Environment Minister David Parker slams Tiwai Point smelter s stockpiling of hazardous waste nzherald.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nzherald.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The toxic waste sits in drums on the Ruakaka property
Photo: RNZ / Claire Eastham-Farrelly
The waste, which has sat at a property in Ruakaka for three years, includes a range of chemicals, some of which are flammable and some which are toxic to aquatic life.
The first stage of the clean up is expected to cost $3 million.
The waste is 110 metres away from electricity lines which power the oil refinery at Marsden Point and 80m from the pipeline which carries petrol, diesel and jet fuel to Auckland.
The township of Ruakaka is 2km away.
Following the two-year-long first stage of the clean up, a second stage, involving testing the soil for contamination and remediating the site, will be needed. The cost of this has yet to be estimated.
The chemicals were illegally stockpiled by companies, including property owner Sustainable Solvents Group, who intended to distil and recycle solvents used in engineering, dry cleaning, printing and painting.
About 1 million litres were never distilled and have remained in rusting, leaking drums for several years while officials tried to get the companies to deal with the mess.
Last year Whangārei District Council obtained an interim enforcement order which allowed it to clean up the site and bill the owners.
The costs were being covered by the Ministry for the Environment, WorkSafe, Northland Regional Council and Whangārei District Council.
The bill is three times more than the last big chemical clean-up undertaken by government agencies, after an electroplating company in Timaru stockpiled 90,000 litres of toxic chemicals.