Tasmanian company cops hefty fine after creek pollution kills fish

A Tasmanian company has been fined thousands of dollars after polluting a creek in 2019. HOW MUCH THEY’LL PAY>>

A transport and logistics company has been fined $45,000 after pleading guilty to polluting Cooee Creek, leading to deaths of fish.

Proprietor of Monson Logistics, Bruce Monson, on Wednesday pleaded guilty on behalf of the company to three counts of depositing a pollutant where environmental harm might be caused.

On Wednesday Magistrate Jackie Hartnett heard from a Cooee resident who said he returned home in November 2019 to find the creek full of white foam and dead fish.

Pollution caused by Monson Logistics led to fish deaths in Cooee Creek. Pic: EPA.

He also said he observed a man washing his truck and that a 44-gallon drum was leaking a truck wash concentrate which went over an embankment into Cooee Creek.

He said he saw foam travelling down to the creek again in May 2020.

In sentencing, Ms Hartnett said there were a significant number of mitigating factors, including that Mr and Mrs Monson had taken immediate action to rectify the problem and spent $40,000 on upgrades.

She said they had “acted quickly and diligently after the first offence and that their response to the offence was appropriate.She said in the decades it had been operating, the company had no prior convictions.

“No reports of issues with the truck washing stations until this issue,” Ms Hartnett said.

She also said defendants had been dealing with personal issues.

“Prosecution has had an impact on the defendant and their reputation,” Ms Hartnett said.

But Ms Hartnett also said there was “a need for a sentence to deter others.”

A spokesperson for the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) welcomed the verdict and sentence.

“The EPA’s investigation into this matter included statements, laboratory reports on water samples and electro-fishing surveys, and concluded that there was a clear link between the surfactant that entered the creek from the premises of Monson Logistics and the fish deaths,” an EPA spokesperson said.

They said companies needed to be aware of their potential impacts on the environment.

“Today’s determination by the Hobart Magistrates Court and $45,000 fining of Monson

Logistics is a timely reminder that companies have a general environmental duty not to

discharge pollutants without authority,” an EPA spokesperson said.

“Discharge of pollutants can cause environmental harm like fish deaths and can also have longer-term impacts on our waterways.”

Members of the public can report environmental incidents to the EPA on 1800 005 171.

Monson Logistics pleads guilty to polluting Cooee Creek, causing fish deaths

A TRANSPORT and logistics company has pleaded guilty to polluting Cooee Creek when its truck-wash solution flowed over an embankment with white foam, leading to fish deaths.

Monson Logistics has been running for 30 years, with depots in Cooee, Hobart and Bell Bay, and a truck wash operating from its Cooee site.

On Wednesday, proprietor Bruce Monson appeared in the Hobart Magistrates Court on behalf of the company, which pleaded guilty to three counts of depositing a pollutant where environmental harm might be caused.

Magistrate Jackie Hartnett heard that on November 19, 2019, Cooee resident Phil Blizzard returned home to see the creek full of white foam and dead fish – including white bait and trout.

Mr Blizzard reported the incident and traced the source, observing a man washing his truck, which was covered in foam.

One of Monson Logistics’ 44-gallon drums was leaking a truck wash concentrate, which had allegedly come over an embankment and into Cooee Creek.

On November 23, Mr Blizzard said he saw “a massive amount of foam coming down to Cooee Creek”.

Samples were taken of the water on both occasions and compared with a sample of the truck wash concentrate, with a scientist finding a “clear link”.

Then on May 6, 2020, it occurred again, with the foam “visibly travelling down the embankment to Cooee Creek”.

Monson identified it had a problem with its pipe infrastructure.

The general manager at the time told the Environmental Protection Authority the company had undergone a significant upgrade at the site three years earlier, but did not have a standard operating procedure at the time on the amount of concentrate used.

A prosecutor said an ammoniac surfactant could result in the fatality of fish, with the substance reducing oxygen in the water, and fish losing their ability to absorb oxygen through their gills.

Entry markers to the city of Burnie, Bass Highway at Cooee.

They noted the company did not have any prior convictions.

Ms Hartnett was told the water was usually filtered before it went into stormwater, and that Mr and Mrs Monson took immediate action to rectify the problem with $40,000 worth of upgrades – blocking a pipe, installing a pump and creating a system where the truck wash water went into a sewage system.

A defence lawyer said the third offence “unfortunately” happened when someone unwittingly removed the cap off the pipe, allowing some of the water to once again flow.

Ms Hartnett will sentence the company on Thursday morning.

Speaking to the Mercury, Mr Blizzard said he estimated he saw 200 dead trout in November 2019, with tens of thousands of dead white bait and climbing galaxia.

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