EPA alleges maintenance failure to blame for mass fish kill near NSW power station
By Giselle Wakatama
ABC Newcastle
Topic:Pollution
13m ago13 minutes agoWed 12 Mar 2025 at 4:40am
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In short:
The NSW EPA is taking legal action against Vales Point power station owner Delta Electricity.
The Land and Environment Court has been told it relates to the second of two fish kills in 2022, killing thousands of fish.
What's next?
Judge Sarah Pritchard has reserved her decision.
The New South Wales Environment Protection Authority has told a court hearing a valve maintenance failure was to blame for a mass fish kill north of Sydney leaving thousands of marine animals bloated and bleached.
The EPA alleges Vales Point power station owner Delta Electricity failed to maintain a stand-by chlorine dosing plant in "proper and efficient condition" which it said led to sodium hypochlorite being discharged into the water.
The Land and Environment Court heard closing addresses today about the toxic leak in 2022.
several dead, white fish on sand
The EPA's action relates the second of two fish kills that occurred in 2022. (ABC Newcastle: Andrew Lobb)
Acting for the EPA, Henry El-Hage SC said the stand-by chlorine dosing plant was used when the main chlorine dosage plant was not operating.
Mr El-Hage told judge Sarah Pritchard the stand-by plant had operational problems.
"It was not fitted with a diagnostic tool to tell the operator whether it had in fact opened or closed in response to an obstruction," he said.
"The only way for the defendants [Delta] to know whether it had failed was to physically inspect it."
Vales Point Power Station sits to the right of image over lake on a clear blue day. Smoke comes out of building.
The EPA has taken Delta Electricity to court over a leak from its Vales Point power station. (ABC News: Ben Millington)
The barrister said a Delta worker raised the alarm on September 5 after seeing "a few hundred" dead and dying fish in water being discharged from the plant.
"It was quite clear the dead fish were concentrated on the foreshore of Wyee Bay," Me El-Hage said.
"There were dead fish in skimmer booms, and five to 10 large bags of dead fish were collected."
Delta's defence
Delta's defence barrister Sharyn Hall SC rejected the EPA's claims the power station operator failed to maintain a stand-by chlorine dosing plant in "proper and efficient condition".
Black ray with white spots submerged in shallow water
An eagle ray was among the dead animals found. (Supplied: Gary Graham)
Ms Hall said the stand-by plant had been tested in the weeks prior to being brought into service and any defects were rectified then.
"Six weeks before, Delta had done a full test run of the stand-by dosing plant," she said.
"It had used water to do that and the reason was because it was a neutral solution. If there were any problems they would likely to be identified without any potential consequences.
"In the process two small defects were identified in the stand-by dosing plant."
Ms Hall said a commitment to maintenance was the reason Vales Point had had its life extended as other coal fired plants were being shut down.
"Power stations are being shut down and the life of this power station has been extended a number of times because of the high standard of maintenance,"
she said.
Ms Hall said Delta should not be criminally liable for the failure, given it was one of 13,000 valves throughout the power plant.
"The suggestion that if one moving part fails, or is not operated as directed, that cannot be indicative of a failure to maintain, that is a criminal offence," she said.
dead fish on a swampy bank
Several fish lay dead on the banks of Lake Macquarie at Mannering Park in 2022. (ABC Newcastle: Andrew Lobb)
She said "unexpected operation or defect" cannot not amount to being criminally liable.
Ms Hall again stressed that the stand-by plant had been tested and was found to be working.
She said the the solenoid valve, an electromechanically operated valve, was "brand new, off the shelf" and experts could not explain why it failed.
"There had been no history of the valve failing to close," she said.
The court was told there was a second fish kill about a month earlier, but the EPA blamed that on "natural causes".
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Posted13m ago13 minutes agoWed 12 Mar 2025 at 4:40am
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