Rushes Creek Poultry Production Farm wins approval to clean up arsenic contamination on site next to Keepit Dam

The Rushes Creek Poultry Production Farm will see 54 poultry sheds built at a site next to the lake, housing a combined site population of 3,051,000 birds at any one time.

The project was approved in 2020.

Developer ProTen was required to remove about 330 cubic metres of soil from a former sheep dip as an approval condition.

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But upon investigating, the company found there was just a single landfill licenced to take the soil, at Kemps Creek near Sydney.

Shipping the dirt 500 kilometres to the site would cost an estimated $160,000 to $370,000, the company claimed in planning documents.

Simply capping the site would achieve the same environmental objectives at a cost of just $70,000 to $130,000, the company said.

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"It is evident that the original remediation strategy of excavation and offsite disposal is cost prohibitive and unfeasible, particularly when the proposed alternative strategy of onsite capping and containment will achieve the same remediation goal," it said.

"The arsenic impacted soil is not within the development disturbance footprint and is not considered highrisk, and the alternative remediation strategy will achieve the same goal of reducing the risk posed to potential human and environmental receptors."

The company won approval from the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment to clean up the contamination the cheap way last week.

Neighbouring beef farmer Chris Boman said he was not overly concerned about contamination from the site.

But he said his farm, which is just 950 metres away from the project, will be affected by dust, traffic and the sheer size of the project, which he said would be the biggest poultry farm in northern NSW.

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