Mr Robert "RAtkins" Director of the Department of Environment and Conservation says research has uncovered a concentrated plume of toxins directly under the original site of the fire and another larger plume from years of chemicals leaching into the ground from the Waste Control site....He admits if the plume reaches the river it could have dire consequences.

“Many of them are highly toxic chemicals that are toxic to wildlife. It will really depend on what concentration they are by the time they get to the river” he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/wa/content/2006/s1671815.htm

Bernie, you were on the Bellevue Fire parliamentary committee but have obfuscated the findings:

Finding 11

The Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Minerals and Energy continued to licence Waste Control despite consistent non- compliance with licence conditions.

Finding 18

The Cabinet approved loan of $100,000 to remove the 1999 backlog of drums from the Waste Control premises was ineffective in dealing with the long-term regulatory and operational failures.

Finding 23

Despite evidence of Waste Control’s:

repeated breaches of its licence conditions;

its lack of funds to comply with upgrades/rectification of breaches;

and:

general poor management of the site,

the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Minerals and Energy continued to issue operational licences with conditions, with only minor improvements in Waste Control’s performance.

Finding 42

There was a systemic breakdown in standards and mechanisms intended to protect human and environmental health and safety.

Mr Mitchell representing the Crown stated:

In 1999, approximately 2000 205-litre drums of waste dating back up to 10 years were held on the premises. The manner of storage of much of this waste did not comply with the requirements of the Dangerous Goods Act and the Explosives and Dangerous Goods Handling and Storage Regulations 1992.34

http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/Parliament/commit.nsf/(Report+Lookup+by+Com+ID)/90472DFBF80F6C1A48256BE5002D604E/$file/BellevueFinalReport2.pdf

During all these catastrophes, I was naively, a paid up member of the Liberal Party!

Tut tut Bernie Masters - free trader - though free for whom? You'll have to do better than these examples to convince me that the 'poisoning of WA' was merely a figment of some environmentalists' imagination.

2.6 million square kilometres of land in WA and you can only come up with 3 or 4 significantly polluted sites. An objective person would conclude that we've done pretty well to date in managing our wastes and to claim that we've 'poisoned WA' is simply untrue.
Bellevue was a disaster waiting to happen because there was no overall plan for managing the wastes from dry cleaners. No govt official or minister was found to have acted contrary to the interests of the state, even though there were 3 Labor members on the 5 person committee and the fire happened a few days after the change of govt in 2001, giving the new govt every opportunity to bag Cheryl Edwardes, but they didn't because she didn't do anything wrong.
dickie, I look at the 2,599,990 square kilometres of WA that aren't seriously polluted and congratulate the bureaucrats and past govts who have done a good job under difficult circumstances.

Bernie Masters

Again, you appear unaware that Australia is the largest polluter per capita in the world. In addition, you need to understand the nature of emissions where many industrial chemicals are transboundary and capable of travelling many miles from the source.

Apart from the science on anthropogenic emissions, the NEPC during 1998, estimated there were 80,000 contaminated sites in this country –a large proportion was a result of unremediated mine sites, therefore, industry, bureaucrats and politicians have performed appallingly.

Of course when you have lawyers, bankers and candlestick makers in charge of the Environment and Mining portfolios, what can one expect?

In fairness to your party, I congratulate Dr Kim Hames (Acting Chairman of the Inquiry into the Esperance Lead scandal) who, in the following preamble, exposed the criminal intent of yet another mining company (and other cockroaches:)

“Firstly it amazes me that, in this day and age of modern methods of mining, transport, monitoring and assessment, it takes the death of native birds, like the canaries of old, to alert the people of the Town of Esperance to the poisoning of their community.

“.........The Committee has done its absolute best to elucidate these failures – with a feeling of disbelief and outrage, on behalf of the Esperance Community.

“The Committee has identified major failings in DEC’s industry regulation function and shortcomings in other regulatory agencies.

"The Committee believes that these regulatory failures combined with the irresponsible and possibly unlawful conduct of the Esperance Port Authority, Magellan Metals and BIS Industrial Logistics, exposed workers and the community to unacceptable and avoidable health and environmental risks.”

Alas, no allusions to the failings of the colluding Ministers for the Environment and Mining, whose determinations are final!

So whilst we’re on the subject of crooks, cronies and cash cows, coupled with a sensation of deja vu, I provide you with an historical account on the past shenanigans of the Uranium Club:

http://www.foe.org.au/resources/chain-reaction/chain-reaction-editions/chain-reaction-100/famous-moments-in-foe-history-exposing-the-uranium-cartel-in-1976