The NSW Government decision to acquire the former Pasminco smelter site at Boolaroo is welcome.
Finding a productive use for that site and attracting businesses that will employ local people must be a priority for the NSW Government.
The NSW Government must also commit to allocating all profits it makes out of redeveloping the site to assist residents in remediating their properties.
It is unfair that the burden of remediation of privately-owned blocks of residential land – at a cost of up to $100,000 – has fallen to individual property owners.
The Pasminco smelter closed in 2003 and Boolaroo, Speers Point and Argenton residents are still struggling 16 years later to understand whether their land is contaminated and how it should be remediated.
Zinifex, the company that grew from the ashes of Pasminco and took on the best of the lead and zinc miner’s assets, did not take on its environmental and moral liabilities in Lake Macquarie. Such an act of corporate bastardry will not be forgotten.
But it is the NSW Government who is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the lead abatement strategy is successful and our community is safe.
There is no known safe level of lead exposure, but we do know that the impact of lead toxicity is particularly harmful for young children.
The residents did not cause the pollution. They should not have to pay to clean it up.