GRANT District elected members have raised fears hundreds of cars stockpiled at a Compton quarry are potentially leaching pollutants into the underground aquifer.
This follows claims fluids from these cars are leaching into the underground water table at his quarry along Megaw Road.
These claims are the latest twist in the ongoing legal saga surrounding controversial scrap metal merchant Keith Pearson.
It is understood investigators from the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) have been at the quarry in recent weeks.
Mr Pearson – who has been embroiled in council-related legal issues for more than decade – had piled more than 500 cars and countless other scrap metal items into his Compton property.
But an adamant Mr Pearson this week categorically denied his operation was polluting the water table, claiming the EPA would “shut him down” if that was occurring.
Cr Graham Slarks raised the alarm at Monday night’s council meeting by claiming not all of the fluids had been de-cantered from the vehicles.
“Given it (the quarry) is above the water table, it is a worry. It is a violation of the EPA,” Cr Slarks said.
“The only way he got approval was that it was metal only and no possible contaminants.”
Adding to the concern, Cr Julie Reis questioned what the EPA was doing to stop the alleged pollution.
Council environmental services director Leith McEvoy said the EPA was aware of the issue and revealed the decommissioning of car fluids was part of the approval requirements.
He said the site was an EPA licensed facility.
Cr Gillian Clayfield also expressed her frustration regarding the ongoing environmental issues linked to Mr Pearson.
“It does not appear to matter what comes up, he (Keith Pearson) gets away with it,” Cr Clayfield said.
“If he is breaching the EPA, then it is our job as a council to say this is not okay.”
Cr Clayfield warned council must act otherwise it was sending the wrong message.
“If we do not then we are saying to people that it really does not matter what the EPA says because you can get around it,” she said.
But Mr Pearson said a major clean-up of the quarry was under way and he planned to remove 80pc of the material.
He said the car bodies were being decommissioned responsibly, either at his Millicent branch or on the quarry site.
“The baler has its own drain on it as well – the main thing it is catching is the water from the boots of cars,” Mr Pearson said.
He accused some councillors of being “anti-business”.
Mr Pearson said the baler had already “ripped through” a section of the property and foreshadowed 80pc would be removed.
“We are EPA licensed and we have had EPA inspectors out here,” he said.
“If we were in trouble, we would not be operating.
“The councillors will not give up – they just do not want their egos to lose.”
Council chief executive officer David Singe said he had taken a “step by step” approach with Mr Pearson over the issues at the site.
“I have made it perfectly clear the standards will have to be complied with – so far they have been ignored for a long period of time,” Mr Singe said.
“I’m not a believer in miracles in that sense, but I have been trying very hard to go in the right direction.”
Mr Singe is scheduled to meet with EPA chief executive Tony Circelli in Mount Gambier this week.
