An ACT tribunal has rejected a company's argument that its rates shouldn't increase because of possible site contamination, but also found that the new site valuation should have considered the cost of assessing contamination and removing an underground tank.
Eight years after a company signed a contract to buy a site after a wood treatment business had remediated it, the ACT Supreme Court has ruled the seller was only required to clean-up soil and not groundwater.
Environment and water ministers today approved changes to the contaminated sites NEPM, released a draft RIS on managing chemical environmental risks and proposed a national approach to biobanking.
After previously rejecting Queanbeyan City Council's claim that a NSW EPA prosecution was an abuse of process, the Land and Environment Court this week dismissed its argument that any harm a raw sewage spill caused in the nearby ACT was irrelevant to sentencing.
The ACT Government is canvassing views on legislative changes that would make it an offence to engage in activity likely to cause harm, allow NSW businesses that pollute the ACT environment to be prosecuted, and overhaul the Territory's licensing regime.
A regular CE Daily update on what to look out for over the next few weeks nationally and in states and territories – including legislative changes, policy proposals and funding offers.