A Logan asbestos-removal company has been handed a $400,000 fine and its sole director a nine-month suspended prison sentence over the illegal storage of waste on the banks of the Albert River for more than three years.
Anthony Michael Palmer and his company Asbestos Demolition Specialists (ADS) each pleaded guilty to nine charges laid under the Environmental Protection Act 1994 (Qld), related to the storage of more than 300 tonnes of asbestos-contaminated wasted at Eagleby between May 2019 and October 2022.
The charges laid by the Department of Environment and Science included disposing of waste without authority; wilfully and unlawfully depositing a prescribed water contaminant reasonably expected to move into waters; wilfully causing environmental harm; and defying an environmental protection order.
In the sentencing hearing in Beenleigh Magistrates Court late last year, Magistrate Mossop also fined Mr Palmer $100,000 and made other orders for site rehabilitation and court costs.
In her 19-page decision, she pointed out that since Mr Palmer took over management of ADS in 2018, there had been 36 listed compliance actions against the operation, including refusal, improvement, prohibition, non-disturbance, enforcement and infringement notices, as well as verbal directions and orders.
She also pointed out that the type of business stated on the property lease signed by Mr Palmer had been listed as “farming: organic fertiliser”, to be “set up in flood affected areas”.
Magistrate Mossop said the environmental harm caused by the offending was “not trivial or negligible”, with the remediation cost estimated at $264,000.
She said the site used would never have been approved as a waste facility due to its zoning as farmland and being on a riverbank.
“The defendants were given multiple opportunities to meet their environmental obligations prior to the commencement of their prosecution but persisted in offending with respect to asbestos waste material,” she said.
“Both defendants wilfully caused material environmental harm by intentionally accumulating more waste on the site, stockpiling it and burying it, even after being issued notices from both (Logan City) Council and the Department prohibiting such conduct.
“This deliberate persistence demonstrated a complete disregard for environmental obligations about a serious hazard with serious actual and potential adverse impacts.”
Magistrate Mossop said the conduct was aggravated by factors including repeated failure to comply with notices, Mr Palmer’s association with a similar company that had a poor compliance history, and the avoidance of almost $200,000 in fees for waste disposal and authorisation.
She said Mr Palmer did not demonstrate contrition or remorse.
“He attempted to resolve his blameworthiness as ignorance, with a lack of actual knowledge or intention. His submissions in this regard cannot be accepted on the balance of probabilities.
“Using a reasonable person test, the exhibits and relevant facts, in addition to the defendant’s own admissions as to his personal lengthy experience in the asbestos waste industry, clearly suggest otherwise.”
A profit and loss statement tendered showed the company turnover as about $1.3 million in 2020; about $1.5 million in 2021 and 2022; and about $674,000 in 2023; and that it ran at a loss every year.
Magistrate Mossop said a sentence of a fine and imprisonment was necessary to achieve a significant deterrent effect.
“A sentence order must be imposed that correctly deters and denounces the serious conduct surrounding the illegal handling of large quantities of a lethal substance for greater than three years, where the capability of full remediation of harm is unlikely,” she said.
“The offending was deliberate and extensive, with actual financial benefits to the corporate defendant. The offending has adversely impacted on the land-owner as well as surrounding properties, their inhabitants and owners.
“Given the nature of the substance, any person who may unwittingly disturb asbestos-contaminated soil is at risk of harm to health and well-being, with a risk of death as an eventual consequence.
“The location of the offending to a major river and the impacts of flooding spreading the asbestos, with two major floods occurring within that time frame, is further aggravating feature. With the lease itself referring to the land being flood prone, the deliberate offending at such a location is inexcusable.”
Magistrate Mossop also ordered ADS be subject to a monetary benefit order of $74,544 and that Mr Palmer and ADS each pay $12,645 in costs. Convictions were recorded for all offences.
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