A Southland dairy farm manager has been fined $51,575 after his latest appearance in Environment Court. [File photo]
Wayne Carpenter was sentenced this month on three charges, two relating to discharging a contaminant on land, which may enter water, and one for breaching an abatement notice, by Judge B P Dwyer.
In a written decision released last week, Dwyer fined Carpenter $42,200 for the discharge charges and $9375 for the abatement breach charge.
Fernlea Farm Limited, the company that owned the farm Carpenter managed and that he was one of five directors of, was also sentenced for the same three charges and fined the same total amount of $51,575.
When reaching his verdict, the judge said an uplift needed to be considered because Carpenter had 17 previous convictions and the offending was similar to those previous offences, which primarily involved dairy discharges.
The seriousness of the previous offences involved starting points of $140,000, $50,000 and $190,000, in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
“The counterbalancing factor is that this current offending appears to be considerably less serious in terms of extent and effect than Mr Carpenter’s earlier offending,” the judge said.
Environment Southland laid the charges after an inspection on May 1, 2019, found Fernlea had failed to comply with discharge consent conditions after a cracked silage storage pad had not been repaired, new concrete nibbing was not constructed and damaged nibbing was allowing effluent to run-off onto unsealed ground.
An abatement notice was issued on May 3, requiring Fearlea to cease any unauthorised discharges.
Further inspections on May 8, June 21 and July 16 last year found ongoing inadequacies and systems failures with the farm effluent systems.
The June inspection detected a discharge of effluent in a paddock near the farm milking shed, which had been caused by a broken concrete nib.
The effluent travelled through farm paddocks and drains, and into an unnamed waterway.
Compliance staff also observed effluent overflowing from a stone trap.
The environmental impact of the damage was considered “measurable, but minor” on the water downstream of the discharge points.
Source:stuff.co.nz
