A fountain of cow effluent has led to a former dairy farmer getting community detention for what has been described as one of the worst cases of pollution seen by an Environment Court judge.

“It sits on the most serious level of offending, whether it was deliberate or a serious lack of care, of dairy effluent of the worst kind,” said Judge Brian Dwyer.

Russell Ian Anderson and his wife Christine Anderson were sole traders and directors of Marypark Farms Ltd when Horizons Regional Council compliance officers visited their Levin property in March 2010 for a routine inspection. (Read on …)

IN WHAT is being described as a landmark decision, the Land and Environment Court has held that one of the state’s coalmines should have to pay to offset some of its greenhouse gas emissions as a condition of operation.

The provisional decision was a win for the Hunter Environment Lobby, represented by the Environmental Defenders Office, which had appealed to the court over the Minister for Planning’s decision to consolidate historical consent authorities of the Ulan mine, near Mudgee, and to double its operational life and capacity until 2031. (Read on …)

THE state government may prosecute a coal seam gas miner after it admitted releasing 10,000 litres of saline water into a state forest near Narrabri more than six months ago, which was not reported until last week.

A resident had complained to the government about dead trees near the Narrabri coal seam gas project, formerly operated by Eastern Star Gas and now operated by Santos, on October 28, 2011 but the spill came to light only two weeks ago, when a farmer rang the local radio station. (Read on …)

THE state’s first case of water contamination from coal seam gas drilling has been discovered in north-western NSW, according to independent tests.

High levels of ammonia, methane, carbon dioxide, lithium, cyanide, bromide and boron were found around a water discharge point near a Santos coal seam gas operation in the Pilliga forest, near Narrabri.

The state government last night confirmed it would conduct its own investigation and testing of the site.

Water samples gathered by environment groups Friends of the Earth and The Wilderness Society were tested by East West EnviroAg, an independent laboratory in Tamworth that services agricultural and mining clients. (Read on …)

A STOCKTON residents group has called on the Environment Minister, Robyn Parker, to use her special powers to close the Orica plant near their homes indefinitely following the company’s latest chemical spill.

The Environmental Protection Authority is investigating a spill of 20,000 litres of a weak ammonium nitrate solution, which overflowed from a storage tank on Wednesday afternoon. The company blamed the leak on a computer that failed to shut down the plant.

One day earlier, the EPA allowed the company to reopen part of the plant responsible for an ammonia chemical leak last month, but that start-up has been delayed after the latest incident. (Read on …)