Councils back Moorabool in dumped industrial waste fight

DARREN McLEAN

MOORABOOL Shire Council’s continuing dispute with the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) over illegally dumped industrial cylinders near Bacchus Marsh has attracted high-ranking support.

The Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) adopted a motion submitted by a Gippsland region municipality at its annual conference last week, backing the Shire in its campaign against being forced to pay for the removal of the cylinders.

The motion, from the Latrobe City Council, expressed “strong support” for the Shire in its opposition to having to pay the estimated $500,000 cost of removing the cylinders.

The motion called on the MAV to publicly support the Shire in its response to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) ruling that the Shire bear the cost of the clean-up.

It also called on the MAV to “advocate to the Victorian Government for urgent policy reform that clarifies and shifts the financial responsibility for illegal dumping on public land away from councils to the perpetrators”.

The motion was carried by conference attendees, prompting Moorabool Shire mayor Cr Paul Tatchell to say that he was very pleased with the support.

“This issue, where the EPA ignored toxic waste on a property and waited until it was moved onto Crown land so they could make it Council’s problem, is a potential issue for all councils,” Cr Tatchell said.

“We sincerely thank Latrobe City Council for its support and for calling for urgent government policy reform to prevent this situation from occurring again.

“I urge the Government to listen to all the councils who supported this MAV motion – this is not just a Moorabool issue, it affects the whole sector.”

The Shire was forced in August to pay the $500,000 cost of cleaning up truck trailers of dissolved acetylene cylinders – which it says were highly flammable and filled with asbestos – illegally dumped on council-managed land at Merrimu, just east of Bacchus Marsh.

It claims the EPA had the property the trailers originated from under surveillance for at least a year and had failed to act until the trailers appeared on the council-managed land – a road reserve outside a property on Lerderderg Park Road.

In July, the Shire had unsuccessfully sought a stay at VCAT against an EPA-issued clean-up order. The ruling also left the municipality liable for the cost.

Many more of the discarded cylinders remain within the unoccupied property boundary.

The EPA has not commented extensively on the issue other than to say it is investigating the dumping.