Flouting of Environmental Laws by Tuscany Foods, Stannix Park Road, Ebenezer

Flouting of environmental laws by Tuscany Foods, Stannix Park Road, Ebenezer

Ebenezer-based Tuscany Foods has a long history of flouting requirements of the Environmental Protection Authority and rulings by the Land and Environment Court. Neighbouring property owners claim Hawkesbury Council has failed to hold Tuscany Foods to account as the court has directed and that the company continues to pollute the local environment, including waterways.

In a trove of documents obtained by Hawkesbury Council Integrity Watch Tuscany Farms is accused of unauthorised works, unapproved and non compliant building, an unapproved 7 megalitre dam, noise, smoke, foul odors, illegal hours of operation, rat and mice infestation, pollution, and storm water and waste water management and non-compliance.

Disturbingly, one issue, the alleged dumping of contaminated soil, has the potential to impact not only local residents but the entire Hawkesbury River, including The Chain of Ponds waterway and Currency Creek.

Background

Tuscany Foods and Tuscany Farm Holdings at Ebenezer is a 17.66 ha property primarily used for large scale commercial egg and chicken production, recycling out of date food products, and the manufacture and packaging of dog food products.

On 8 November 2011 The Land and Environment Court Judgment ruled against Tuscany Farm Holdings in its bid to add an additional building. The ruling, Tuscany Farm Holdings Pty Limited & Anor v Hawkesbury City Council, held that: “the proposed development is properly characterised as development of an ‘industry’ and therefore prohibited within the Mixed Agricultural Zone under the provisions of Hawkesbury Local Environmental Plan 1989.”

Tuscany Farm Holdings had claimed previously it was a rural industry and had applied for, and was granted, farmland rates by Hawkesbury Council in 1997. This court ruling meant that Tuscany could no longer be granted special concessions, including reduced council rates, and that the additional building could not take place.

Dozens of neighbouring property owners and the small Ebenezer Public School have complained to both Hawkesbury Council and the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) about the company’s operations since 1999. The Land and Environment Court directed Hawkesbury Council to issue several conditions regarding the existing development.

One local resident alleged he was fobbed off by council and told that he was “the only person complaining”, despite dozens of complaints in letters and even a petition signed by 25 local residents from Wilberforce, Ebenezer and Lower Portland.

The petition addressed many issues, including:

• cruelty to live birds
• lack of an environment impact study, where at least 25 local residents are to be directly affected, plus a public school on Sackville Rd Ebenezer and many others depending on wind change
• high levels of dust, causing respiratory disease including asthma
• foul odour day and night
• pollution
• risk of disease due to presence of vermin
• a huge drop in property values in the area
• the dumping of toxic and contaminated soil as “fill”.

Illegal dumping of toxic soil

The most concerning, and as yet unresolved, issue is the mystery as to the origin of the thousands of tonnes of soil used as fill by Tuscany Farms.

There have been conflicting claims and counter claims regarding the origin of the soil. The issue was first raised in 1997 when Tuscany was ordered by Council “to cease importation of all fill and works; request documentation as per condition Nos. 15 and 17 of DA.” The earthworks were deemed “contrary to conditions of consent”.

By 1999 Tuscany had won approval for the construction of poultry sheds and for landscaping moulds or earthen berms to be constructed.

In a 2004 memorandum from Hawkesbury Council Director, Environment and Development, Malcolm Ryan, to Greens Councilor, Leigh Williams, Ryan estimated: “that 30,000 tonnes of material will be required to complete the works. It is unknown when the works will be completed, however it is estimated that it will incur over 1500 truck movements.”

Moreover: “the consent does not require payment of a contribution for road maintenance”.

On 15 July 2004 Hawkesbury Council issued a Direction to cease works in what was described in the approved landscaping plan as “Area A”.

Tuscany was ordered to show cause in writing, within 14 days to a dozen questions relating to the origin and quantity of the fill, together with appropriate validation certificates, the identity of earthmoving contractors and staff members who gave the instructions/directions for the works to take place.

Tuscany Farms claimed that an opportunity to get the fill at little or no cost had arisen, where previously “the cost at the time was considered prohibitive”.

In a 1997 letter to Tuscany Farms, Great Western Excavations claimed the soil was supplied by Daracon Engineering and “originates from the old Sydney Showground site at Moore Park”. Great Western Excavations stated that the soil “is deemed to be clean and compactable fill” and “The EPA have inspected the material and have deemed it to fit into the same category”.[1]

The EPA contradicted this in a letter to Hawkesbury Council, dated 7 August 2001: “The EPA has no further record of work undertaken on this site or of an inspection being made by an EPA officer as claimed in the letter from Great Western Excavations”.

Further EPA inquiries revealed “that Daracon Engineering Pty Ltd was the major earthworks contractor for the Fox Studio Development at about the time indicated in the letter from Great Western Excavations”.

The EPA continued: “The letter from Tuscany Foods contains references to allegations of the imported fill originating from Homebush Bay. EPA records for the Homebush Bay remediation project show that the only fill taken from this area during the remediation was VENM from the Olympic Village. Daracon Engineering were also involved in these earthworks”.[2]

The Daracon Group and its wealthy owner, David Mingay came to the attention of ICAC investigators in 2014 over various political donations, including to disgraced Liberal MP, Tim Owen and others.[3]

The EPA identified Daracon as the “major earthworks contractor for the Fox Studio Development”. Daracon’s website lists Fox Studio Moore Park among a number of site remediation projects for demolition and removal of asbestos.

In 2007 remediation contractor Ward Civil were sub-contracted to the remediation and earthworks at Fox Studios for the removal of contaminated material from site and asbestos remediation. It is unclear where the contaminated fill was dumped.

Sharon Beder, a visiting professorial fellow at the University of Wollongong painted a grim picture of the use of toxic material at the Homebush Olympic site in a June 2000 article for the Sunday Age.

In the article, And what the tourists will not see, Beder describes Kronos Hill at the Olympic site:

“This scenic hill is in reality a huge mound of toxic waste including heavy metals, lead, hydrocarbons, asbestos, pesticides, dioxins and putrescible wastes dumped on what was once mangrove woodlands.

“Visitors on tour buses were able to watch the hill of waste grow another 9 metres to a height of 20 metres during Olympic preparations as contaminated soils and wastes were cleared from other parts of the site to make way for Olympic facilities.

Workers shifting the wastes had to wear full-body suits and respirators and visitors wanting to leave the buses to take photos were told they could not go within 10 metres of the mound without being similarly appareled themselves.”

Homebush Bay is described as the “dioxin capital of the world” and has been shown to contain 2,3,7,8 TCDD, the most toxic form of dioxin, contrary to claims from the Olympic Construction Authority (OCA) at the time. The OCA was forced to unreservedly apologise when maps were uncovered in 1997 showing the extent of the contamination.

Some considered that the dioxin-contaminated soil was far too toxic to be dumped at the Castlereagh toxic waste facility. Earthmoving contractors charged exorbitant fees to remove the thousands of tonnes of soil. It is unclear just how much ended up at Castlereagh. A recent (August, 2016) Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) inquiry into black market dumping was told: “the legal disposal of a typical truck load of 30 tonnes of asbestos-contaminated waste could cost as much as $10,000 in handling fees.”

Illegal dumping of waste is a huge problem in western Sydney. Former rugby league player and illegal waste dumping investigator Craig Izzard is facing the ICAC over four allegations he asked for money in return for ignoring illegal asbestos-ridden waste dumping between January 2015 and March 2016 in his role as an illegal waste dumping investigator for western Sydney Councils.

Izzard denies the allegations. ABC Online reported on September 9 that the ICAC inquiry was shown two emails sent to Mr Izzard in 2014 where staff raised concerns about waste dumping at a Luddenham property, in Sydney's west, where asbestos was later found. When asked if he had investigated the matter Izzard said “not that I can remember.”[4]

Subsequently, 11 samples taken by the EPA from the property contained asbestos.

Following the incident, the owner of the property pleaded guilty to dumping asbestos and was fined $55,000.The man who transported the waste to the Luddenham property was also later fined $25,000.

Mr Izzard was also asked about an allegation that he solicited a bribe from a man named Antonio Barillaro in exchange for not investigating the man over alleged illegal landfill operations at a Badgerys Creek property.

The issue of black market dumping is so serious in Western Sydney that a number of councils set up the Western Sydney Regional Illegal Dumping Squad, [RID]. RID Squads are regionally based teams that specialise in dealing with illegal dumping and illegal landfilling. The squads are funded by the NSW EPA and the member councils who opt to work together and pool resources to tackle illegal dumping.

The Western Sydney RID Squad covers Blacktown, Fairfield, Holroyd, Parramatta, Penrith, Liverpool and The Hills council areas.

It is of note that Hawkesbury City Council was to be part of the Western Sydney RID Squad but opted out.

As recently as April 2014 a Matter of Urgency motion “in relation to a property in Stannix Park Road” was defeated by the then Mayor, Kim Ford, who was not prepared to rule that the matter was of great urgency.

Residents complain, among other things, that soil continues to be dumped at this site.

The poisoning of local waterways

One local resident, unaware in 2005 of the significance of toxic waste dumping and run-off from either Fox Studios or Homebush Bay, regularly exercised his five dogs at the Chain of Ponds. Two of the dogs would swim in what was once pristine water. In a 2015 letter from the resident to Hawkesbury Council General Manager, Peter Jackson he wrote: …they swam in the Chain of Ponds, inside our property. One morning I found both of them dead. I could not work out why!!! Toxic poisoning? So why only two swimmers die, and the rest were OK. Now I know why!!!”

The resident told Hawkesbury Council Integrity Watch, “I moved here nearly forty years ago. The ponds were pristine and crystal clear, you could see the bottom. There were fish swimming and hundreds of wild ducks and other birds lived in and around the ponds. The ducks would nest and ducklings were in our paddocks. They would come up to the house and we would feed them. Then we noticed an oily slick on the ponds, there were dead fish and ducks. Now there are no more ducks or fish. Have a look for yourself, can you see one duck? The ponds are a muddy mess and Currency Creek is dead. We had no idea about Fox Studios or Homebush Bay”.

The letter admonished Hawkesbury council for its failure to investigate his earlier complaints about pollution in the ponds years before. The letter simply remains unanswered to this day. This is a disturbing and continuing pattern with Hawkesbury Council routinely ignoring correspondence.

Perhaps Hawkesbury Council considered the matter closed following the 2001 letter from the EPA. “If Council is not able to ascertain the origins of the fill at 412 Stannix Park Road Ebenezer and is concerned about possible contaminants in the fill and the potential risk of harm to human health or the environment Council can consider requiring the occupier or suspected polluter to carry out investigations under the Clean Up or Prevention Notice provisions of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997. Council may also wish to consider annotating the s149 certificate and would need to require further sampling and analysis of the fill if the land was to be developed in the future for a more sensitive landuse.”

The EPA “regulates councils, because they are ‘public authorities’ (section 6, POEO Act).

Downstream from the Chain of Ponds, agriculture and fishing is fed by Currency Creek and the Hawkesbury River. The World Health Organization has warned that dioxins “accumulate in the food chain” and “damage the immune system, interfere with hormones and also cause cancer”.[5]

The dangers of asbestos are well known.

Perhaps the EPA and Hawkesbury Council are unaware of Commonwealth environmental and food standards legislation.

Local residents are still waiting for either authority to act.

At the time of writing, in late in 2016, there have been some new developments regarding Tuscany Foods and Hawkesbury Council. HCIW will update readers once the details are at hand.

[1] Letter from Great Western Excavations to Tuscany Farms, 1997

[2] Letter from the EPA to Hawkesbury Council, 7 August 2001

[3] Record of interview between ICAC senior investigator Michael Riashi and Mr Darren Robson 17 June 2014. https://www.icac.nsw.gov.au/images/Spicer%20PI%202/Exhibit%20Z22.pdf

[4] ABC Online story (

[5] World Health Organisation’ Dioxins and their effects on Human Health