Section 74F - Environmental Management and Pollution Control Act 1994 - Remediation notice

74FRemediation notice

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74F Remediation notice

(1) The Director may issue a remediation notice in respect of an area of land that is a contaminated site for the purpose of requiring the taking of action to ensure that persons are protected from harm, and the environment is protected from harm or further harm, that is or is likely to be caused by the relevant pollutant in, on or under that area of land when that area of land is used in accordance with its existing land use or a proposed land use.

(2) The Director may serve a remediation notice in respect of an area of land on any person the Director reasonably believes is, or is likely to be, wholly or partly responsible for causing that area of land to be a contaminated site.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2) and without limiting that subsection, an owner, occupier or person in charge, or former owner, occupier or person in charge, of an area of land (the "pollutant source land") may be taken to be responsible for causing the pollutant source land, or another area of land, in respect of which the remediation notice is issued to be a contaminated site if he or she, while such an owner, occupier or person in charge, in the opinion of the Director –

(a) knew, suspected or reasonably should have suspected that there was in, on or under the pollutant source land a pollutant in a concentration greater than the background concentration; and

(b) allowed or is likely to have allowed the pollutant to escape or be discharged, emitted or released into, on or under the pollutant source land or that other area of land.

(4) The Director may serve a remediation notice in respect of an area of land on the owner of the area of land who is not or is not likely to be responsible for causing that area of land to be a contaminated site if –

(a) the owner became the owner of the area of land after the commencement of this section; and

(b) the Director is of the opinion that, at the time that owner became the owner of the area of land, that owner knew, suspected or should have reasonably suspected that the area of land was or was likely to be a contaminated site; and

(c) either –

(i) the Director has been unable to identify, find or serve with the notice under , after taking all reasonable steps to do so, any person who the Director reasonably believes is, or is likely to be, wholly or partly responsible for causing that area of land to be a contaminated site; or