TWO companies have been fined $150,000 after up to 140,000 litres of partially treated effluent left Scone Abbatoir in 2015 and polluted a nearby creek.
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The NSW Land and Environment Court on Tuesday convicted P&M Quality Smallgoods Pty Ltd (P&M) and JBS Australia Pty Ltd (JBS) for pollution of waters after the incident following heavy rain between August 26 and 31, 2015.
P&M, which held the environment protection licence for the abattoir, was also convicted for a breach of a condition of its licence after investigations revealed the licence was not transferred after the abattoir was sold several months before the incident. The abattoir was managed by JBS by August 2015.
P&M was fined $48,000 for breaching its licence and $42,000 for polluting Two Mile Gully Creek after partially treated effluent was found to have flowed for up to 350 metres from the abattoir.
JBS was fined $60,000 for polluting the creek.
The court also ordered P&M and JBS to pay the NSW Environment Protection Authority’s investigation costs of about $1,400 and its legal costs.
EPA chief environmental regulator Mark Gifford said it is the licence holder’s responsibility to ensure licence conditions are complied with regardless of whether it carries out the activities or permits another entity to do so.
A licence can only be surrendered or transferred by contacting the EPA and following the prescribed process.
“The licence conditions are in place to protect the environment and community,” Mr Gifford said.
“The environment protection licence for the abattoir outlines an area of land that is approved for the irrigation of waste water from the Waste Water Treatment System.”
Mr Gifford said the waste water from the abattoir’s treatment system contained high levels of ammonia and nitrogen that can impact on sensitive environments.
“The discharge degraded the environment of Two Mile Gully Creek and may have impacted some aquatic organisms.”
The penalties are to be paid to the Environmental Trust for general environmental purposes.
The EPA said that since the incident JBS Australia had implemented a number of changes to infrastructure and procedures to prevent a reoccurrence of the incident.
