A looming court battle over the Hazelwood coal mine fire is set to test the definition of causing pollution, says Jeff Lynn, partner in law firm Ashurst.
Queensland's environment department has released new details of events that led to fines totalling $60,000 for Caltex and clean-up costs of more than $750,000.
Lubricants company Nulon must pay a $120,000 penalty plus costs and write to individuals made sick by odours that resulted from poor control systems and sloppy work practices.
A BHP Billiton subsidiary activated its Pollution Incident Response Management Plan within 30 minutes of a blast going wrong, and within three hours had notified regulators and medical centres.