Another Bayswater Power Station Pollution Penalty

The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has fined AGL Macquarie Pty Limited for an “alleged” water pollution offence at Bayswater Power Station – again.

Bayswater Power Station is a 2,640 MW coal burner situated south of Muswellbrook generating approximately 15,500 GWh of electricity a year. That generation is accompanied by 13,705,014 tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions, other harmful emissions and large volumes of coal ash.

According to the NSW EPA, back in April this year, contractors monitoring the pumping of fly ash – a toxic by-product of burning coal – detected a drop in flow rate. Pumping was ceased and an investigation revealed a hole in the ash transfer pipeline. This resulted in the discharge of slurry overland and into Bayswater Creek.

Staff at the power station notified the EPA and reportedly cleaned up the material.

The volume of material discharged into Bayswater Creek in this latest incident wasn’t mentioned. The penalty applied by the NSW EPA for the “alleged” water pollution offence – $15,000.

Pipeline Plagued By Problems

“This incident was similar, but smaller in scale, to an event in 2019 for which AGL Macquarie has entered into an enforceable undertaking,” said EPA Director Regulatory Operations North Adam Gilligan.

That incident involved the pressurised pipeline carrying coal ash bursting due to internal corrosion. It went undetected for eight hours and a total of 1,440 cubic metres of ash waste wound up the creek. AGL entered into an Enforceable Undertaking (EU) agreement with the NSW EPA over the incident, which required AGL to pay a total of $1.1 million.

Under the EU, AGL must also continue to assess and monitor the condition of the pipeline. The company has committed to replacing it, and has applied for consent to do so. Internal corrosion issues were reportedly first identified by AGL when it purchased the power station from the state government way back in 2014, and there have been other incidents in addition to the two mentioned above.

The ABC notes that up until late last year, AGL’s Bayswater plant has recorded 52 non-compliances with its licence conditions since February 2015.

The new penalty is same level AGL recently copped for an “alleged” air pollution offence at its clapped-out coal fired clunker Liddell Power Station situated just a few kilometres away from Bayswater.

This latest development comes just days after AGL confirmed its intention to split into two businesses – one that will carry the electricity generation portfolio and the other to be the retail and flexible energy trading, storage and supply business.

It’s a move Greenpeace Australia Pacific said was akin to putting “green lipstick on a pig”.

Unlike Liddell Power Station, which will commence closure next year, Bayswater Power Station is to continue operating until 2035 at this point. AGL also wants to keep burning coal at its Loy Yang A power station in Victoria until 2048.

Greenpeace has been turning up the pressure on AGL to ditch coal power altogether and switch entirely to renewables by 2030 through its “Australia’s Greatest Liability” campaign.