THE long-awaited report into managing legacy lead contamination in Boolaroo has recommended the government fund the ongoing cost of cleaning up pollution and review the geographical spread of the environmental damage.
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It also put forward the option for residents to dispose contaminated soil nearby and further blood testing.
But it failed to hold smelter operator Pasminco financially accountable for more than 100 years of pollution.
Environment Protection Authority Hunter Region manager Adam Gilligan said while Pasminco had spent some money on remediating its former site, it had largely walked away from its wider contamination legacy.
“It has been hard to hold them to account for pollution that has gone off site,” he said.
“We won’t have a repeat of what has happened at Boolaroo because of the environmental bonds that companies now have to pay.”
Lake Macquarie MP Greg Piper said it was “unfortunate” Pasminco had “decamped”.
“But it’s happened, we can’t go back and correct it. There’s a moral argument there, but it’s not a beneficial one.”
The EPA-appointed Lead Expert Working Group (LEWG) released on Thursday its 94 page report on managing residual contamination, two years after it was formed to evaluate the effectiveness of previous remediation and determine how to address the legacy of lead.
The LEWG was established following the Newcastle Herald’s United Nations Award winning Toxic Truth campaign, which was launched in November 2014 and uncovered major flaws in the state government-sanctioned controversial Lead Abatement Strategy following the smelter closure.
The investigation was a joint project with Professor Mark Taylor and Macquarie University.
The LEWG – which comprises representatives from the EPA, Hunter New England Health, Lake Macquarie City Council, the Contaminated Site Auditor Scheme and academia – made 22 recommendations.
This included that the government establish an ongoing funding stream for the council to develop and maintain a small interdepartmental team to manage legacy lead issues.
The team would be responsible for “providing funding support and advice to public and private landholders wishing to undertake voluntary soil assessment and property remediation”.
Mr Gilligan said it was too early to say whether a specific fund would be created to deal with ongoing legacy issues or whether they would be dealt with on a case by case basis.
“There are a range of options that the government will consider,” he said.
“While there is a lot of lead still in the environment, there is not a high risk to human health.
“The level of pollution does not require us to carry out large scale remediation. The focus of the grant program is to ensure funding is available to deal with issues that may arise from time to time.”
But Boolaroo Action Group spokesperson Jim Sullivan slammed the suggestion.
“The EPA are experts in land and water contamination and they’re passing it back to the local council?” he asked.
“There’s no-one within council that has the scientific expertise or contaminated land management experience to deal with this issue – or it would have been dealt with already.
“The council will now have to ask for funding and it will be a long and drawn out process.”
The EPA announced in response to the report it had partnered with Newcastle City Council to allow residents to dispose contaminated soil at the Summerhill Waste Management Facility landfill from February next year.
Mr Gilligan said while the service would not be free, it would be significantly less than the cost associated with disposing of contaminated soil in Sydney.
“It is designed to create a level playing field,” he said. “Essentially the cost will reflect the costs associated with handling the waste.”
The report noted criticism of the Lead Abatement Strategy, which was established in 2007 and provided abatement for residential properties within a lead contamination survey grid decided in the 1990s.
The report said the sampling methods used to establish the LAS area and assess the degree of soil contamination were “not consistent with best practice and therefore cast a degree of uncertainty over the relevance of the area for ongoing management”.
Of the 1969 eligible properties, 37 per cent chose not to participate.
It recommended the EPA review data associated with the development of the grid to determine whether it accurately reflects the extent of potential contamination of properties around the smelter.
The report recommended the council revise its Contaminated Land Policy so section 149 planning certificate notations differentiate between properties known to be contaminated and those that aren’t.
It also suggested the council amend its Development Control Plan and assume the level of contamination of land, to reduce the cost of the development assessment process that previously required landholders to pay for a series of tests.
Mr Piper said these two measures were a “good outcome for equity and consistency”, but Mr Sullivan said they were contradictory and the likely source and accuracy of any provided lead levels was unclear.
The report said all participants in the free blood lead screening program in mid 2015 returned readings below the national threshold, but acknowledged only 22 per cent of eligible children participated. It recommended NSW Health continue “ongoing surveillance” and send annual reminder letters to local doctors to identify children at higher risk of exposure to offer testing.
The report suggested the council provide a central point of contact regarding lead management in the area.
It also recommended the EPA review a requirement for ongoing water quality monitoring upon conclusion of remediation at the site; investigate the impacts of smelter slag on water quality across the region; and work with council to monitor water quality in surface water and ground water across North Lake Macquarie.
It suggested the EPA “continues to develop an environmental liabilities management framework” and the government help it establish a statewide Lead Strategy Group.
Boolaroo Action Group’s Mr Sullivan said he was “so disappointed” with the report.
“We waited two years for something that could have been done in two minutes,” he said.
“It was a waste of taxpayers money and time. I thought we were going to come out of this with a lifeline for the community, but they’ve failed miserably on the four key functions.
“They should hang their heads in shame.”
LEWG member and Macquarie University-based environmental scientist Mark Patrick Taylor said he was pleased.
“I think the EPA did a good job bringing together the disparate views,” he said.
“It’s a good outcome for the community. Digging up the whole town was never an option, but this report addresses the latent risk and lays out a way of moving ahead.”
Greg Piper said he supported all the recommendations, which he said would make life “easier” for residents.
“We can’t remove all the lead there, but we can manage it so it’s not a health risk.”
The EPA is reviewing the report and its recommendations and will present it to the Minister for the Environment for consideration in early 2017.
Helen Gregory
Helen Gregory joined the Newcastle Herald in 2010. She is the masthead’s education reporter and has written for the H2 and Weekender sections, as well as across a range of issues. Helen is a Walkley Award winning journalist and was also part of the Newcastle Herald team that won the United Nations World Environment Day Media Award for Environmental Reporting.
Helen Gregory joined the Newcastle Herald in 2010. She is the masthead’s education reporter and has written for the H2 and Weekender sections, as well as across a range of issues. Helen is a Walkley Award winning journalist and was also part of the Newcastle Herald team that won the United Nations World Environment Day Media Award for Environmental Reporting.
