‘Waste of time to consult’ (EPA)

By Lachlan Ellis

The Victorian Ombudsman released a report last week on the EPA’s approval of three sites for West Gate Tunnel soil storage, confirming the community’s concerns that the EPA “left them in the dark”.

Ombudsman Deborah Glass began her report in August last year, examining how the EPA came to its decision to approve sites run by Maddingley Brown Coal (MBC) Bacchus Marsh, Cleanaway (Ravenhall), and Bulla (Sunbury), to store PFAS-contaminated soil from the West Gate Tunnel Project.

Communities surrounding the three sites, concerned about the effects PFAS could have on them, complained that they were left out of the discussion – in her report published on 31 May, Ms Glass agreed with those communities.

While the EPA was found to have “done its job according to the science”, deeming the PFAS concentration in the soil to be a low risk to any nearby communities, it “plainly failed to convince the community” of the low risk and only “achieved the bare minimum required by legislation”.

“It [the EPA] did not compromise on the environmental protections. It assessed the danger of PFAS was likely to be low but adopted a cautious approach to the management of the spoil, requiring all landfill operators to safely contain PFAS at ten times the amount likely to be present in the spoil,” Ms Glass told the Moorabool News.

“What they did not do was engage meaningfully with local communities about their decisions, including providing information that might have alleviated at least some of the fear and anxiety in the community. Community consultation largely consisted of providing factual information, much of it redacted, on their website,” Ms Glass said.

To read the full story – Simply click on the following link

https://issuu.com/themooraboolnews/docs/mn_2022-06-07/4

in the 7 June 2022 edition
OR
pick up a paper around your town.