A Rutherford waste-oil refinery was back in the Land and Environment Court yesterday for allegedly failing to store and treat its waste water correctly.
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The Truegain oil refinery, in the Rutherford industrial area, has had a checkered past with environmental breaches in its production of recycled petroleum-based products.
It copped the blame and had its licence suspended for contributing to the stench in the western suburb in 2008.
Yesterday’s hearing in Sydney attempted to determine what new allegations the Environmental Protection Authority was making against Truegain.
The offences allegedly occurred at the site in 2010.
The EPA alleged Truegain had not treated or stored its waste water
correctly on a number of occasions and maintained this “amplified what was a series of discreet offences”.
But Truegain’s solicitor claimed it was unclear exactly what the company had supposedly done wrong.
He said there were a number of
allegations of incompetence but they did not contain enough detail in order for the company to understand whether or not they were at fault.
“This is not a simple criminal charge where if you are charged with murder you know you either did it or you didn’t,” he said.
The court heard the company received oil in tanker trucks at the
site which it used for its commercial
purposes.
The oil contained a percentage of water which was separated and stored in tanks before going through a waste water treatment plant on site.
The treated water was eventually added to town water to “water it down” before it was released as sewerage.
The EPA claims the amount of water Truegain was storing had increased which put demands on the storage tank facility.
It alleged Truegain had an “incompetent” manner of storage and failed to treat the waste water correctly.
There was lengthy debate over whether the company should be prosecuted over the storage and treatment as separate charges.
Acting Justice Lloyd asked the EPA to determine which charge it wanted to proceed with.
“Only one offence can be proved under one charge,” he said. “Prosecution must elect which one it wishes to pursue.”
The EPA is expected to make its decision today.
Truegain’s solicitor told the court yesterday the company’s lawyers would need more time to prepare their case depending on how the EPA chose to proceed.