Oil refinery operator Viva Energy Refining Pty Ltd has been ordered to pay over $31,000 in fines and costs without conviction in the Geelong Magistrate’s Court, after it admitted to releasing excessive amounts of potentially hazardous fluoride to the atmosphere.
Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA) South West Region Manager Carolyn Francis says Viva had entered a plea of guilty to four charges of breaching its licence for the oil refinery at 90 Refinery Road, Corio.
“An EPA licence includes specific emission limits and requirements for things like scientific monitoring, mandatory reporting and ensuring that maintenance and procedures support compliance,” Ms Francis said.
“In this case, the Viva refinery is licensed to emit up to 140 grams per minute of fluoride, but the routine monitoring required under its EPA licence showed the refinery exceeded that limit four times between December 2015 and March 2016,” she said.
“On two occasions, it reached as high as 300 grams per minute, more than twice the limit under the refinery’s EPA licence.”
Fluoride can cause impacts to plants, animals and people in sufficient concentrations, which is why EPA uses the licensing process to put specific limits on fluoride emissions.
“While our investigation did not identify any environmental harm in this case, the company had exceeded a limit that was specifically chosen to minimise risk to the environment and people’s health,” Ms Francis said.
“Licensing under the Environment Protection Act is a recognition that some industries must emit pollutants to operate, and a way of applying strict controls, limits and monitoring requirements that are designed to manage any risks from that specific premises or activity,” she said.
“EPA Victoria takes breaches of those licenses seriously, and expects every licensee to make sure they comply with all licence conditions.”
Along with a $21,000 fine, the company was ordered to pay EPA’s costs of just over $10,000 and advertise the court outcome in local newspapers.
Additionally, EPA had earlier required Viva under a remedial notice to investigate the cause of the high fluoride emissions and to undertake maintenance works to prevent the problem reoccurring, at significant cost over and above that of the court imposed fine.
EPA is currently preparing for new legislation to take effect in 2020, that will give it a stronger focus on prevention and substantially increase potential penalties.
The legislation introduces a criminally enforceable General Environmental Duty, a responsibility for anyone whose activities may involve pollution to take reasonable steps to eliminate risk to human health and the environment.
Members of the public can report any kind of pollution to EPA’s Pollution Hotline on 1300 372 842 (1300 EPA VIC).