Failure to comply with EPA investigation costs excavation company $36,000

Last month, the Local Court fined TROB Civil Pty Ltd a total of $11,000 for two offences and ordered it to pay $25,000 in legal costs after TROB Civil Pty Ltd failed to comply with statutory notices issued by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA).

The offences arose out of an investigation conducted by the EPA into illegal waste dumping at a site in Austral.

"The statutory notices were issued seeking information and records after a vehicle registered to TROB Civil was photographed at a location which was being investigated for illegal dumping," EPA Acting Chief Environmental Regulator Greg Sheehy said.

The Court found that TROB Civil's conduct had affected the EPA's ability to investigate the alleged waste dumping offences. In addition to the fines, the Court ordered TROB Civil to publish details of its offending in the Daily Telegraph and the Sydney Morning Herald.

TROB Civil were initially issued with penalty notices for failing to comply with the statutory notices. However, those penalty notices were not paid and the EPA withdrew them and instead commenced the prosecutions.

Prosecutions are one of a number of tools the EPA uses to achieve environmental compliance including formal warnings, official cautions, licence conditions, notices and directions.

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