Fine $100,000 for 2016 oil spill

$100,000 fine for 500-litre oil spill

Viva Energy Australia was last month fined $100,000 for an estimated 500-litre oil spill from its depot at Gore Cove in December 2016.

As part of its penalty, the Land and Environment Court ordered Viva to put public notices in Sydney metropolitan and local newspapers to say the leak was a result of Viva’s failure to maintain the leaking pipe in proper condition, and further, that Viva is “unaware of any inspections, testing or maintenance having been carried out on the pipeline between its installation in the mid-1990s and the date of the spill”.

“The fine is better than nothing, but disappointing,” said Merri Southwood, President of Greenwich Community Association. She believes reputational damage from notices will be a heavier penalty than the fine.

“It’s not much of a fine considering the size of the company, the importance of the foreshore location with its marine life and residential population, and the fact that the company had no awareness nor records of maintenance on that part of its facility.”

The NSW Protection Authority’s (EPA) acting Chief Environmental Regulator, Giselle Howard, described the $100,000 fine as “significant”. Yet the spill, which affected a 350-metre shoreline and killed marine life such as oysters, necessitated seven months’ remediation work by Viva. The maximum penalty for a corporate water pollution offence or a breach of licence is $1 million.

Ms Southwood pointed out the damage could have been much worse had a Viva employee not seen the marine fuel in the harbour and raised the alarm.“I understand the spill was not picked up earlier up by the company’s monitoring equipment,” she said. “Luckily, it was noticed.”

Viva pleaded guilty to the EPA’s charges for water pollution and for maintenance failure breaching its environment protection licence. Viva’s depot includes a tank dating back to the turn of the century; the faulty pipe was beneath insulation which was removed to reveal visible corrosion.

Viva Energy regrets and apologises for the incident, and said in a statement that the company has a conducted comprehensive investigation. “As a result of the learnings from that [investigation], we have strengthened processes and operations to ensure a similar incident does not occur in future. These measures include an additional program of inspection, testing and maintenance on pipelines, and works to the concrete deck and kerb along the terminal’s water frontage.”

To monitor compliance, the EPA performs both unannounced and announced inspections of licensed facilities such as Viva’s, and will continue to undertake inspections and monitor the environmental performance of the facility.

When sentencing, his Honour Justice Tim Moore described the environmental harm as “foreseeable”. Members of Greenwich Community Association have for years requested greater transparency and information including perimeter monitoring of emissions.

“We can smell it sometimes and Viva says the emissions are safe,” says Ms Southwood. “When the spill happened, I rang the department of health to ask if it was safe – they said they have no data so don’t know. We have been asking for more than 10 years if we can have emissions monitoring 24/7 so the data is available. But the EPA seems most reluctant to require the company to do emissions monitoring.”

Based on her association’s research such monitoring would cost about $160,000 a year to cover set-up and real-time reporting.

“We don’t want to get rid of Viva at all – the country needs fuel. We just want to be sure the depot is safe,” she said.

Viva Energy’s environmental licence will be reviewed on or before November 27, 2020.

Merri Southwood, President, Greenwich Community Association believes reputational damage would be heavier than the fine.

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