By Vanessa Chircop
THE Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) received more than 800 pollution reports from the Hobsons Bay area last year.
About 95 per cent were for air quality reports – on dust and odour. The majority of complaints received came from the Brooklyn area.
An EPA spokesperson told Star the number of reports is not necessarily indicative of the number of separate incidents – as several people may have called about the same incident.
“In 2010, EPA had three successful prosecution outcomes against SITA Australia Pty Ltd and Swift Australia (Southern) Pty Ltd,” the spokesperson said.
“Two of these delivered funding to various local community projects which is a great outcome.
“In addition, EPA issued 27 notices to companies in the Brooklyn area requiring them to take action and ensure there is no visible dust beyond their site boundary.”
Hobsons Bay Mayor Michael Raffoul said a strong focus of his mayoralty will be tackling pollution issues in Brooklyn and Altona.
“As part of my mayoral program, I proposed to include an environmental aspect which will benefit industries that comply at the highest standard with being sustainable,” Cr Raffoul said.
“The industries that play up – particularly in Brooklyn, if they’re big enough to profit in than I’m sure they’re smart enough to correct the issue.
“The residents can see that the EPA and council are doing better than good enough to tackle these issues.”
The EPA spokesperson said the authority will maintain its focus on the Brooklyn Industrial Precinct in 2011 and aimed at improving conditions for local residents, ensuring companies take appropriate action to protect the environment.
