New South Wales EPA must review procedures for managing contaminated land

I wonder if the radioactively polluted area in Hunter’s Hill is included in this. Also, just how clean is the Lucas Heights area? Or should I say Baren Ridge – sounds cleaner than Lucas Heights, doncha think?

Land contamination review follows Fairfax Media Toxic State investigation, SMH, 28 May 17 , James Robertson, The state government will urgently review procedures for managing contaminated land in NSW, following a Fairfax Media investigation that revealed suspected contamination in residential areas was not being made public to protect house prices.

Environment Minister Gabrielle Upton announced the review on Saturday after Fairfax Media revealed that the Environment Protection Authority had been keeping “significant” chemical contamination hidden to protect residential property prices.

“There will be an independent urgent review into the procedural guidelines for contaminated land management,” Ms Upton said in a statement…..

An independent review last year found the authority had decided “not to routinely declare all sites where the contamination is significant enough to warrant regulation”.

The authority wanted to avoid “blighting” land prices but its head, Barry Buffier, denied that property prices were the “driving factor” in the organisation’s decision-making.

Environmentalists and the state’s opposition said they were alarmed that residents throughout the state could be unknowingly living on top of dangerous chemicals.

Fairfax also revealed the EPA was struggling to assess and prioritise many thousands of sites that had been reported as contaminated. …..http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/land-contamination-review-follows-fairfax-media-toxic-state-investigation-20170527-gwek1e.html