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State government bureaucrats delayed by four years the release of a critical report on lead contamination in children’s blood, citing concerns about media coverage, the negative reaction from mining companies and how it would affect mining activities in other parts of the state.
A scientific report completed in 2019 found two operating mines in Broken Hill were contributing to elevated blood lead levels in children, and that the problem could not be attributed solely to legacy environmental contamination from the town’s historic mining boom.
Internal documents show NSW Environment Protection Agency bureaucrats acknowledged the urgency of releasing the scientific report, but were concerned about the reaction from mining companies and the community. Credit: Monique Westermann/Getty Images
The study was released in November 2023, almost four years after it was first presented to the NSW Environmental Protection Agency.
In internal documents made public during budget estimates this month, bureaucrats at the state’s environment watchdog repeatedly acknowledge the urgency of the report but blame the delay on the COVID-19 pandemic and later discomfort from mining companies Perilya and CBH Resources “about what might be expected of them as a result” of the study’s release.
The publication was further delayed by the Department of Premier and Cabinet in March 2023. It did not receive final ministerial approval until seven months later, the documents reveal.
The revelations have reignited speculation about the timing of the report’s release, just days after the end of a parliamentary inquiry into the health impacts of mining in NSW, which meant it was not discussed or included in the inquiry’s final report and recommendations.
Nova Pearce plays in her front yard in south Broken Hill. Her family moved to temporary accommodation this year while taxpayer-funded remediation works were completed to remove lead from the home and yard. Credit: Em Jensen
In an email chain from August 2023, EPA staff share their concerns about the timing of the report’s release, “given all of the holes we could fall into with it”.
They cite the parliamentary inquiry, the Department of Premier and Cabinet’s new strategy on lead in Broken Hill and increased scrutiny on dust pollution from the Cadia gold mine in the NSW Central West as issues that need to be considered before publication.
Greens upper house MP and mining spokeswoman Cate Faehrmann, who sat on the 2023 parliamentary inquiry, said the NSW public deserved a strong and independent watchdog to protect the community from polluting industries.
“It’s a dereliction of its duty as the environmental regulator, for the EPA to sweep this report under the carpet instead of ensuring the mines do what’s necessary to protect the community’s health from pollution,” she said. “These emails certainly warrant further investigation, to see whether NSW has a problem with undue industry influence over the state’s environmental regulator.”
In a statement, the EPA disputes suggestions the report was suppressed.
A spokesman said copies of the draft report were provided to other government agencies, industry stakeholders and the Broken Hill Environmental Lead Program’s steering committee, which included representatives from the Aboriginal community and a Broken Hill Council “stakeholder community group”.
The report cites pollutant data from 2018 showing Perilya’s mines emitted 27 tonnes of lead into the environment, compared with 88 kilograms from CBH’s Rasp mine, noting this may have decreased since.
Neither company responded to requests for comment.
Broken Hill Mines bought the CBH mine in October last year. Head of corporate sustainability Shane Goodwin said the company was focused on working with government, health agencies and the local community on practical measures to reduce lead exposure risk.
The report’s authors, Mark Taylor and Cynthia Isley from Macquarie University, first briefed the report to EPA officials in 2019. It was not presented to the two mining companies until October 2022, after Taylor emailed the EPA in June to say it was “becoming so old it’s embarrassing it’s not out”.
By January 2023, Taylor’s frustration with the delay was being shared by bureaucrats within the EPA, who were also keen to reassure the miners they were not trying to “single them out”.
“I think we have to push the mines and get the report out,” wrote one official. “It’s becoming ridiculous, given it was first presented to the EPA in 2019.”
Renee Morrison of Maari Ma Health Aboriginal Corporation tests a family’s backyard for lead. Credit: Rhett Wyman
In March, after incoming chief executive Tony Chappel inquired about the report, an executive replied to say the mining companies had “pretty much refused to engage”, other than to say they would prefer the reports were not published.
As the EPA moved closer to publishing the report, officials told other departments and the mining companies the report would be quietly published online with no media release or active promotion of the publication.
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“When we say ‘release’ we mean quietly load it onto the LeadSmart website and not tell anyone,” one official wrote.
The report recommended strategies for lowering childhood blood lead levels in Broken Hill, including setting an acceptable “trigger value” for lead dust emissions.
Taylor, who retains an honorary professorship at Macquarie University, was earlier this year appointed to an executive role with the NSW government’s Climate Change, Energy and Environment Department after four years as Victoria’s chief environmental scientist.
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