East Melbourne — The Land and Environment Court of New South Wales (NSW) on July 28 imposed a penalty of A$768,250 on Orica Ltd., related to incidents at the company’s Kooragang Island (KI) facility in Newcastle and its Botany facility in southern Sydney, which took place between October 2010 and December 2011. The penalties will contribute to funding seven environmental enhancement projects in the Hunter Valley and Botany. Orica reiterated its regret for the events, and said that it has invested more than $200 million over the last three years delivering the largest improvement program in the KI facility’s 45-year history. Orica said key initiatives include: redesigning the ammonia plant to prevent a repeat of the August 2011 event; $20 million to commence an ammonia management improvement program, which will include a further $80 million investment to install flaring systems, pending regulatory approval, and other infrastructure to minimize ammonia emissions and odors; $17 million upgrading computerized instrumentation and alarm systems for the KI site’s Nitrates plants; $27 million installing new secondary containment structures and upgrading existing infrastructure, such as drainage networks, to reduce the risk of pollution incidents; $10 million upgrading site electrical infrastructure; and $51 million upgrading plant equipment and process vessels. In addition, Orica will also pay the NSW Environment Protection Authority’s legal and investigation costs.
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