http://www.echo.net.au/2016/10/lawsuit-t...mpaigners/
Sneaky sneaky Sir An(g)us and Electric Blue, sneaky sneaky OOL airport management
Lawsuit over toxic airport foam watched by Tweed campaigners
Brisbane [AAP]
A class-action lawsuit over chemical contamination in the Queensland town of Oakey is being closely watched by campaigners in the Tweed concerned about similar contamination in Coolangatta Creek near Gold Coast Airport where the same type of chemical foam was used at a firefighting training site.
The Queensland lawsuit is a step closer after Australia’s largest litigation funder, IMF Bentham, agreed to provide financial backing.
It is being led by Shine Lawyers principal Peter Shannon, will be brought against the Department of Defence over contamination caused by chemicals used in firefighting foam at a nearby army base.
Mr Shannon said the town had been treated with ‘callous disregard’ by the commonwealth after two years of negotiation, including a direct recommendation from a Senate inquiry that residents be compensated.
‘This agreement will provide the security and backing residents need in their fight for fair compensation and will enable us to carry a case of this magnitude through the courts,’ he said on Thursday.
Toxic firefighting foam has been leaching into the ground and water around defence sites across the country, including the Oakey Army Aviation base and in the Hunter Valley.
Queensland has already banned foam containing pollutants, including perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).
The town’s Chamber of Commerce last month warned the ongoing saga was stopping investment and unfairly tarnishing Oakey as ‘toxic’.
The IMF agreement will indemnify litigant members against liability for the defendant’s legal costs should the claim be unsuccessful.
The majority of legal costs associated with bringing the action would be borne by IMF, with the rest being carried by Shine, Mr Shannon said.
Tweed Heads community campaigner Lindy Smith told Echonetdaily that a recent report sourced through a parliamentary FOI revealed that levels of PFOS contamination of groundwater at Coolangatta Creek near the airport were very high and worrying.
Ms Smith said federal regulatory body Air Services Australia refused to publicly release the August 2008 report on preliminary site contamination at the drill ground at Gold Coast Airport.
She also said Gold Coast Airport managers ’did not disclose for this study that the fire-fighting foam was also used on the east of the runway alongside Coolangatta Creek’.
‘As with other sites around Australia, it is the groundwater that is most impacted by the PFC contaminants which has had a devastating impact on communities,’ she said.
The report recommended that in order ‘to address the potential risk to human health and the environment posed by the identified groundwater impact, it is recommended that additional soil and groundwater monitoring for PFOS and PFOA, in identified AECs be undertaken, on completion of further soil and groundwater investigations, to further monitor the latent risk of groundwater contamination resulting from the historic use of drill ground site’.
It also recommended an upgrade of training procedures ‘to reduce possible contamination to the surrounding environment.’
One would imagine that there is MTF? Indeed......
P7 - Top post GD - if you did not already hold a key to the Tim Tam cupboard;
Sneaky sneaky Sir An(g)us and Electric Blue, sneaky sneaky OOL airport management
Lawsuit over toxic airport foam watched by Tweed campaigners
Brisbane [AAP]
A class-action lawsuit over chemical contamination in the Queensland town of Oakey is being closely watched by campaigners in the Tweed concerned about similar contamination in Coolangatta Creek near Gold Coast Airport where the same type of chemical foam was used at a firefighting training site.
The Queensland lawsuit is a step closer after Australia’s largest litigation funder, IMF Bentham, agreed to provide financial backing.
It is being led by Shine Lawyers principal Peter Shannon, will be brought against the Department of Defence over contamination caused by chemicals used in firefighting foam at a nearby army base.
Mr Shannon said the town had been treated with ‘callous disregard’ by the commonwealth after two years of negotiation, including a direct recommendation from a Senate inquiry that residents be compensated.
‘This agreement will provide the security and backing residents need in their fight for fair compensation and will enable us to carry a case of this magnitude through the courts,’ he said on Thursday.
Toxic firefighting foam has been leaching into the ground and water around defence sites across the country, including the Oakey Army Aviation base and in the Hunter Valley.
Queensland has already banned foam containing pollutants, including perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).
The town’s Chamber of Commerce last month warned the ongoing saga was stopping investment and unfairly tarnishing Oakey as ‘toxic’.
The IMF agreement will indemnify litigant members against liability for the defendant’s legal costs should the claim be unsuccessful.
The majority of legal costs associated with bringing the action would be borne by IMF, with the rest being carried by Shine, Mr Shannon said.
Tweed Heads community campaigner Lindy Smith told Echonetdaily that a recent report sourced through a parliamentary FOI revealed that levels of PFOS contamination of groundwater at Coolangatta Creek near the airport were very high and worrying.
Ms Smith said federal regulatory body Air Services Australia refused to publicly release the August 2008 report on preliminary site contamination at the drill ground at Gold Coast Airport.
She also said Gold Coast Airport managers ’did not disclose for this study that the fire-fighting foam was also used on the east of the runway alongside Coolangatta Creek’.
‘As with other sites around Australia, it is the groundwater that is most impacted by the PFC contaminants which has had a devastating impact on communities,’ she said.
The report recommended that in order ‘to address the potential risk to human health and the environment posed by the identified groundwater impact, it is recommended that additional soil and groundwater monitoring for PFOS and PFOA, in identified AECs be undertaken, on completion of further soil and groundwater investigations, to further monitor the latent risk of groundwater contamination resulting from the historic use of drill ground site’.
It also recommended an upgrade of training procedures ‘to reduce possible contamination to the surrounding environment.’
One would imagine that there is MTF? Indeed......
P7 - Top post GD - if you did not already hold a key to the Tim Tam cupboard;