Authority denies fuel was dumped in landfill

Fire crews attend the avgas waste spill on Monash Freeway last month. 130664 Picture: GARY SISSONS

By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS

THE Environment Protection Authority Victoria has ruled out a link between the Lyndhurst prescribed-waste landfill and last month’s aviation gas waste spill on the Monash Freeway.
Traffic was in gridlock for five hours while CFA crews cleaned up the spill from a Toll Group truck at Endeavour Hills on 12 November.
After the clean-up, the avgas waste was disposed of at its intended destination – an EPA-licenced premise that manufactures waste-derived fuels, EPA chief executive Nial Finegan said.
“It is important to vote that avgas is a liquid, not a gas, and therefore cannot be deposited at landfills as has been suggested in some reports.”
Mr Finegan said the authority was still considering whether there had been possible breaches of the Environment Protection Act.
He said potential offences related to non-compliance with prescribed industrial waste laws, which is punishable by fines of more than $350,000.
The EPA was also investigating whether the truck complied with its permit and was looking at the nature of the material being transported, he said.
Mr Finegan said trucks carrying prescribed industrial waste required an EPA-issued permit.