Environment Protection Authority v Austar Coal Mine Pty Ltd (No 2) [2011] NSWLEC 255

Land and Environment Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Environment Protection Authority v Austar Coal Mine Pty Ltd (No 2) [2011] NSWLEC 255 Hearing dates: 21 December 2011 (in chambers) Decision date: 21 December 2011 Jurisdiction: Class 5 Before: Preston CJ Decision: By consent, the Orders made by the Court on 12 December 2011 are varied by vacating Order 4 and replacing it with the following Order: 4. Pursuant to s 250(1)(a) of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act, the defendant is to place a notice in the following publications: (a) Newcastle Herald newspaper within the first ten pages within 21 days; and (b) Australian Mining Monthly Magazine within the first ten pages no later than the February edition, at a quarter of a page in size in the form of Annexure B. Catchwords: ORDERS - sentence - publication order - variation by consent Legislation Cited: Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997, s 120(1) Cases Cited: Environment Protection Authority v Austar Coal Mine Pty Ltd [2011] NSWLEC 252 Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Environment Protection Authority (Prosecutor) Austar Coal Mine Pty Limited (ACN 111 910 822) (Defendant) Representation: Orders by consent in chambers Office of Environment and Heritage (Prosecutor) Sparke Helmore Lawyers (Defendant) File Number(s): 50544 of 2011

Judgment 1On 12 December 2011, I heard and passed sentence on Austar Coal Mine Pty Limited ("Austar") for an offence of polluting waters in contravention of s 120(1) of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997. I delivered my reasons for judgment and made various orders, including a publication order that Austar publicise the offence and its consequences and the other orders made by the court: see Environment Protection Authority v Austar Coal Mine Pty Ltd [2011] NSWLEC 252. 2Subsequently, the parties discovered that one of the publications in which notice was ordered to be given, the Australian Mining Monthly Magazine, would be unable to publish the notice before February 2012, after the date by which notice had been ordered to be given. The parties also observed that the date of the pollution incident had been inadvertently omitted from the notice. 3By consent, the prosecutor and the defendant sought for the Court to vary the orders made on 12 December 2012 to extend the time for publication of the notice in the Australian Mining Monthly Magazine and to insert in the notice the date of the pollution incident. The parties consented to the application for variation of the orders being dealt with in chambers on the papers submitted by the parties. 4I consider it is appropriate to make these consent orders. 5By consent, the Orders made by the Court on 12 December 2011 are varied by vacating Order 4 and replacing it with the following Order: 4. Pursuant to s 250(1)(a) of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act, the defendant is to place a notice in the following publications: (a) Newcastle Herald newspaper within the first ten pages within 21 days; and (b) Australian Mining Monthly Magazine within the first ten pages no later than the February edition, at a quarter of a page in size in the form of Annexure B.