You’ve been lied to.

The EPA continues to blatantly lie to you about its attack on our business to protect its reputation. 

The EPA's Lie

The EPA have NEVER tested the groundwater on or around our site.  Ammonia levels above the guidelines have never been found downstream of our site. We have never had any water of environmental concern leave our site.  THEY ARE LYING TO YOU.   

The EPA wants you to think we have harmed the environment so they can excuse the unjust closure of our business.  

The nameless and faceless EPA spokeswoman lied to you and every person in NSW when she told the media; "EPA testing of the groundwater downstream found ammonia up to 10 times above the guideline values." 

ABC Newcastle journalists were lied to as well, though they had done their research, so they weren't tricked by the EPA's deceit. 

In our story aired 30 January, you’ll hear Journalist, Paul Turton, call out the EPA for making misleading statements.  You’ll also hear NSW Greens Minister Sue Higginson explain her disbelief of the EPA’s targeting of our business, whilst it ignores the real harm happening across NSW, reiterating the need for an inquiry into the EPA. 

Take a listen:  ABC Radio Interview with Minister Sue Higginson & Oz Mulch

The EPA continues to supply this defamatory statement to media outlets. The EPA has refused to provide evidence of this to media – because it can’t. The EPA has NEVER undertaken groundwater testing downstream from our site, they made it all up and thought no one would ever hold them accountable for the lie, that's because they are so used to lying and getting away with it.

The Truth   

• We undertake water testing on our site.
• For 15 years we have paid independent experts to  monitor surface water and groundwater across multiple points across our site. We then supply that data to the EPA.
• We monitor the quality of the water as it enters the site, whilst it travels through the site, and the quality as it exits the site.
• Last year, two independent environmental experts, one of which was appointed by the EPA, undertook detailed site inspections and examined over 15 years of data taken across more than 12 water testing points.
• The experts found we have never harmed the environment, on or around our site.
  • We have never had water leaving the site of environmental concern.
  • Water that passes through our site often improves in quality.
  • 15 years ago, there was a single point, 300m inside the boundary of the site, that showed an elevated level of ammonia - it was reported to the EPA.
  • There is no testing point ‘up stream’ of this point to identify where the ammonia is coming from and why it is elevated – it is known by the EPA that it could be from the nearby illegal landfill that was there well before we first came to the site.
  • The EPA ordered the person responsible to clean-up the landfill in 2022 to ensure the protection of the environment over two years ago. That person, Jennifer Ellison, did not do the clean-up as ordered by the EPA. The EPA has not enforced the Clean-up Notice, and the landfill remains there, right under the nose of the EPA, with no serious consequence to Jennifer Ellison.
  • The 2011 ammonia level in question has been lowering naturally over the past 15 years. It's now similar to that found in the natural environment. The levels of ammonia have no correlation to our activity on site. 
     

The EPA had this data, but still closed us.

WHY? 

• Why would the EPA choose to ignore the data and close our business?
• Why would the EPA allow contaminated landfill to remain and notices to be ignored with no consequence?

Documents obtained by Freedom of Information prove that an officer with a conflict of interest was given the power to discredit expert opinion, omit facts, ignore evidence, and provide his emotional viewpoint and recommendation, and that this was accepted by every layer of hierarchy in NSW Government -he mislead decision makers and misused the powers of the EPA.

What is ammonia, anyway? The EPA want you to fear it because it sounds like a dangerous chemical - we don't use chemicals! 

• Ammonia is one of many naturally occurring elements formed when organic matter breaks down.
• Both environmental experts provided evidence that
  • the ammonia levels on site are similar to the levels present in waters from the surrounding natural bushland that travel into our site.
  • wilderness areas have lots of organic matter breaking down - high levels of ammonia would naturally occur in any National Park or bushland around Australia.
• EPA has acknowledged that there was no real risk to the surrounding environment from the ammonia – this internal EPA email shows how they were being intentionally misleading about using it, talking about what it could do, but with no relevance to our site.  
   

Are any other sites expelling high levels of Ammonia? 

Yes, many and at high levels.

One example is the local Council Waste Management Facility, less than 1km away from our site.

• The facility expelled high levels of ammonia from the site into the surrounding bushland twice in 2020 and 2021 (see page 11 of this EPA report).
• When others have allowed ammonia into the environment, were they closed? - No they were not.
• The EPA classified their breaches as the lowest level and priority of environmental impact (see pages 7 and 8 of this EPA report).
  No shut down action or penalty has been taken against the council tip for this breach.
• Instead, the EPA publicly supported expansion of composting operations at the tip, despite multiple ongoing breaches and thousands of complaints from the public around offensive odours.
   

Are you ANGRY that the EPA is lying to you? 

Are you concerned that the EPA has the power to do this and get away with it? 

Express your outrage and demand they are held accountable -  send a letter to the editor of the Newcastle Herald.