Media Release | 9 November 2023
Legacy contaminated sites will be cleaned up across the state as part of a $54.6 million NSW Government commitment to restore government land that has been polluted by past industrial practices.
Property and Development NSW (PDNSW) and Crown Lands in the Department of Planning and Environment will support the remediation of a range of sites polluted by private companies, with the two agencies playing an ongoing role in dealing with contamination issues.
At Rutherford in the Hunter, PDNSW has completed the first phase to clean up the contaminated former Truegain waste oil processing facility with a further $19 million allocated in the Budget over the next three years to finish the job.
More than 11,000 tonnes of industrial wastewater, toxic oil, grease and sludge waste have been removed from the site. Above ground infrastructure including 135 steel containment tanks have also been demolished and removed from the site.
The next stage of work will involve the development of a Remedial Action Plan, once investigations into the scale of works required to make the site safe for future use are completed.
The Truegain site was abandoned in 2016 after the company lost its trade waste permits, had its environment protection licence suspended and entered into liquidation.
In 2021, the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) brought proceedings against Truegain director and former owner Robert Pullinger to recover incurred costs for its clean-up of the site. The NSW Land and Environment Court ordered Mr Pullinger to pay the EPA’s clean-up costs of more than $1.2 million.
In Newcastle, PDNSW is also commencing remediation work to remove legacy waste and structures from the grounds of properties on the site of the former Waratah Gasworks.
PDNSW will allocate $22.3 million over three years from insurance funding towards the remediation work which will be undertaken in stages with works at seven properties on the south of Ellis Road forecast to be completed by mid-2024.
Crown Lands is also cleaning up Crown land sites contaminated by past practices dating back decades, with $13.3 million Budget funding over two years, with some projects including:
- Site investigations and remediation of contamination in buildings, soil and water at the former Bathurst Gasworks site which operated from 1888 until 1987.
- Dealing with lead contamination on Crown land sites at Captains Flat, where a multi-agency taskforce has been working on lead abatement plans after elevated lead levels were discovered from the former Lake George Mine which operated from 1882 until 1962.
- Remediation of the former Dural sandstone quarry which ceased in the early 2000s. More than 214 tonnes of waste have already been removed but further work is required to deal with landslip issues and contaminated soil.
- Remediating contamination and dealing with land stabilisation at Quarry Lane at Dural.
- Clean-up work on the former Empire Bay Marina site on the Central Coast. which has been declared significantly contaminated by the EPA.
- Dealing with legacy asbestos pollution on the Walka Water Works reserve at Oakhampton Heights near Maitland.
Minister for Lands and Property Steve Kamper said:
“This funding is terrific news and means that we can continue working to cleanup old industrial sites like Truegain that have left a blight on their communities.
“Many of these sites were operated decades ago by companies that treated land and the environment as by-products to making a buck.
“We want to restore these places so that they are free of contamination and can be made available for community, industrial or environmental use.”
Member for Maitland Jenny Aitchison said:
“I have been a strong advocate for the Maitland community on cleaning up this site since I was elected.
“Like many former industrial sites, materials deposited at the Truegain site left lasting contamination that threatened the local area and the health of the people who live here, and our focus is to clean them up to protect residents, workers and the environment.
“The Truegain project has so far included the treatment of over 9,200 kilolitres of industrial wastewater and disposal of over 2,000 tonnes of toxic oil, grease and sludge waste, which is the equivalent of about five Olympic swimming pools.”
Member for Wallsend Sonia Hornery said:
“The last seven years have been very difficult for the community at Waratah, and so I'm delighted that work to fix this longstanding issue has begun and there is a solution within reach for the residents impacted.”