Failure to comply with an EPA clean-up notice has cost Hardstand Solutions Pty Ltd and its sole director Lisa Winter $40,000 after they were ordered to pay fines totalling $15,000 and $25,000 in legal costs by Parramatta Local Court.
The convictions and fines follow investigations by EPA officers into a suspected pollution incident at a former quarry in Terranora in the NSW Northern Rivers region. Hardstand Solutions Pty Ltd bought the former quarry in October 2015.
EPA officers recently inspected the property following an Environment Line notification about alleged waste disposal at the site.
Several EPA inspections found samples of waste on the property contained asbestos as well as inadequate sediment and erosion controls to prevent sediment reaching a waterway on the site.
The EPA issued a clean-up notice to Hardstand Solutions, which included requirements to install stormwater and sediment controls on the site that complied with best practice industry guidelines.
Hardstand Solutions failed to provide the required evidence and was convicted with failing to comply with the clean-up notice.
Ms Winter was also convicted for failing to comply with the clean-up notice, in her capacity as the sole director of the company.
Prosecutions are one of a number of tools the EPA can use to achieve environmental compliance including formal warnings, official cautions, licence conditions, notices and directions. F
