Timber firm can’t pay arsenic fine

A Nelson timber company prosecuted for emissions of arsenic has gone into liquidation, meaning it could not pay a $270,000 fine.

Hunter Laminates 2014 Ltd was sentenced in the Nelson District Court last week for illegally discharging toxic chemicals into the air from its Richmond plant.

The court heard that the company had gone into liquidation in April, and entered a guilty plea to the charge on June 28. Documents showed it owed $778,000 to creditors, with no assets.

The Tasman District Council, which took the prosecution, said the judge found the offending to be one of the most serious cases he had dealt with, and had indicated that a fine of $270,000 would have been imposed if the company had any ability to pay. The council said this would have been one of the highest fines imposed under the Resource Management Act.

The council prosecuted Hunter Laminates over the illegal burning of timber waste between 2014 and 2016 that had been treated with chromated copper arsenate (CCA), widely used as a timber preservative.

A council summary of facts said the main air contaminant from the burned timber was arsenic, classified as a nonthreshold, high potency carcinogen. Arsenic emissions had the potential to be inhaled by residents in the surrounding area, which included schools and recreational areas, or ingested through produce.

Hunter Laminates did not hold a resource consent for any discharge to air activity on the property.

The summary said that in May 2015, the council received a complaint about ongoing offensive smoke discharge from the plant. Two other complaints, in August 2014 and February 2016, were made about wood dust and ash being discharged on a neighbouring business.

A sample of the wood dust collected by council in February 2016 revealed arsenic, chromium and copper were present in both the unburnt wood chip and the burnt ash.

Council monitoring of the Richmond airshed between 2013 and 2016 detected an industrial source of pollution, with elevated levels of CCA.

A further ash sample taken from Hunter Laminates’ boiler in August 2016 contained the presence of arsenic, chromium and copper.

Later that month, an abatement notice was served on the company, which required it to cease all discharges to air from the use of the boiler.

The council took the view that the offending had been deliberate and sustained, while the company argued that the offending was inadvertent and sporadic.