NSW government to review practices for managing contaminated land
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May 29, 2017
NSW government to review practices for managing contaminated land
The Sydney Morning Herald has revealed that the locations of contaminated sites in NSW may have been kept hidden in order to protect property prices.
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Image: Wolter Peeters, The Sydney Morning Herald.Environment Minister Gabrielle Upton has said the NSW government will look into reports the EPA might have kept chemical contamination hidden to protect property values.
Environment Minister Gabrielle Upton has announced a review after The Sydney Morning Herald revealed that the Environment Protection Authority might be keeping chemical contamination hidden to protect residential property prices.
An independent review last year found the EPA had decided "not to routinely declare all sites where the contamination is significant enough to warrant regulation".
The EPA said it wanted to avoid "unnecessarily blighting" land values, and said that it could be trusted to manage the contamination without the usual public disclosure, according to reports in the Sydney Morning Herald.
The revelations have raised alarm that residents throughout NSW could be unknowingly living on sites contaminated by dangerous chemicals, including asbestos.
The EPA's usual practice is to declare land "significantly contaminated" if the site is an increased risk to human health or the environment. The site is then gazetted and listed on its website, with the contaminants and their possible harm described.
The state government must now consider whether an amnesty be declared for contaminated material, and whether the costs of managing contamination should be covered by the government.
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