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“Not good enough” claims on EPA spray-drift response By BROOKE CHANDLER FARMERS, scientists, and other interested groups across NSW believe that the State’s Environment Protection Authority (EPA) may be ignoring reports of spray-drift damage to crops and vegetation. This widely-held view – discussed at the recent NSW Farmers Agricultural Political Debate in Dubbo – has also been touched-on by the current Minister for Agriculture, Dugald Saunders. All major parties at the forum, agreed that the EPA’s response to community concerns about such events, was not adequate. A surge in suspected contaminations – observed as garden and orchard defoliation, mass bee deaths, as well as stunted and curled, vegetation growth – has made spraydrift a widely-recognised phenomenon. Landholders, including Narromine’s Bruce Maynard, blew the whistle on what appeared to be a pattern of inadequate responses from authorities like the
NSW EPA at the Debate. “It is real, and it is recurring, and it is getting worse not just in Narromine, but everywhere,” Mr Maynard told the Narromine Star. Secretary of the Community Overspray Groups, Beatrice Ludwig recently told the ABC that: “The response is usually, ‘you go and prove it’,” rather than EPA taking it upon itself to investigate.” According to independent research conducted by the Community Overspray Groups, they are yet to fi nd evidence suggesting the NSW EPA have been properly-investigating the cases flagged in the pollution notification process. “It’s a five-year process that we are still trying to get to the bottom of”, Mr Maynard explained. “Last year, the NSW Government released to the public over 4000 pages of internal documents thanks to a request made by The Greens MLC, Sue Higginson.” Nearly 700 of the documents related to the NSW EPA’s actions following pollution notifications and their interac-
tions with other organisations including Narromine Shire Council. The NSW EPA has weighed
into the debate, defending itself by stating that it looked into all pollution notifications and reports, and had only re-
Strike gold with a career in mining Alkane Resources ŚĂƐ Ă ůŽŶŐͲƚĞƌŵ ŝŶǀĞƐƚŵĞŶƚ ŝŶ ŵŝŶŝŶŐ ĂŶĚ ŐŽůĚ ƉƌŽĚƵĐƟŽŶ Ăƚ dŽŵŝŶŐůĞLJ 'ŽůĚ KƉĞƌĂƟŽŶƐ, south of Dubbo. If you’re interested in a rewarding career in mining, work with us. dŽ ĮŶĚ ŽƵƚ ŵŽƌĞ ĂďŽƵƚ ĐƵƌƌĞŶƚ ĞŵƉůŽLJŵĞŶƚ ŽƉƉŽƌƚƵŶŝƟĞƐ͕ ŐŽ ƚŽ ǁǁǁ͘ĂůŬĂŶĞ͘ĐŽŵ͘ĂƵͬĐŽŵƉĂŶLJͬĐĂƌĞĞƌƐ ^ƵĐĐĞƐƐĨƵů ĂƉƉůŝĐĂŶƚƐ ũŽŝŶ Ă ǀŝďƌĂŶƚ ĂŶĚ ĞŶƚŚƵƐŝĂƐƟĐ ƚĞĂŵ ĂŶĚ ĐŽŶƚƌŝďƵƚĞ ƚŽ Ă ĐƵůƚƵƌĞ ŽĨ ŝŶĐůƵƐŝŽŶ͕ ŝŶƚĞŐƌŝƚLJ ĂŶĚ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƚ ʹ for each other, the environment and the local community.
ceived 12 this season. Continued page 2