By Marcus Uhe
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) has granted Cranbourne landfill operator SBI a stay of the EPA’s licence suspension decision.
The stay means that SBI returned to accepting solid inert waste at their Ballarto Road facility on Monday 24 October.
It can continue to operate until a full hearing can be held, or until the outcome of its merits review challenge to the suspension of its landfill operating licence is decided.
SBI’s operating licence was suspended by the EPA on Monday 3 October until 30 January 2023 due to significant and ongoing odour issues and compliance concerns.
The stay was granted on Thursday 20 October.
EPA chief executive Lee Miezis said the organisation did not agree with the decision.
“EPA opposed the granting of a stay of the suspension decision and put a strong case forward about protecting the local community from harms caused at the site, but VCAT has granted one which effectively puts the suspension on hold until its broader merits can be decided in some months’ time,” Mr Miezis said.
“The step to suspend SBI’s licence was taken to ensure SBI would concentrate solely on fixing the issues that are still allowing odour to impact on the Cranbourne community.
“The VCAT decision means SBI can now continue landfill operations at the Cranbourne West inert landfill but must operate in accordance with Victoria’s Environment Protection Act 2017.
“Our notices will ensure that remediation of the factors causing the odour still need to be acted on.”
SBI director Simon Williamson said they will continue to work “diligently” with the EPA to close out the existing improvement notices.
“We once again appreciate the community’s patience in working through these issues and apologise for the inconvenience caused,” Mr Williamson said.
In their ruling, VCAT deputy president Teresa Bisucci and senior member Ian Potts accepted that SBI would suffer “serious financial impacts” including the loss of employees if the stay was not granted.
The financial implications would raise issues with the future viability of the applicant, they found.
SBI is still subject to a number of improvement notices regarding leachate management and stormwater management, and an audit of their landfill operations.
The VCAT panel determined that these improvement notices and the “active management with oversight” provided by the EPA would provide low risks of fire and adverse odours.
In opposing the stay, the EPA argued there was significant public interest in protection of the amenity of the community around the licensed premises.
This was a case where community safety outweighed any risk of prejudice to the applicant, the EPA submitted.
SBI argued that a failure to grant a stay of the suspension would render the merits proceeding futile as the merits proceeding could not be listed for hearing before the end of the suspension period of four months.
This appeared to be accepted by the EPA, however, it argued the stay may be refused due to the element of community safety and the need to protect the public.
