Wollongong City Council's roadside asbestos dumping debacle has spread to a further nine sites, with the Environment Protection Authority revealing the council did not seek EPA approval - as it had claimed - for the "initiative".
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On Tuesday, embarrassed council managers were forced to admit asbestos had been found in some of the roadside piles council had created from construction waste, fill and mulch, along the Old Princes Highway. Last week, the council had assured ratepayers the piles were clean, saying they had been dumped there in a bid to deter illegal dumpers from the locations.
With the council in damage control yesterday, holes were shot in its claim that there was "unanimous support" from the EPA, National Parks and Sydney Water for the dumping plan.
EPA director of waste and resource recovery Steve Beaman said the agency was not involved, and had now demanded the mounds be sealed off and removed urgently.
"The Wollongong City Council did not seek the approval or the endorsement of the NSW EPA for construction of the mounds and the EPA was not aware of council's actions until we received notification from the Illawarra Mercury last week," he said.
"After further discussions with council, the EPA is now aware of nine similar sites and have been advised by council that the material for each of the mound sites came from the same source site.
"The EPA is very concerned about the actions of council in regards to this incident and our investigations will focus on the council's systems for implementing this strategy."
Mr Beaman said the EPA had told council to complete an Environment Management Plan to remove and dispose of the mounds "as a matter of priority".
On Wednesday the council ducked for cover, refusing to answer detailed questions from the Mercury on when the asbestos was discovered, what other sites might be involved, whether it was aware of an asbestos risk, how council assessed the scheme to be safe, and how it was approved by government agencies.
But council was forced to admit that there had not been any environmental assessment conducted on the plan to dump construction waste on the roadside. It had been mistaken when telling the Mercury last week that a Review of Environmental Factors assessment process had been conducted.
General manager David Farmer said it would not be appropriate to answer detailed questions.
"Council takes this matter very seriously and is working with the EPA to resolve this issue in a timely manner," he said.
The EPA encouraged anyone who suspected illegal dumping to report it to the EPA on 131 555.
blangford@fairfaxmedia.com.au
