Charges laid for milk spill

WA’s environmental watchdog is prosecuting iconic West Australian company Brownes Dairy, alleging it discharged up to 140,000 litres of unprocessed milk into a South West waterway in November 2011.

The Department of Environment and Regulation alleges the milk discharge entered the Elvira Gully – a tributary of the Brunswick River – causing the death of fish and aquatic wildlife.

The DER has charged Brownes with two breaches of the Environmental Protection Act – causing pollution and causing serious environmental harm.

If the allegations are proven to be true, Brownes faces maximum penalties of $500,000 for each charge.

The DER alleges Brownes caused or allowed a discharge of an estimated 70,000 to 140,000 litres of milk into the waterway overnight on November 27 and 28, 2011.

The clean up of the incident involved the removal of an estimated 36 million litres of contaminated water from the river.

A Brownes spokeswoman said the company had responded immediately to the “milk spill“, devoting significant resources and attention to the incident.

“Since then we have co-operated with the Department of Environment and Conservation as they followed their process and investigated the incident, ” she said.

“Given that this is a matter before the courts, we won‘t be commenting directly on any allegations outlined by the Department of Environment and Regulation.”

Brownes is due to appear in the Bunbury Magistrate‘s Court on February 17.