Now that Victoria has revealed its new draft environmental regulations, companies should check for compliance gaps and ensure their contracts appropriately assign responsibilities, according to MinterEllison partner Joshua Dellios.
EPA Victoria chief executive Cathy Wilkinson says a drone fitted with ground-penetrating radar aided its 'needle in a haystack' search for chemical waste buried on a large property.
Victorian businesses that have caused site contamination are much more likely to be pursued for compensation from next year, according to environmental specialist lawyer Stefan Fiedler, principal at law firm Russell Kennedy.
A tribunal has ruled that warehouses can be built on a property once used by Nufarm to manufacture DDT, even though the site contamination audit is more than 20 years' old.
A rewrite of Victoria's main environment law has immediate ramifications for businesses and people that have ever controlled or managed contaminated sites, according to White & Case partner Tim Power.