Transurban staff details leaked as West Gate Tunnel scrap turns ugly
More than 750 Transurban staff — from the chief executive to graduates — have had private details posted online as the battle over contaminated soil from the West Gate Tunnel project turns nasty.
Victoria
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A multibillion-dollar brawl over where to store contaminated soil from the $6.7 billion West Gate Tunnel is getting dirty, with tolling giant Transurban’s staff directory posted online by angry residents.
The Herald Sun obtained the spreadsheet after it was posted to a 3000-member social media group to co-ordinate a campaign against a Bacchus Marsh tip being used to store the soil.
More than 750 names and titles of staff at the company – everyone from chief executive Scott Charlton to graduates and employees on maternity leave – were listed.
Residents near to the Bacchus Marsh site, which is run by Maddingley Brown Coal, said storing soil contaminated with industrial chemicals such as PFAS was dangerous.
They used an email generator to send correspondence to Transurban staff in what they described as a “digital takeover” to kill the proposal.
The Andrews Government and project proponent Transurban insist the soil storage would include careful environmental safeguards, and short-listed three sites for potential use at Bacchus Marsh, Ravenhall, and Bulla near Sunbury.
A deal has now been signed to build a facility at Bulla, which is run by the Hi-Quality Group, and works begin this week.
The brawl over what to do with toxic soil has stalled the massive toll road, which will connect the West Gate Freeway to CityLink, and will cost billions of dollars.
Heather Dodd, whose family runs a farm near to the Bulla tip, said the government and West Gate Tunnel builders had been “deceitful” and were dumping soil against the community’s will.
“The joint venture and Dan Andrews and his crew are corporate bullies,” she said.
“It just seems to be the north west (of Melbourne) we seem to cop it all.”
She said residents would now be doing everything they could to vote out the local Labor member at the next election.
Bacchus Marsh residents still fear the MBC site would also be used, but West Gate Tunnel project and government sources said the Bulla site has the capacity to take all project soil.
A Transurban spokeswoman said Hi-Quality Group’s “eco-hub” was recommended by project builder CPB and John Holland as the “preferred site to manage the tunnel spoil following its extensive technical and environmental protection capabilities assessment of three potential sites in outer Melbourne to safely dispose of soil from tunnelling in accordance with strict environmental regulations”.
“While it is expected that some of the tunnel soil from the West Gate Tunnel Project may contain low levels of PFAS, ongoing testing of groundwater in the tunnel alignment that has been carried out since 2016 has found that PFAS levels are well below national guidelines for safe recreational water use such as swimming in lakes, rivers or beaches.”
Originally published as Transurban staff details leaked as West Gate Tunnel scrap turns ugly
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