The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has suspended the environment protection licence of Wyanga Holdings, the operator of the Corindi Quarry, north of Coffs Harbour.
As a result, operations at the quarry must cease until 31 January, 2014.
Gary Davey, director of the EPA?s north division, said that the EPA had suspended the company?s licence after it continued to exceed the extraction limit specified. ?Licence suspension is not an action that the NSW EPA takes lightly,? he said. ?We gave Wyanga Holdings numerous warnings about exceeding the limits on its licence, including a notice of intention to suspend before taking the decision to suspend the company?s licence.
?Under the company?s current licence it is allowed to extract up to 50,000 tonnes of material per annum. However, the company has significantly exceeded the extraction limit.?
Davey added the gravel is being used for the Pacific Highway upgrade and this year Wyanga Holdings has extracted over 300,000 tonnes.
“Now unfortunately despite our working with the quarry and trying to get them into compliance they have not done that and in our view haven’t taken any meaningful steps to try and do that,? Davey explained. ?Further, it appears that the company does not have development approval to extract the amount of material that it is currently quarrying.
?In this circumstance, the EPA is not able to modify the environment protection licence to increase the extraction limit. Inquiries to Coffs Harbour Council have confirmed that no valid development application has been submitted by Wyanga Holdings.?
Maintain environment controls
Davey said the licence suspension required the quarry operators to maintain existing environment controls during the period of suspension to protect the local environment.
?Despite repeated warnings Corindi Quarry has continually failed to take any action to operate within its licence and consent conditions. As a result, the EPA is considering further legal action.
“Because they’ve breached their licence conditions and breached it by such a significant amount, that prima facie is an offence under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act.
“So we could actually bring charges against the quarry operators and we could take that matter to the Land and Environment Court.”
The EPA said Wyanga Holdings has 21 days to appeal against its licence suspension.
?Other quarry operators who comply with their legal requirements should not be disadvantaged by persons who breach their licence and development consent conditions,? Davey said.
Level playing field
Gary Peacock, the managing director of Outline Planning Consultants, a town planner that specialises in quarry developments, said that a ?level playing field? for all commercial operators was important.
?As a general comment, it seems far from fair for one unlawful operator to be taking business away from other lawfully approved quarry operators who have bothered to go to the cost and time to obtain hard won regulatory approvals,? Peacock said. ?Most of these operators [operating legally] are typically paying for on-site rehabilitation, road contributions and the like, as well as imposed constraints on truck numbers and maximum production levels, things which an illegal quarry operator doesn’t have to worry about.
?In short, illegal quarry operators are not good for the industry. Moreover, they can often cause environmental damage to the landscape and to local roads, for which there is little or no recourse to make good or to repair actions. That only tarnishes the public image of the quarry industry generally.?
Peacock said that the closing of the quarry at Corindi highlighted the need for all quarries to strictly operate in accordance with the terms of both the development consent issued by the local council and with the terms of any licence (EPL) issued by the NSW EPA.
Sources: EPA NSW, ABC News, Outline Planning Consultants