Environmental Compliance in the Media & Courts
This page provides links and summaries relevant to environmental compliance issues such as:
Cases Relating to Illegal Dumping/ Waste
| Court Case |
Summary /Media |
Environment Protection Authority v Hanna [2010] NSWLEC 98
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One of Sydney’s worst serial dumpers ordered to pay $133,000 – NSW Covert surveillance operations and “waste” tags have led to a Colyton transport company owner being ordered to pay more than $133,000 for four separate incidents of illegal dumping on sites across Western Sydney. Dib Hanna Abdalla Hanna pleaded guilty in the Land and Environment Court to 4 charges of dumping building waste, including asbestos, at sites in Rooty Hill, Bankstown, Minchinbury and Liverpool between July and October 2009. For further information see AELERT Link or Daily Telegraph
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| Environment Protection Authority v Wattke, Environment Protection Authority v Geerdink [2010] NSWLEC 24 |
The former manager and the former director of a waste disposal company have each been ordered to do 460 hours of community service and fined a total of $120,000 for operating an illegal waste facility near Mudgee, NSW. The case was prosecuted after a covert operation in 2007 uncovered the Hook-It Waste company transporting liquid waste from a facility at Emu Plains, Sydney to a property at Ilford. For further information see OEH story.
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| Environment Protection Authority v Hardt [2006] NSWLEC 438 |
Argues elements of offence for: Unlawful use of land as a waste facility s144 POEO Act |
| Court Case |
Summary/ Media |
| Gordon Plath of the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water v Lithgow City Council [2011] NSWLEC 8 (11 February 2011) |
A court has ordered a local government authority to pay a total of $130,000 for "grossly inadequate" environmental policies that led to it damaging endangered plants during road maintenance activities.
The NSW Land and Environment Court heard that two council employees harmed a total of 76 grevillea obtusiflora plants and one phebalium bifidum specimen during road works in 2008 at Glen Alice, 90km north of Lithgow.
The roadworks were carried out by a bulldozer and a self-propelled vibrating roller, which broke and in some cases flattened or uprooted the plants.
The court heard that the council had already been put on notice by the NSW environment department in December 2006 that its roadworks in the area had damaged threatened species, following complaints from the public.
"There was no noticeable response, and no apparent effort by Council to pass on the warning to relevant operational personnel," said Justice Terence Sheahan.
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| Director General, Department of the Environment, Climate Change and Water v Ian Colley Earthmoving Pty Ltd [2010] NSWLEC 102 |
A Mudgee earthmoving company has been convicted and fined $5000 by the Land and Environment Court after illegally clearing approximately 128 trees over an area of 29 hectares from a property at Lue near Mudgee. Ian Colley Earthmoving Pty Ltd was last week convicted of one offence of clearing native vegetation without consent. The company was also ordered to pay $15,000 in prosecutor's costs. For further information see OEH media release.
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| Gordon Plath of the Department of Environment and Climate Change v Fish; Gordon Plath of the Department of Environment and Climate Change v Orogen Pty Ltd [2010] NSWLEC 144 |
In the first prosecution of an adviser to a developer, Tony Fish and his company Orogen Pty Ltd are to provide $160,000 worth of environmental services to preserve koala communities by mapping their habitat for Port Stephens Council. The order is on top of $120,000 in fines and legal costs and an order that details of their offence is published in the Herald. Orogen and Mr Fish provided a developer with advice on what vegetation could be lawfully cleared on the property, but failed to advise that damaging the habitat of the koala was unlawful under the National Park and Wildlife Act. For further information see Sydney Morning Herald Story.
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| Garrett v Freeman (No. 5); Garrett v Port Macquarie Hastings Council; Carter v Port Macquarie Hastings Council [2009] NSWLEC 1 |
Port Macquarie - Hastings Council was convicted and fined $45,500 and ordered to pay $114,000 in costs by the Land and Environment Court, for damaging threatened species habitat during construction of roads through the Partridge Creek area, near Port Macquarie airport. Geoffrey Freeman, formerly the Director of Infrastructure at Council and the man responsible for ordering the construction of the roads, was also convicted and fined $57,000 and ordered to pay costs of $167,500. Council was fined a further $35,000 for an offence under the Fisheries Management Act relating to the same project. The Council was prosecuted for damaging the habitat of 3 threatened species when it knew it was habitat of that kind. Mr Freeman was prosecuted in relation to the damage caused to 2 threatened species habitats. Council pleaded guilty and Mr Freeman pleaded not guilty but was ultimately found guilty.
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| No court case - Undertaking |
The Colac-Otway Shire Council was ordered to pay $250,000 over three years to help protect native grasslands and recover two nationally protected species after clearing important habitat during roadworks. The works were undertaken by a contractor hired by the council in April-May 2008 on the Cressy-Shelford Road near Cressy, about 60km west of Geelong. Additional costs incurred by the council included $180,000 for rehabilitating the site; $150,000 on employing an environmental officer for two years to manage and monitor rehabilitation; $80,000 in staff training and raising awareness of environment issues, mapping of roadside vegetation and a review of contract procedures; and $30,000 on a community awareness campaign on rare and endangered species – a total of $690,000. These costs and actions were part of an enforceable undertaking negotiated by the Federal Environment Department under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 as an alternative to taking the matter through the courts.
The departmental investigation found the roadworks, which had no federal government approval, affected more than four hectares of important habitat for the critically endangered spiny rice flower and vulnerable striped legless lizard.
The council’s penalty follows an earlier case in an adjacent area where a farming company engaged a contractor to clear rocks and grasses in eight hectares of a paddock near the same roadway. Hardies Hill Pty Ltd agreed to pay $20,000 to conservation programs in the first-ever enforceable undertaking with the department. The court considered the difference in penalties appropriate because the farming incident involved an individual landholder, whereas a local government agency is in a better position to know about the laws and comply with them.
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| No court case - Remediation Determination |
An investigation under the EPBC Act found that Singleton Council had allowed the clearing of part of a critically endangered ecological community, protected under national environment law—the Weeping Myall – Coobah – Scrub Wilga shrubland of the Hunter Valley at Jerrys Plains Cemetery in the Hunter Valley.
The Remediation Determination requires Singleton Council to spend $100,000 over five years on managing weeds at the site, and to prepare a management plan outlining how the cemetery’s native vegetation will be protected, including through ongoing monitoring and weed control activities.
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Cases Relating to Conditions of Development Consent