27 March, 2013

Farm pollution offences costs farmer, company $40,000

A judge has ordered a Hukerenui farmer – and a company he’s associated with – to pay a combined total of $40,000 in fines and charges for illegal discharges of dairy effluent into a tributary of the Waipuakakaho Stream in late 2011.

Sentencing notes released recently by Judge Greg Davis cover the penalties he imposed on Stephen Geoffrey Purvis and Share Farms E.P. Limited when they appeared for sentence in the Whangarei District Court in late December last year.

The company – which Purvis is a director of and shareholder in – had earlier admitted a charge laid by the Northland Regional Council of discharging farm dairy effluent into the unnamed tributary and another of contravening an abatement notice at the Hukerenui dairy farm the company has owned since 2003. Purvis (who lives on the farm) had admitted one charge of discharging dairy effluent into the tributary.

At the time of the October 2011 offending, 500 cows were being milked on the farm. A council officer discovered a blocked pipe had caused an unknown volume of untreated effluent to flow into a drain and into the tributary.

In explanation, Purvis said the incident occurred because a sump had blocked with weed in heavy rain and large volumes of water were being used to clean the cowshed, the plant and yard.

The judge said the incident was “an example of offending that has occurred because there has been a failure on the part of the systems that have been put in place to deal with the dairy effluent”.

The judge said he had the impression the farming operation had expanded greatly over the five years or so Purvis had been involved.

“But the reality of it is that as there is a desire to expand the dairy operations and make certain that the income associated with that expansion and the operation grows, there is equally an onus that falls upon the farmer and in this case the company to ensure that the infrastructure that is associated with the farm grows at the same pace.”

It was incumbent on farm owners and companies to ensure effluent disposal systems and other infrastructure kept pace.

The judge said he believed an appropriate starting point for a fine was $60,000, less a $15,000 discount for Purvis and the company’s early guilty pleas. After evidence as to Purvis’ and the “heavily geared” company’s financial positions and ability to pay a fine, he allowed another $5000 deduction.

That left $40,000 total, of which the judge ordered Purvis to pay $5000. The balance of $35,000 must be paid by the company, but that latter figure also included almost $3000 the regional council had spent hiring a forensic accountant to establish the two parties’ financial positions.

The judge said the fines must be paid over six months, with 90 percent of the money to go to the regional council.

ENDS

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