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Opinion: number of spills is just too many

Vanessa SchmittWeekend Kwinana Courier

I FIND it alarming the number of industry spills into the environment we’ve experienced in Rockingham and Kwinana in the past year.

In May, a beach in Safety Bay was closed after sewage overflowed from a drain to the beach and ocean; about 3.4 million litres of wastewater overflowed.

See Safety Bay Wastewater overflow warning

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In July, there was a chemical spill in Kwinana Beach near Ocean Street and workers at businesses in the area were evacuated.

See Kwinana beach chemical spill

In September, sewage flowed into Lake Richmond after telecommunications workers drilled into a water main.

See Sewage spills into Lake Richmond

Last week Kwinana Beach-based company Coogee Chemicals was fined $25,000 for a diesel spill in August last year.

The Department of Environment Regulation issued the modified penalty after the company caused in which about 126,000 litres of diesel to be discharged into the environment.

See Kwinanas Coogee Chemicals fined

Our readers on Facebook were unanimous in their response to the article: “So not quite .20 cents per litre spilt,” “that fine is pissweak,” “tougher penalties required…and closer scrutiny.”

I know there are going to be accidents in industry, but industrial spills should not be a regular occurrence.

Let’s hope we do better this year.

Vanessa Schmitt – editor