Environment Protection Authority v Incitec Limited

(2003) 131 LGERA 176; [2003] NSWLEC 381

NSW Land and Environment Court

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Environmental Law
2. › Environmental offences
3. › Breach of licence condition
4. › Discharge of pollutants into waterways
5. › Acidic wastewater discharge
6. › Sentencing
7. › Relevant factors
8. › Second offence of similar nature
9. › Failure to respond to alarms
10. › Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (NSW), ss 64(1), 241, 250(1)(a)
1. Environmental Law
2. › Environmental offences
3. › Sentencing
4. › Publication orders
5. › Whether publication order is part of overall penalty or separate discretion
6. › Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (NSW), ss 244(2), 250(1)(a)
1. Environmental Law
2. › Environment protection licences
3. › Nature of licence as public trust
4. › Obligation to confine discharges to authorised parameters

Quick Take

A publication order under s 250(1)(a) of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 is a separate discretion exercised in addition to the monetary penalty, not part of the overall penalty assessment. For repeat environmental offenders, particularly where management failures (such as failure to respond to alarms) contributed to the breach, penalties towards the higher end of the range are appropriate. The plea of guilty may be given little weight where the obligation to report the offence arises from licence conditions and no arguable defence existed.