IT is probably fair to say that before the August 8, 2011, incident that discharged kilograms of potentially carcinogenic hexavalent chromium into the environment over Stockton, the decades-old Orica plant on Kooragang Island was part of an industrial landscape that thousands of Hunter residents drove past every day without ever paying too much attention to its presence.
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But the start-up spill – and the political controversy that played out for more than a year afterwards – gave Orica the sort of public profile that no company wants for too long. Such was the impact of the controversy and the subsequent and quite serious calls for the plant to be shut, that it is hard to believe it will be six years this August that the maelstrom descended on the management of the day.
Orica Kooragang Island has had a series of management changes in the meantime, and on Wednesday it was the turn of current general manager Scott Reid to announce a major milestone in the life of the plant – a $67-million shutdown and overhaul of Kooragang’s ammonia plant that will include replacing the chromium-based catalyst that was at the heart of the 2011 incident.
Orica copped a public caning over the way it handled the 2011 problem, which was also a baptism of fire for the then O’Farrell government’s first environment minister, Robyn Parker, who was like a deer in the headlights during the early part of the controversy, seemingly unable to comprehend the significance of the situation, and apparently unwilling to take the company to task for its actions. Despite plant improvements after $750,000 in fines for environmental breaches – including those at Kooragang – residents’ groups from nearby Stockton and Mayfield remained publicly wary of the company, although it now claims to have strong relations with its residential neighbours.
The 2011 controversy also led to calls for Orica shut the plant and rebuild it elsewhere, with critics pointing to an international record of catastrophic ammonium nitrate explosions as justification. While such a plant would not gain approval now in such a location, Orica is adamant that Kooragang is safe, and will continue to operate for years to come. Having worked hard to re-establish its community standing, Orica will be hoping it can retain the lower public profile that has come with the passing into history of the events of 2011.
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