooragang Bulk Facilities acted promptly in their response and the incident could have been avoided if better systems had been in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe two penalty notices are a reminder to all licensees in the Hunter about their environmental obligations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFortunately, in both instances there was no evidence of significant environmental harm, but we expect all pollution control devices to be operating effectively. If we find non-compliance, we will take action.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Multiplex Constructions Pty Ltd and Kooragang Bulk Facilities Pty Ltd have been fined by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA), with penalties totalling $30,000, for alleged breaches of environmental legislation in Newcastle. Multiplex failed to comply with a Prevention Notice and was fined $15,000 after a pollution control structure known as a \u201cwet basin\u201d failed, … Continue reading “Two Newcastle premises fined for polluting – NSW Environment Protection Author”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newcastle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27726"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27727,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27726\/revisions\/27727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}