Refinery lead sludge disposal method questioned

Claims have surfaced after 60 years that lead sludge was regularly dumped on coastal land at the Marsden Point refinery.

Refining New Zealand Chief executive Sjoerd Post has hit back at suggestions the refinery endangered workers and the environment by the way it used to handle lead additives.

Mr Post has also defended the practice of disposing of lead residue cleaned out of petrol tanks at Marsden Pt, denying claims oil-laden sludge was dumped on coastal land beside the refinery.

The refinery was taken to task on Radio New Zealand's Checkpoint this week for what was common practice in the 1960s and '70s, where workers regularly manually emptied 44-gallon drums of lead into the petrol stores.

When the tanks were emptied, the lead-laden sludge and scale was dumped "between a couple of sandhills" behind the beach beside the refinery, two former workers told Checkpoint host John Campbell.

They also said they wore minimal protective gear when hoisting the drums of lead up and emptying them into the tanks.

Brain Arndt and Brian Tobin said they were provided with breathing masks, overalls and underclothes when they handled the lead but no one ever told them of the potential health hazard of that product.

Mr Arndt now has cancer tumours throughout his body which his oncologist said could be linked to his exposure to the lead all those years ago.

But Mr Post said the insinuation Refining NZ acted heedlessly of worker and environmental safety is "mischievous, a slur on one of the country's biggest publicly listed companies, and is potentially harmful to the 500 jobs at the refinery".

He said claims the lead and other residue was dumped in the sand dunes was "an incredibly loose description" of what happened.

It was spread about 20 centimetres deep to dry on land adjacent to the refinery, mixed with lime and soil and eventually absorbed into the ground, where bacteria and other natural processes then broke it down, Mr Post said.

"Under the current RMA, you could still do that today."

Lead was banned from being added to petrol in 1996. Refining NZ and Northland Regional Council monitoring showed lead content at the land where it had been spread before then was 33 parts per million, well below the national standard for safe use.

"When last measured in 1995 the result was so low and leaded activity ceased, so no further monitoring of that land farm took place in later years," Mr Post said.

Former waste areas and water tables around the refinery are still regularly monitored by the refinery and Northland Regional Council for hydrocarbons, but not lead.

Mr Post said he is wary of the claims by the two men that were not aware of the hazardous nature of the job.

"Task-specific personal protective equipment, including breathing masks, was worn for the handling of lead additive, and we also know from long-serving employees that its use was rigorously followed. Staff also received regular medical checks for lead."