Metropolitan Collieries Pty Ltd is set to pay more than half a million dollars after being prosecuted by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) over two incidents in September and October 2022 where water contaminated with coal fines and sediment discharged into Camp Gully Creek. The Creek flows into the Hacking River system and the Royal National Park in Sydney’s south.
The sentence was handed down by the NSW Land and Environment Court after Metropolitan Collieries pleaded guilty to water pollution and licence breach offences, resulting in fines of $196,560. The company must also pay the EPA’s legal and investigation costs of $304,806.
Metropolitan Collieries failed to maintain a water storage dam called Turkeys Nest Dam at the mine site near Helensburgh, which meant it was unable to cope with additional rainfall, resulting in the dam overflowing with coal-laden water.
NSW EPA Executive Director Operations, Jason Gordon, said the discharges were unacceptable.
“Metropolitan Collieries allowed coal sediment to build up in the dam and to block the inlet to the pump, which prevented water being pumped to the Water Treatment Plant. This caused the dam to overflow,” Mr Gordon said.
“We expect much stronger environmental performance from all our licensees, especially when their activities neighbour our beautiful national parks. The EPA will continue to hold polluters to account.
“We required that the company cleaned up the affected area immediately and made sure it was completed.
“The NSW Government showed how seriously it takes these pollution incidents by strengthening environmental laws last year so that the maximum penalty for each of these offences, which was $1 million at the time of the offences, now stands at $2 million.”
$150,000 of the fine amount must be paid to the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service to fund the ‘Water Quality and Environmental Monitoring’ program in the Royal National Park and Garawarra State Conservation Area.
In May 2023, the EPA imposed tougher conditions on Metropolitan Collieries’ environment protection licence and issued two penalty notices totalling $30,000 for a separate alleged water pollution incident in late 2022.
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