Three companies found guilty of spilling 10,000 litres of petrol have been ordered to pay the heaviest fine imposed in a regional council case in Auckland.

Petrol Alley Services (GAS), URS New Zealand and Brown Bros (NZ) were found guilty in the Auckland District Court over a fuel leak from a petrol station in Line Rd, Glen Innes.

The companies have been ordered to pay a fine of $160,000, as well as court costs of $80,000.

The court has also demanded an investigation of the fuel which remained in the ground, and the companies could be forced to pay a further $200,000 for a clean-up.

Prosecutor Auckland Regional Council said the charges and fine sent a strong message to large companies to be tighter in their procedures. (Read on …)

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Aditya Birla Minerals Ltd’s Mount Gordon copper mine in northwest Queensland has been charged for failing to meet its environmental obligations.

The Queensland government has charged the mine with 19 offences, including one count of failing to improve on site water management and 18 counts of failing to comply with the Environmental Authority and to decrease the risk of environmental harm.

Department of Environment and Resource Management’s acting Director of Litigation Reuben Carlos said Aditya Birla had allegedly failed to meet those requirements within set timeframes. (Read on …)

A Central Queensland man who was contracted to clear endangered remnant vegetation on his neighbour’s property was fined $20,000 yesterday in the Rockhampton Magistrates Court.

Donald Charles Edmistone pleaded guilty before Magistrate John McGrath to clearing native vegetation on a property known as “Orange Grove” at Dingo, 150km west of Rockhampton. No conviction was recorded.

The $20,000 penalty is the biggest fine handed to a contractor (non land owner) under the Integrated Planning Act 1997 and Sustainable Planning Act 2009 for a vegetation clearing offence. (Read on …)

Taupo District Council has been prosecuted for dumping a “puddle of poo” near a playground in Mangakino.

About 30 residents were told at a meeting in the community last night sewage was dumped at the Mangakino Bowling Club pit on September 3, 2008.

Taupo District Council pleaded guilty to the charges laid by Environment Waikato in Tokoroa District Court and will be sentenced later this month.

The judge ordered the councils to hold the restorative justice meeting to work out how the suggested $27,000 fine could be put back into the Mangakino community. (Read on …)

Two Bay of Plenty farmers have been fined a total of nearly $60,000 for dirty dairying.

Fantastic Farms Limited was fined $10,000 on each of four charges relating to incidents where discharged dairy effluent entered the Waiteti Stream catchment near Rotorua.

Wildhaber Wench & Co and Lucas Wildhaber were also charged for effluent leaking into the catchment, and were fined $16,800 for two charges. (Read on …)

A Christchurch company has been fined $7000 for its failure to maintain the integrity of a storage bund on its property at 100 Ruru Road, Bromley, as required by the conditions of its resource consent. 

BJ Dakin and Company Limited’s consent from Environment Canterbury permits the storage of petroleum compounds, chlorinated hydrocarbons, solvents and timber treatment products in a purposely built bunded area on its site. The purpose of the bund was to prevent contaminants escaping from the site.

In October 2009, Environment Canterbury officers inspected the property and discovered that stormwater contained in the bund was discharging from a number of points along its western and southern sections. The failure to maintain the structure meant that the company was in breach of its resource consent which constituted an offence against sections 9(2) and 338(1) of the Resource Management Act. The company is defending a charge in relation to the stormwater spill. (Read on …)