By Holly McGuinness
The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has rejected the Barro Group’s request to extend the deadline for extinguishing hotspots at the Kealba Landfill.
As reported by Star Weekly, the EPA had set a deadline of August 22.
Barro requested the deadline be extended to February 17, 2023.
But in a statement last week, the EPA said it was not satisfied all reasonable practices had been taken to meet the standing deadline of August 22, 2022.
Despite the EPA refusing the extension, residents fear they still have a fight on their hands to ensure the hotspots are extinguished in a timely manner.
Resident Marian Attard Pham said she was disappointed Barro Group applied for the extension in the first place, given the number of chances it’s had to extinguish the fires, which have been burning for almost three years.
The EPA originally gave Barro until July last year to put out the fires.
“I’m glad that the EPA has declined the extension, but I don’t know if that’s going to be enough … It’s just been really slow to the party, it’s been really frustrating,” she said.
Ms Attard Pham wanted this kind of action from the EPA years ago.
EPA officers will now conduct an inspection of the site to review compliance of the existing environmental action notice.
Following the inspection non-compliance will be escalated for further investigation and could include the potential prosecution or revocation of Barro Group’s operating licence, the EPA said.
Brimbank councillor Virginia Tachos has followed the landfill updates closely said residents have been putting up with odours from the fires for almost three years.
“[The extension knock back] has given people some hope that the EPA will finally treat our concerns as a serious matter,” she said.
A community information session on the landfill is scheduled for Wednesday, August 31,from 3-7pm. Details: epa.vic.gov.au
