Queensland Alumina Restricted (QAL) has been fined $1 million over the discharge of caustic spray that prompted critical environmental hurt and broken individuals’s houses and automobiles.
The incident on the alumina refinery in March 2022 was attributable to a ruptured pipe in a high-pressure system.
The Queensland Division of Setting mentioned the pipe contained a harmful chemical combination referred to as “spent liquor”, which become a vapour plume and drifted right into a residential space in Gladstone.
“Whereas no accidents had been reported, the incident posed a possible vital threat to residents’ well being, as spent liquor incorporates sodium hydroxide,”
the division mentioned.
A spokesperson mentioned it additionally triggered greater than $800,000 in property harm insurance coverage claims.
Queensland Alumina Restricted has been working in Gladstone for 58 years. (ABC Capricornia: Russel Talbot)
On September 22, Queensland Alumina pleaded responsible within the Magistrates Court docket to 3 offences, together with one depend of unlawfully inflicting critical environmental hurt, and two counts of breaching a situation of its environmental approvals.
Justice of the Peace Nigel Rees ordered the corporate to pay a fantastic of $1 million, miscellaneous prices of $78,147 and court docket prices of $1,500.
A conviction was additionally recorded.
Toolooa residents who lived close to the refinery informed the ABC their houses and automobiles had been lined in spray droplets, which ate away on the steel.
The spray unfold to the encircling neighbourhood and broken automobiles. (Equipped: Jennifer Dekker)
Pipes upgraded
Queensland Alumina mentioned it accepted the court docket’s determination, and it acknowledged the seriousness of the incident.
It additionally apologised for not assembly neighborhood expectations.
“All properties affected by the discharge have been assessed and remediation accomplished,”
a spokesperson mentioned.
The corporate mentioned there have been no environmental or human well being impacts reported from the occasion.
It additionally mentioned vital steps had been taken to stop an identical scenario from taking place once more.
“This features a $13.2 million improve program to exchange all carbon metal fittings in our high-pressure circuit with nickel-lined pipes, which have a larger resistance to erosion and a less complicated upkeep program to stop future incidents,” Queensland Alumina mentioned.
It has additionally accomplished a five-year environmental enchancment program and spent greater than $450 million to scale back dangers to the surroundings.
The Gladstone facility is without doubt one of the largest alumina refineries on this planet and produces about 3.7 million tonnes of alumina yearly.
The operation is independently managed, however Rio Tinto is almost all proprietor.
