Page 2058 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 15 May 2013
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When remediation is complete, and to demonstrate that the site is suitable for the proposed development, the independent auditor will review the environmental consultant’s work and issue a statutory site audit statement and report. The auditor certifies whether the site is suitable for the proposed new use and any conditions that should apply. The site audit statement and report are required to be submitted to the EPA for review and endorsement. In accordance with the requirement in the Environment Protection Act conditions relating to the development approval, a copy of the site audit statement report and an EPA endorsement are then provided to the Planning and Land Authority so they can decide on the development application.
Following this endorsement, information relating to the contamination of these sites becomes publicly available and can be accessed through the established contaminated land search or lease conveyancing inquiry administered by the Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate. It is at this point, subject to other agency approvals, that redevelopment of the site can commence in accordance with any conditions in the site audit statement. Typically, the conditions, if required, relate to the procedures to be followed should anything unexpected be found during the development of the site and any ongoing management requirements as deemed necessary by the auditor.
While sites are thoroughly assessed and remediated, there is always the potential for unexpected discoveries during development. If this is the case, the EPA must be notified. In some cases where contamination of the site is not significant or specific, mitigation measures must be included in building construction. The auditor can issue interim advice to facilitate the commencement of some works of the building. No further works are permitted without the endorsement of the auditor and the EPA.
To ensure that service station sites are appropriately managed so that these legacy issues are addressed, the government in 2007 introduced a regulation into the Environment Protection Act requiring all service stations to be authorised by the EPA where any large fuel storage facilities with a capacity greater than 50,000 litres are proposed. Currently, there are approximately 70 active service station sites that have underground fuel tanks. These authorisations which are reviewed annually provide a legal framework by which the EPA applies the minimum standard for all new and existing underground hydrocarbon storage tanks. These include, as a minimum, leak detection systems and environment monitoring programs aimed at reducing the potential impacts of leakage on to human health, land and water resources in the ACT.
These new requirements will prevent the current problems we are currently facing now in the future. Service station sites can be decommissioned more quickly and issues such as leaks can be appropriately detected. What we are doing now is having to deal with the legacy of poor regulation of service station sites for the past 50 or 60 years—even longer—prior to these new requirements being put into place.
I appreciate the frustration that the community feels with long-term undeveloped sites across Canberra. I think members will agree that it is important to have stringent processes for identifying possible contamination and undertaking remediation work. I am of the view that for most sites across the ACT work has progressed within time
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