Graham Leslie White charged by EPA over alleged toxic stockpiles
After months of investigations by the Environment Protection Authority, a man who leased the site of the West Footscray warehouse fire has been hit with charges over alleged illegal stockpiling.
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A businessman who leased the site of the West Footscray warehouse fire has been hit with criminal stockpiling charges by the state’s environment watchdog.
The Environment Protection Authority laid 12 charges against 58-year-old Graham Leslie White over alleged illegal stockpiling found at three warehouses in Epping.
He is expected be charged with aggravated pollution, causing environmental hazard and dumping industrial waste under the Environment Protection Act.
Prosecutors will allege he created a serious threat to public health and the environment.
when he faces a filing hearing at Melbourne Magistrates Court on April 6.
It comes after months of investigations by the EPA into chemical stockpiling at warehouses across Melbourne.
Multiple sites in Campbellfield and Epping were discovered and 24-hour security put in place while the waste was moved on.
Mr White had the lease for the West Footscray warehouse in 2018 when it was engulfed in an inferno and took firefighters 17 hours to bring under control.
The fire created a toxic plume that billowed over Melbourne’s west and authorities spent months moving on chemicals and waste.
In December, he was hit by 55 charges from WorkSafe under the Dangerous Goods Act.
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