The main proponent of a major expansion of Newcastle's coal exports has breached its pollution licence conditions 75 times in the past three years, according to documents obtained by the Nature Conservation Council.
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Port Waratah Coal Services, which operates two of the city's three coal terminals and wants to build a fourth, has exceeded wastewater release limits at a sewage treatment plant 27 times since mid-2011. One release, of as much 25.2 million litres, was more than eight times the daily limit of 3 million litres.
A separate site at Carrington breached its daily limit of releases of total suspended solids set at 50 milligrams per litre on 48 occasions, the council said.
"The documents we have obtained show Port Waratah Coal Services has repeatedly treated its pollution licence obligations as optional in regard to two of its existing coal terminals, Terminal 1 and Terminal 2," NCC spokesperson James Whelan said.
"A routine polluter like this should not be granted permission for an additional coal terminal," he said.
Paul Chamberlin, a spokesman for Port Waratah, said the company tends "not to give a lot of credence to this organisation" given its opposition to the coal port expansion.
The Planning Assessment Commission is due to hold two days of public hearings into the Terminal 4 expansion project for Newcastle beginning on Tuesday.
Port Waratah wants to add 70 million tonnes of annual coal export capacity on Kooragang Island in a project that will cost about $4.8 billion.
The Environment Protection Authority, which released the pollution data under the government information (public access) provisions, said the Carrington site in particularly was "highly influenced by rainfall events".
"PWCS often reports exceedances of the licensed volume and total suspended solid concentration limits ... during or immediately following periods of intense or prolonged rainfall events," EPA chief environmental regulator Mark Gifford said.
"The NSW Environment Protection Authority has been developing pollution reduction programs with PWCS regarding improvements and upgrades to the site's wharf water management system, sewage treatment plant and the broader site water management system," he said.
Port Waratah submitted a licence variation application for the construction of a new sewage treatment plant last week, with work due for completion by the end of next year, Mr Gifford said.
"The EPA considers that the upgrades to the sewage treatment plant and improvements to the water management system will provide long-term and effective solutions to reducing the impacts from significant rainfall events," he said.
The Nature Conservation Council said analysis of the data indicated Port Waratah was non-compliant with its pollution licences for six years since 2000 for its T1 and T2 operations.
"It's tougher to run a service station in Newcastle than a coal terminal," Dr Whelan said.
Mr Chamberlin said the company had been fined twice in recent years, receiving penalties of $15,000 and $25,000 last year and this year. Both incidents involved excessive amounts of coal fines entering the Hunter River.
"If we were non-compliant with our operating licences, I'm sure the EPA would have had a lot more to say," Mr Chamberlin said.
