Environmental Protection Authority fines Narrabri Shire Council for failure to notify of asbestos risk to public, staff

The council has been slapped with a $35,000 fine in the local court and ordered to pay the legal and investigation costs of the EPA after it crushed a stockpile of asbestos contaminated material and used it to build roads at the landfill.

It was ordered to publish a notice of conviction in the newspaper, and lawyers acting on behalf of council have released a statement about the failure to notify the EPA.

"The council became aware of the pollution incident on November 1, 2018, but did not notify the EPA or implement its pollution incident management plan until November 13, 2018," the statement reads.

"As a result of the offences, members of the public and council staff and contractors at the Narrabri Landfill were exposed to the risk of asbestos for a period of 13 days in November 2018."

The council pleaded guilty to two offences against the Protection of the Environment Operations Act including failing to immediately notify the EPA; and failing to implement its own pollution incident response management plan when it became aware of the risk to the public.

Read also:

It was fined $35,000 and ordered to pay the EPA's legal fees and investigation costs, after it was convicted on July 27.

The court order specified the council was ordered to publish the notice in the first 10 pages of a newspaper no later than August 24.

Council has not publicly stated why it failed to notify the EPA or implement its own management plans for 13 days.