Community outrage and a televised expose have led Victoria’s Environment Protection Authority to audit operations at the Bulla Tip and Quarry, prompting the authority to order an independent review of every asbestos tip licence in the state.
A recent EPA inspection revealed that asbestos is not being immediately covered with soil at Bulla, leading to concerns for workers’ safety. The inspection followed long-standing Star Weekly coverage of pollution concerns and an airing of Channel 9’s A Current Affair program on July 27, which showed a tractor using its front loader to compact bags full of asbestos sheeting.
The ensuing outrage prompted two EPA visits the following week to assess whether site operators, BTQ Group, were complying with EPA regulations for the proper disposal of asbestos.
EPA chief executive Nial Finegan said the inspections “identified irregularities in EPA’s licence approval processes at the site”.
“Our investigations have revealed that the most recent licence amendment to allow BTQ to have a separate asbestos disposal area, issued in 2013, did not follow EPA’s usual stringent approval processes, which aim to ensure best- practice environmental management,” Mr Finegan said. “This administration error is unacceptable.”
He said the error appeared to be confined to the Bulla landfill site, but an independent review of all 30 Victorian quarries licensed to accept asbestos would confirm the situation.
Stop Bulla Toxic Tip Action Group spokeswoman Carmel Egan said the EPA’s review was a step in the right direction, but she questioned why BTQ Group was allowed to continue accepting asbestos, given it had repeatedly breached its EPA licence. The EPA fined the operators more than $14,400 last year for not complying with licence obligations.
“Why should we trust these people to change the bad practices that are the trademark of their operation? The EPA should immediately cancel the right of these operators to handle asbestos,” Ms Egan said.
Hume council chief executive Domenic Isola said he was very concerned by the EPA’s admissions.
“The EPA has admitted that it failed to follow its own standards … this is completely intolerable,” Mr Isola said.
