In the ongoing debate over Southern Waste Solution’s (SWS) proposed hazardous materials landfill at Copping, SWS CEO, Christine Bell has marked her tenure in this role with what appears to me to be scant regard for accuracy.
On Tuesday last, the Mercury reported that Southern Waste Solutions (SWS) was likely to commence construction of the proposed Copping C Cell before the end of the year. Of course we have heard this all before, most notably in April 2014. At that time we were told that construction of the C cell should be completed by the end of that calendar year.
SWS CEO Christine Bell said in a Mercury article on April 17, 2014 ‘…We will be proceeding to construct hopefully within the next six months”.
However, more concerning to me than Ms Bell’s continued arbitrary announcements around the imminence of SWS’s project, was the misleading comment in response to landfill remediation costs in the August 25 Mercury article.
Ms Bell was quoted as saying ‘ …several million dollars had been set aside for [future] management & insurance.’
The most recent financial statement for SWS, for the financial year ending June 30, 2014 and published in December 2014 states the following in relation to monies set aside for remediation and ongoing environmental management beyond the lifetime of the landfill: ‘ …because the life of the landfill is in excess of 100 years these costs are considerably remote in time. Therefore the present value of any costs of remediation is immaterial and has not been accounted for.’
SWS’s financial statements make it clear that they do not make any substantial profit whatsoever and could never possibly set aside a contingency fund of ‘several million dollars’ under their current business model.
In 17 years of operation, SWS has only ever recorded a surplus for one financial year. The 2013 bushfires saw a one-off significant increase in demolition waste volumes that led to an operating surplus of $634,728 for that year. The following year (2014) saw a post-tax surplus of $152,324, which was only made possible by a one-off Commonwealth government payment of $259,400 as a compensation payment for taking fire related debris in the preceding year.
SWS has an accumulated operating surplus of a little over 1 million dollars after 17 years in operation. The 2014 financial statement reveals a net fair value for SWS of a little over $3 million, total liabilities of almost $5 million and reserves of $627,000.
In contrast, the Hobart City Council (HCC) introduced a levy to ratepayers of $50 per household and $100 per commercial premise in 2011 to help manage site rehabilitation and remediation.
Indeed the recent works conducted on the McRobies gully landfill site, which included surface water diversion works along with an upgrade of the wonderful resource recovery shop, cost in order of $9 million.
Earlier this year the HCC general manager was quoted as saying, ‘Works are estimated to cost $8.6 million, which is far beyond council’s normal resources’.
These costs are likely to be dwarfed by the final cost of remediation and rehabilitation at the end of the landfill’s operating life – recently extended to 2030.
The Southern Beaches Conservation Society asks SWS CEO, Ms Bell on behalf of all Tasmanians who read her comments in the Mercury of 25 August – where are the ‘several millions’ you refer to coming from?
