More than $3m of public money used to clean up this hazardous waste site in Ruakākā is unlikely to be recovered.
Photo / Michael Cunningham
More than $3m of public money used to clean up this hazardous waste site in Ruakākā is unlikely to be recovered.
Photo / Michael Cunningham
The clean-up of a hazardous waste site in Northland is finally complete but none of the $3 million used from the public purse is likely to be clawed back from those responsible for the mess.
Whangārei District Council (WDC), Northland Regional Council (NRC), WorkSafe, Ministry for the Environment, and theEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA) stumped up just over $3m to clean up the site at Allis Bloy Pl in Ruakākā where about 800,000 litres of chemicals and 400,000 litres of bund water were stored.
They were forced to take that course of action after companies and individuals responsible for the untidy state of affairs failed to take action despite orders from the Environment Court.
Ministry for the Environment gave $2m, WDC $1m, WorkSafe and EPA $150,000 each, and NRC $50,000 towards the clean-up.
Specialist waste management company InterGroup Ltd was awarded a tender to evaluate the hazardous waste on site and to repackage the solvents for safe transport to a disposal or recycling facility.
Environment Minister David Parker admitted provisions in the Resource Management Act hampered his ministry from taking legal action against those responsible for the site and the clean-up.
"It is regrettable that central and local government bore the cost of the clean-up rather than those who caused the problem.
"This was partly caused by the short limitation period on lodging proceedings under the current Resource Management Act. We have already extended that from six months to 12 months, and as we reform the resource management system we intend to extend that further in the new Natural and Built Environments Act."
Parker didn't comment on whether his ministry would recoup the $2m from those named in the court orders.
Environment Minister David Parker says time ran out under the statute to prosecute those responsible for the hazardous site in Ruakākā.
Photo / NZME
WDC earlier said effort would be made to recoup costs from the site operators and owners.
Solvents were stored in red in old, damaged, rusty and leaking drums and containers on the property, posing significant risks to the environment.
The initial resource consent was granted to Sustainable Waste Management (SWM) in June 2008 to store up to 50,000 litres of solvents and chemicals in conjunction with the operation of a recycling plant.
That land was subdivided and the area to which the resource consent applied was transferred to Sustainable Solvents.
Separate consents granted by the NRC to SWM for discharge to air were later transferred to Sustainable Solvents. No consents have been granted in respect of discharges on to land or into water.
The Environment Court issued interim and later final enforcement orders against Sustainable Solvents Group, Sustainable Solvents and its owner, Brian Smith, Solvent Services New Zealand and its directors, John Manus Pretorius and Aaron Baldwin.
They ignored the order and the court then granted consent to WDC to remove the waste and bill the owners.
When contacted yesterday, Smith didn't wish to make any comments other than to say he has not been contacted by any of the agencies involved in the clean-up.
An estimated 490,000 litres of solvents and contaminated water, 2.9 million litres of contaminated bund water, 300 tonnes of solvent sludge, 75 tonnes of general non-hazardous waste, and 4300 containers and drums have been removed.
The final report, detailing disposal receipts and destruction certificates to WDC, is due to be completed in March 2022.
There is no risk from the contaminated site to nearby water supply bores as none were downstream or close to the site.
Consultant GHD provided management, surveillance and quality assurance to WDC for the clean-up and InterGroup did the physical work.
