❓ Question regarding the safety of a proposed hazardous waste facility in Brookdale, given its proximity to residential areas and environmental concerns, and the government's plans if the EPA advises against it. The Minister acknowledges the concerns, highlights the site's history, and states she is awaiting the EPA report while exploring alternative options.
AnsweredQoN 502Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
HAZARDOUS WASTE SITE, BROOKDALE
I refer the minister to recent information brought to light by the parliamentary inquiry into the Bellevue toxic fire incident, and ask - (1) Is the minister concerned, given the impact of this recent chemical fire, that locating a facility to handle similar hazardous waste close to housing, a school and high environmental value wetlands is still being proposed at Brookdale by a state government agency under her control? (2) What is the Government’s position on the Brookdale facility, including its possible relocation should the Environmental Protection Authority recommend against the proposal, given justifiable public concerns about the risks to the community and to the environment? Dr EDWARDS
I refer the minister to recent information brought to light by the parliamentary inquiry into the Bellevue toxic fire incident, and ask - (1) Is the minister concerned, given the impact of this recent chemical fire, that locating a facility to handle similar hazardous waste close to housing, a school and high environmental value wetlands is still being proposed at Brookdale by a state government agency under her control? (2) What is the Government’s position on the Brookdale facility, including its possible relocation should the Environmental Protection Authority recommend against the proposal, given justifiable public concerns about the risks to the community and to the environment? Dr EDWARDS
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1)-(2) Brookdale is a historic site that we have inherited. At the moment, the EPA is doing its assessment of a document relating to Brookdale and its future. In July 1999, the then Minister for the Environment was notified by the Environmental Protection Authority that the Brookdale plant was operating outside its licence. Dr Gallop: Who was in government then? Dr EDWARDS: I am not sure! I then had discussions with the Department of Environmental Protection and discovered that it was still working on this mythical consultative environmental review document, so I asked the department to speed it up and get the document out, because the site is in breach of some ministerial conditions. Around June, I caused a slight delay because I told the department that I wanted it to consider other options and other sites. Up until then, it had not done that. The document has been out for public comment. There is no doubt that it has caused a lot of controversy, because people in the community are quite upset to find that the facility has been operating outside its guidelines and that the previous Government knew about that in mid 1999 and did nothing about it. I will wait and see what the EPA says to me. I have asked my department to examine other options and other sites. I have had an audit done. I am reassured that it is not like the Bellevue site. If I were concerned that there were potential risks, like the previous Government subjected us to with the Bellevue site, I would have had it shut down. I have had it audited and I have been assured that it is quite safe. Nevertheless, it is operating outside those conditions. As soon as I have the report from the EPA, I will be moving on it.
(1) Is the minister concerned, given the impact of this recent chemical fire, that locating a facility to handle similar hazardous waste close to housing, a school and high environmental value wetlands is still being proposed at Brookdale by a state government agency under her control? (2) What is the Government’s position on the Brookdale facility, including its possible relocation should the Environmental Protection Authority recommend against the proposal, given justifiable public concerns about the risks to the community and to the environment? Dr EDWARDS replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1)-(2) Brookdale is a historic site that we have inherited. At the moment, the EPA is doing its assessment of a document relating to Brookdale and its future. In July 1999, the then Minister for the Environment was notified by the Environmental Protection Authority that the Brookdale plant was operating outside its licence. Dr Gallop: Who was in government then? Dr EDWARDS: I am not sure! I then had discussions with the Department of Environmental Protection and discovered that it was still working on this mythical consultative environmental review document, so I asked the department to speed it up and get the document out, because the site is in breach of some ministerial conditions. Around June, I caused a slight delay because I told the department that I wanted it to consider other options and other sites. Up until then, it had not done that. The document has been out for public comment. There is no doubt that it has caused a lot of controversy, because people in the community are quite upset to find that the facility has been operating outside its guidelines and that the previous Government knew about that in mid 1999 and did nothing about it. I will wait and see what the EPA says to me. I have asked my department to examine other options and other sites. I have had an audit done. I am reassured that it is not like the Bellevue site. If I were concerned that there were potential risks, like the previous Government subjected us to with the Bellevue site, I would have had it shut down. I have had it audited and I have been assured that it is quite safe. Nevertheless, it is operating outside those conditions. As soon as I have the report from the EPA, I will be moving on it.
(2) What is the Government’s position on the Brookdale facility, including its possible relocation should the Environmental Protection Authority recommend against the proposal, given justifiable public concerns about the risks to the community and to the environment? Dr EDWARDS replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1)-(2) Brookdale is a historic site that we have inherited. At the moment, the EPA is doing its assessment of a document relating to Brookdale and its future. In July 1999, the then Minister for the Environment was notified by the Environmental Protection Authority that the Brookdale plant was operating outside its licence. Dr Gallop: Who was in government then? Dr EDWARDS: I am not sure! I then had discussions with the Department of Environmental Protection and discovered that it was still working on this mythical consultative environmental review document, so I asked the department to speed it up and get the document out, because the site is in breach of some ministerial conditions. Around June, I caused a slight delay because I told the department that I wanted it to consider other options and other sites. Up until then, it had not done that. The document has been out for public comment. There is no doubt that it has caused a lot of controversy, because people in the community are quite upset to find that the facility has been operating outside its guidelines and that the previous Government knew about that in mid 1999 and did nothing about it. I will wait and see what the EPA says to me. I have asked my department to examine other options and other sites. I have had an audit done. I am reassured that it is not like the Bellevue site. If I were concerned that there were potential risks, like the previous Government subjected us to with the Bellevue site, I would have had it shut down. I have had it audited and I have been assured that it is quite safe. Nevertheless, it is operating outside those conditions. As soon as I have the report from the EPA, I will be moving on it.
Dr EDWARDS replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1)-(2) Brookdale is a historic site that we have inherited. At the moment, the EPA is doing its assessment of a document relating to Brookdale and its future. In July 1999, the then Minister for the Environment was notified by the Environmental Protection Authority that the Brookdale plant was operating outside its licence. Dr Gallop: Who was in government then? Dr EDWARDS: I am not sure! I then had discussions with the Department of Environmental Protection and discovered that it was still working on this mythical consultative environmental review document, so I asked the department to speed it up and get the document out, because the site is in breach of some ministerial conditions. Around June, I caused a slight delay because I told the department that I wanted it to consider other options and other sites. Up until then, it had not done that. The document has been out for public comment. There is no doubt that it has caused a lot of controversy, because people in the community are quite upset to find that the facility has been operating outside its guidelines and that the previous Government knew about that in mid 1999 and did nothing about it. I will wait and see what the EPA says to me. I have asked my department to examine other options and other sites. I have had an audit done. I am reassured that it is not like the Bellevue site. If I were concerned that there were potential risks, like the previous Government subjected us to with the Bellevue site, I would have had it shut down. I have had it audited and I have been assured that it is quite safe. Nevertheless, it is operating outside those conditions. As soon as I have the report from the EPA, I will be moving on it.
I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1)-(2) Brookdale is a historic site that we have inherited. At the moment, the EPA is doing its assessment of a document relating to Brookdale and its future. In July 1999, the then Minister for the Environment was notified by the Environmental Protection Authority that the Brookdale plant was operating outside its licence. Dr Gallop: Who was in government then? Dr EDWARDS: I am not sure! I then had discussions with the Department of Environmental Protection and discovered that it was still working on this mythical consultative environmental review document, so I asked the department to speed it up and get the document out, because the site is in breach of some ministerial conditions. Around June, I caused a slight delay because I told the department that I wanted it to consider other options and other sites. Up until then, it had not done that. The document has been out for public comment. There is no doubt that it has caused a lot of controversy, because people in the community are quite upset to find that the facility has been operating outside its guidelines and that the previous Government knew about that in mid 1999 and did nothing about it. I will wait and see what the EPA says to me. I have asked my department to examine other options and other sites. I have had an audit done. I am reassured that it is not like the Bellevue site. If I were concerned that there were potential risks, like the previous Government subjected us to with the Bellevue site, I would have had it shut down. I have had it audited and I have been assured that it is quite safe. Nevertheless, it is operating outside those conditions. As soon as I have the report from the EPA, I will be moving on it.
(1)-(2) Brookdale is a historic site that we have inherited. At the moment, the EPA is doing its assessment of a document relating to Brookdale and its future. In July 1999, the then Minister for the Environment was notified by the Environmental Protection Authority that the Brookdale plant was operating outside its licence. Dr Gallop: Who was in government then? Dr EDWARDS: I am not sure! I then had discussions with the Department of Environmental Protection and discovered that it was still working on this mythical consultative environmental review document, so I asked the department to speed it up and get the document out, because the site is in breach of some ministerial conditions. Around June, I caused a slight delay because I told the department that I wanted it to consider other options and other sites. Up until then, it had not done that. The document has been out for public comment. There is no doubt that it has caused a lot of controversy, because people in the community are quite upset to find that the facility has been operating outside its guidelines and that the previous Government knew about that in mid 1999 and did nothing about it. I will wait and see what the EPA says to me. I have asked my department to examine other options and other sites. I have had an audit done. I am reassured that it is not like the Bellevue site. If I were concerned that there were potential risks, like the previous Government subjected us to with the Bellevue site, I would have had it shut down. I have had it audited and I have been assured that it is quite safe. Nevertheless, it is operating outside those conditions. As soon as I have the report from the EPA, I will be moving on it.
Dr Gallop: Who was in government then? Dr EDWARDS: I am not sure! I then had discussions with the Department of Environmental Protection and discovered that it was still working on this mythical consultative environmental review document, so I asked the department to speed it up and get the document out, because the site is in breach of some ministerial conditions. Around June, I caused a slight delay because I told the department that I wanted it to consider other options and other sites. Up until then, it had not done that. The document has been out for public comment. There is no doubt that it has caused a lot of controversy, because people in the community are quite upset to find that the facility has been operating outside its guidelines and that the previous Government knew about that in mid 1999 and did nothing about it. I will wait and see what the EPA says to me. I have asked my department to examine other options and other sites. I have had an audit done. I am reassured that it is not like the Bellevue site. If I were concerned that there were potential risks, like the previous Government subjected us to with the Bellevue site, I would have had it shut down. I have had it audited and I have been assured that it is quite safe. Nevertheless, it is operating outside those conditions. As soon as I have the report from the EPA, I will be moving on it.
Dr EDWARDS: I am not sure! I then had discussions with the Department of Environmental Protection and discovered that it was still working on this mythical consultative environmental review document, so I asked the department to speed it up and get the document out, because the site is in breach of some ministerial conditions. Around June, I caused a slight delay because I told the department that I wanted it to consider other options and other sites. Up until then, it had not done that. The document has been out for public comment. There is no doubt that it has caused a lot of controversy, because people in the community are quite upset to find that the facility has been operating outside its guidelines and that the previous Government knew about that in mid 1999 and did nothing about it. I will wait and see what the EPA says to me. I have asked my department to examine other options and other sites. I have had an audit done. I am reassured that it is not like the Bellevue site. If I were concerned that there were potential risks, like the previous Government subjected us to with the Bellevue site, I would have had it shut down. I have had it audited and I have been assured that it is quite safe. Nevertheless, it is operating outside those conditions. As soon as I have the report from the EPA, I will be moving on it.
The document has been out for public comment. There is no doubt that it has caused a lot of controversy, because people in the community are quite upset to find that the facility has been operating outside its guidelines and that the previous Government knew about that in mid 1999 and did nothing about it. I will wait and see what the EPA says to me. I have asked my department to examine other options and other sites. I have had an audit done. I am reassured that it is not like the Bellevue site. If I were concerned that there were potential risks, like the previous Government subjected us to with the Bellevue site, I would have had it shut down. I have had it audited and I have been assured that it is quite safe. Nevertheless, it is operating outside those conditions. As soon as I have the report from the EPA, I will be moving on it.
(1) Is the minister concerned, given the impact of this recent chemical fire, that locating a facility to handle similar hazardous waste close to housing, a school and high environmental value wetlands is still being proposed at Brookdale by a state government agency under her control? (2) What is the Government’s position on the Brookdale facility, including its possible relocation should the Environmental Protection Authority recommend against the proposal, given justifiable public concerns about the risks to the community and to the environment? Dr EDWARDS replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1)-(2) Brookdale is a historic site that we have inherited. At the moment, the EPA is doing its assessment of a document relating to Brookdale and its future. In July 1999, the then Minister for the Environment was notified by the Environmental Protection Authority that the Brookdale plant was operating outside its licence. Dr Gallop: Who was in government then? Dr EDWARDS: I am not sure! I then had discussions with the Department of Environmental Protection and discovered that it was still working on this mythical consultative environmental review document, so I asked the department to speed it up and get the document out, because the site is in breach of some ministerial conditions. Around June, I caused a slight delay because I told the department that I wanted it to consider other options and other sites. Up until then, it had not done that. The document has been out for public comment. There is no doubt that it has caused a lot of controversy, because people in the community are quite upset to find that the facility has been operating outside its guidelines and that the previous Government knew about that in mid 1999 and did nothing about it. I will wait and see what the EPA says to me. I have asked my department to examine other options and other sites. I have had an audit done. I am reassured that it is not like the Bellevue site. If I were concerned that there were potential risks, like the previous Government subjected us to with the Bellevue site, I would have had it shut down. I have had it audited and I have been assured that it is quite safe. Nevertheless, it is operating outside those conditions. As soon as I have the report from the EPA, I will be moving on it.
(2) What is the Government’s position on the Brookdale facility, including its possible relocation should the Environmental Protection Authority recommend against the proposal, given justifiable public concerns about the risks to the community and to the environment? Dr EDWARDS replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1)-(2) Brookdale is a historic site that we have inherited. At the moment, the EPA is doing its assessment of a document relating to Brookdale and its future. In July 1999, the then Minister for the Environment was notified by the Environmental Protection Authority that the Brookdale plant was operating outside its licence. Dr Gallop: Who was in government then? Dr EDWARDS: I am not sure! I then had discussions with the Department of Environmental Protection and discovered that it was still working on this mythical consultative environmental review document, so I asked the department to speed it up and get the document out, because the site is in breach of some ministerial conditions. Around June, I caused a slight delay because I told the department that I wanted it to consider other options and other sites. Up until then, it had not done that. The document has been out for public comment. There is no doubt that it has caused a lot of controversy, because people in the community are quite upset to find that the facility has been operating outside its guidelines and that the previous Government knew about that in mid 1999 and did nothing about it. I will wait and see what the EPA says to me. I have asked my department to examine other options and other sites. I have had an audit done. I am reassured that it is not like the Bellevue site. If I were concerned that there were potential risks, like the previous Government subjected us to with the Bellevue site, I would have had it shut down. I have had it audited and I have been assured that it is quite safe. Nevertheless, it is operating outside those conditions. As soon as I have the report from the EPA, I will be moving on it.
Dr EDWARDS replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1)-(2) Brookdale is a historic site that we have inherited. At the moment, the EPA is doing its assessment of a document relating to Brookdale and its future. In July 1999, the then Minister for the Environment was notified by the Environmental Protection Authority that the Brookdale plant was operating outside its licence. Dr Gallop: Who was in government then? Dr EDWARDS: I am not sure! I then had discussions with the Department of Environmental Protection and discovered that it was still working on this mythical consultative environmental review document, so I asked the department to speed it up and get the document out, because the site is in breach of some ministerial conditions. Around June, I caused a slight delay because I told the department that I wanted it to consider other options and other sites. Up until then, it had not done that. The document has been out for public comment. There is no doubt that it has caused a lot of controversy, because people in the community are quite upset to find that the facility has been operating outside its guidelines and that the previous Government knew about that in mid 1999 and did nothing about it. I will wait and see what the EPA says to me. I have asked my department to examine other options and other sites. I have had an audit done. I am reassured that it is not like the Bellevue site. If I were concerned that there were potential risks, like the previous Government subjected us to with the Bellevue site, I would have had it shut down. I have had it audited and I have been assured that it is quite safe. Nevertheless, it is operating outside those conditions. As soon as I have the report from the EPA, I will be moving on it.
I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1)-(2) Brookdale is a historic site that we have inherited. At the moment, the EPA is doing its assessment of a document relating to Brookdale and its future. In July 1999, the then Minister for the Environment was notified by the Environmental Protection Authority that the Brookdale plant was operating outside its licence. Dr Gallop: Who was in government then? Dr EDWARDS: I am not sure! I then had discussions with the Department of Environmental Protection and discovered that it was still working on this mythical consultative environmental review document, so I asked the department to speed it up and get the document out, because the site is in breach of some ministerial conditions. Around June, I caused a slight delay because I told the department that I wanted it to consider other options and other sites. Up until then, it had not done that. The document has been out for public comment. There is no doubt that it has caused a lot of controversy, because people in the community are quite upset to find that the facility has been operating outside its guidelines and that the previous Government knew about that in mid 1999 and did nothing about it. I will wait and see what the EPA says to me. I have asked my department to examine other options and other sites. I have had an audit done. I am reassured that it is not like the Bellevue site. If I were concerned that there were potential risks, like the previous Government subjected us to with the Bellevue site, I would have had it shut down. I have had it audited and I have been assured that it is quite safe. Nevertheless, it is operating outside those conditions. As soon as I have the report from the EPA, I will be moving on it.
(1)-(2) Brookdale is a historic site that we have inherited. At the moment, the EPA is doing its assessment of a document relating to Brookdale and its future. In July 1999, the then Minister for the Environment was notified by the Environmental Protection Authority that the Brookdale plant was operating outside its licence. Dr Gallop: Who was in government then? Dr EDWARDS: I am not sure! I then had discussions with the Department of Environmental Protection and discovered that it was still working on this mythical consultative environmental review document, so I asked the department to speed it up and get the document out, because the site is in breach of some ministerial conditions. Around June, I caused a slight delay because I told the department that I wanted it to consider other options and other sites. Up until then, it had not done that. The document has been out for public comment. There is no doubt that it has caused a lot of controversy, because people in the community are quite upset to find that the facility has been operating outside its guidelines and that the previous Government knew about that in mid 1999 and did nothing about it. I will wait and see what the EPA says to me. I have asked my department to examine other options and other sites. I have had an audit done. I am reassured that it is not like the Bellevue site. If I were concerned that there were potential risks, like the previous Government subjected us to with the Bellevue site, I would have had it shut down. I have had it audited and I have been assured that it is quite safe. Nevertheless, it is operating outside those conditions. As soon as I have the report from the EPA, I will be moving on it.
Dr Gallop: Who was in government then? Dr EDWARDS: I am not sure! I then had discussions with the Department of Environmental Protection and discovered that it was still working on this mythical consultative environmental review document, so I asked the department to speed it up and get the document out, because the site is in breach of some ministerial conditions. Around June, I caused a slight delay because I told the department that I wanted it to consider other options and other sites. Up until then, it had not done that. The document has been out for public comment. There is no doubt that it has caused a lot of controversy, because people in the community are quite upset to find that the facility has been operating outside its guidelines and that the previous Government knew about that in mid 1999 and did nothing about it. I will wait and see what the EPA says to me. I have asked my department to examine other options and other sites. I have had an audit done. I am reassured that it is not like the Bellevue site. If I were concerned that there were potential risks, like the previous Government subjected us to with the Bellevue site, I would have had it shut down. I have had it audited and I have been assured that it is quite safe. Nevertheless, it is operating outside those conditions. As soon as I have the report from the EPA, I will be moving on it.
Dr EDWARDS: I am not sure! I then had discussions with the Department of Environmental Protection and discovered that it was still working on this mythical consultative environmental review document, so I asked the department to speed it up and get the document out, because the site is in breach of some ministerial conditions. Around June, I caused a slight delay because I told the department that I wanted it to consider other options and other sites. Up until then, it had not done that. The document has been out for public comment. There is no doubt that it has caused a lot of controversy, because people in the community are quite upset to find that the facility has been operating outside its guidelines and that the previous Government knew about that in mid 1999 and did nothing about it. I will wait and see what the EPA says to me. I have asked my department to examine other options and other sites. I have had an audit done. I am reassured that it is not like the Bellevue site. If I were concerned that there were potential risks, like the previous Government subjected us to with the Bellevue site, I would have had it shut down. I have had it audited and I have been assured that it is quite safe. Nevertheless, it is operating outside those conditions. As soon as I have the report from the EPA, I will be moving on it.
The document has been out for public comment. There is no doubt that it has caused a lot of controversy, because people in the community are quite upset to find that the facility has been operating outside its guidelines and that the previous Government knew about that in mid 1999 and did nothing about it. I will wait and see what the EPA says to me. I have asked my department to examine other options and other sites. I have had an audit done. I am reassured that it is not like the Bellevue site. If I were concerned that there were potential risks, like the previous Government subjected us to with the Bellevue site, I would have had it shut down. I have had it audited and I have been assured that it is quite safe. Nevertheless, it is operating outside those conditions. As soon as I have the report from the EPA, I will be moving on it.
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