Causmag Ore Company Proprietary Limited, the operator of a magnesia factory in Young, has been fined $82,500 after pleading guilty in the Land and Environment Court to breaching a condition of its Environment Protection Licence (EPL).
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The breach occurred on September 24 and 25, 2013 when fine white dust was emitted from the factory for up to 9.5 hours.
The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) received a number of complaints to its Environment Line at the time from local businesses.
The EPA’s investigation concluded that while there was minimal harm to the environment, there were a number of operational and management failures which contributed to the dust emission.
The failures included:
- Not supplying compressed air to the filter baghouses to enable the bags to be pulsed to remove dust build up;
- Not monitoring and recording differential pressure in each baghouse;
- Not having the continuous particulate monitor in the exhaust stack calibrated, switched on and functioning;
- Not having alarms in place to warn staff when differential pressure fell outside of the recommended range or when dust emissions in the stack were increasing; and
- Inadequate training of, and communication with, kiln operators.
EPA South Branch director Gary Whytcross said these failures were clear breaches of Causmag Ore’s EPL and showed the company was failing to carry out its activities in a competent manner.
“The incident was clearly within Causmag Ore’s control and the court’s ruling should send a strong message to all licence holders of the importance of carrying out regular maintenance, monitoring and training for staff,” Mr Whytcross said.
“The EPA puts licence conditions in place to protect the environment and the community. If licensees do not comply with these conditions the EPA will take action.
“All licensees have a legal and moral obligation to the environment and the community as part of their social licence to operate.
“It is also part of being a good neighbour,” Mr Whytcross said.
In addition to the $82,500 fine, Causmag Ore was also ordered to pay the EPA’s prosecution and investigation costs totalling $33,220 and to publish details of the offence in The Young Witness.
Since the incident, the EPA has been working with Causmag Ore to implement a Pollution Reduction Program (PRP) which requires the company to undertake a range of actions to improve the dust controls for the plant.
The PRP is available on the public register on the EPA website: http://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/prpoeo app/
