Esperance pleads guilty to lesser charges

The port said it had changed its plea to guilty after the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) dropped the charge of causing pollution with criminal negligence and agreed to significant changes to the level of alleged pollution the DEC claimed was caused by the port.

The port faced six charges relating to lead carbonate exports and nickel concentrate odour in December 2006 and March 2007.

Following the concession by the DEC regarding the level of pollution and its acknowledgement that the port did not act recklessly, it was agreed it was in the best interests of the port and the town of Esperance for the port to plead guilty and focus on the future.

The authority's chief executive, Captain Dennis Parsons, said the port was keen to avoid a lengthy trial and wanted to instead focus on the port’s future developments.

"The port acknowledges that errors of judgement were made and accepts its share of responsibility - however there was never any deliberate wrongdoing by any person at the port," Capt Parsons said.

“The port accepts that at the time of the incidents, the processes and procedures it had in place, which had been approved by the DEC, were not sufficient to deal with the issues which arose from the condition of the lead carbonate delivered by Magellan Metals.

"There are now new robust environmental practices and procedures in place.”

Captain Parsons acknowledged that while there could not be any justification for any health risk to any member of the community, or for endangering wildlife, court records confirmed that the effect was far less than the initial figures reported at the time.

Court records show that 420 birds died during two separate incidents, not 9000 as claimed in some media reports.

The records also showed that "thousands of people" were not affected by the incident and that of the 2722 community members tested, seven children aged under five were identified as having lead in their system above the recommended level.

Subsequent testing established that one child with a result above the recommended level had Magellan lead in their system.

The court records did not find that the port’s activities caused pollution of buildings, parks or rainwater tanks.