A SWAN Hill farmer will take his fight against a planned toxic waste dump to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal if an attempt at mediation fails on Friday.
Jim Burns owns 800ha of land at Tempy, south of Ouyen, directly opposite neighbour Peter Howieson’s proposed “passive remediation facility”.
The proposal, given initial approval by Mildura Rural City Council in February, would see 5000 cubic metres of soil, mostly contaminated with fuels and oils from service stations, trucked in, treated and then taken off site.
Mr Burns has appealed to VCAT amid concerns about run off and dust contamination to surrounding farms and the adjacent Bronzewing Flora and Fauna Reserve, home to the endangered malleefowl.
“This is open-air stuff [Mr Howieson] is proposing — it’s not going to be covered — and that raises concerns about leakage, wind erosion and dust,” he said.
Mr Burns said he only learnt about the plans when he saw an ad in a small community paper a few days before Christmas last year.
“We were given six working days to object,” he said.
With only three objections received, the development never went before councillors.
“I didn’t hear back until the decision to grant the permit in February,” Mr Burns said.
“My main concern is that I don’t think the council has done the due diligence on it.”
Mr Howieson, who has a background in environmental science, has argued any concerns about his project are manageable.
He’s been given approval from the Environmental Protection Authority to set up a trial for the remediation, but that was pending planning permit approval by the council.
Mildura Mayor Glenn Milne is standing by the council’s intention to provide a permit for the dump, saying it was nothing like a toxic waste dump proposed for Nowingi seven years ago that was overturned following a community campaign.
Today the two farmers and Mildura council representatives will meet in Melbourne for a second mediation meeting.
If it fails, Mr Burns will take his challenge to a VCAT hearing on October 1.
He said the issue was one close to his heart as the farming land — used for growing grain and grazing sheep —had been in his family for several generations.
He and his family lived on the farm until late last year before selling half of the property and moving to Swan Hill.
