2017/2023 – Richmond RAAF Base (New South Wales) – PFAS

PFAS settlement for Richmond residents

May 15, 2023. https://hawkesburypost.com.au/pfas-win-for-richmond-residents/

Richmond landowners are part of a $132.7 million class action settlement with the Federal government over contamination by toxic PFAS chemicals around eight airforce sites across the country

PFAS (a family of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) are also known as forever chemicals, due to the fact that they do not deteriorate over time. They were used by RAAF in their fire retardants across the country, including at Richmond RAAF base.

The suit alleged that the Commonwealth did not adequately prevent toxic chemicals from fire-fighting foam contaminating soil and groundwater at seven sites around Australia.

Still, questions remain about the real extent of PFAS contamination in the Richmond area including a recent move by the Western Sydney University Hawkesbury campus to abandon a  planned Centre of Excellence for Agriculture Education after PFAS was found on the site. This recent discovery is outside the designated area of management although at this stage the Education Department is blaming the levels of PFAS on landfill.

There are also unanswered questions of just how much each of the 30,000 or so complainants will receive.

“When I first heard I was quite pleased at least it’s an acknowledgement but when you divide it up between the people a straight division of about $4,000 per person. But some will get more than others,” Joanna Pickford who started the Hawkesbury PFAS Community Network and Facebook page.

“I doubt whether I will get very much at all and I have spent $17,000 of ny superannuation to clean up my land so people including my grandchildren can use it, so they can’t get to the soil and get contaminated. I can no longer free range my chickens or plant vegetables in most of the garden.”

Pickford said that directions to the news of the contamination which first came to light in 2018 had varied.

“A couple of people sold once they learned about the contamination and other people are pretending that it isn’t happening. But people are not required to tell people under the law and Hawkesbury Council certainly doesn’t want people talking about it as it harms property values.

“I approached the council but they never got back to me,” Pickford said.

The multi-site class action by law firm Shine Lawyers on behalf of about 30,000 Australians was due to begin a six week hearing in the Federal Court in Sydney Monday. The settlement must be ratified by a judge. Once that has occurred, claimants will begin to receive information about their payouts.

The class action was also on behalf of landowners in Wagga Wagga (NSW), Wreck Bay (NSW), Wodonga (VIC), Darwin (NT), Townsville (QLD), Edinburgh (SA) and Bullsbrook (WA) to compensate them for significant drops in property prices.

PFAS has been linked to cancer and last year the Environmental Protection Authority in the US said these chemicals pose a greater danger to human health than previously thought. Australian authorities have been much slower to come to terms with the damage that PFAS causes.

The settlement came only days after a new report from Swedish NGO ChemSec was previewed by The Guardian. It said that the societal costs of PFAS globally amounted to US $17.5 trillion ($2.54tr) annually. At the same time,  the chemicals yielded about US$4billion annually for the world’s major PFAS manufacturers.

ChemSec found that 12 companies account for most of the world’s PFAS production and pollution including 3M, Chemours, Solvay, Daikin, Honeywell, BASF, Merk and Bayer. So far only 3M has announced it would stop producing PFAS, in part because of regulatory pressure and litigation.

The report is expected to be released publicly within the next few weeks.

It is also unclear now much of the settlement will be taken by Shine which has gained a reputation for swallowing considerable amounts of its class action settlements.

Last year, Shine aimed to take almost $100m in fees for its successful pelvic mesh class action against Johnson & Johnson (Ethicon) on behalf of 11,000 women that scored a $400 million settlement. Shine’s claim included prompting the court to order the distribution of the proceeds to be put out to tender.

Richmond RAAF Base

https://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/your-environment/contaminated-land/pfas-investigation-program/pfas-investigation-sites/Richmond-RAAF-Base

The Department of Defence has undertaken detailed investigations into PFAS (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) contamination stemming from the historical use of fire-fighting foams at RAAF Base Richmond.

These investigations have included an Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) and Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA) to assess potential risks to human health and the environment. This included sampling of surface water, groundwater, sediment, soil and produce both on and off the Base, as well as fish from the Hawkesbury River. The ERA and HHRA have helped to Identify and understand the pathways through which people can be exposed to these chemicals, such as drinking water.The results have identified that in certain areas, there is the potential for people to be exposed to PFAS through the consumption of home grown produce which was grown in contaminated soils, or where contaminated groundwater or surface water is being used.The NSW PFAS Taskforce has analysed the results from the Hawkesbury fish sampling and has determined that the community does not need to take additional precautions to reduce their exposure to PFAS.

The EPA has requested that additional work be undertaken for the investigation and will provide further information as it becomes available.

Although the NSW Government does not regulate Defence sites, they have agreed to conduct investigations in a manner that is consistent with the EPA’s requirements.

The NSW Government is committed to working closely with all relevant government agencies, to closely monitor the progress of the investigation, and to keep the community informed. Agencies include the Department of Defence, NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI), NSW Health, and NSW Food Authority.