Caltex Australia has been given a record $400,000 fine and ordered to pay court costs for an uncontrolled fuel discharge at a terminal at Port Botany, which required the extraordinary bravery of a firefighter to stop.
The company was found by the Land and Environment Court on Monday to have leaked about 157,000 litres of petrol from its Banksmeadow terminal over an 81-minute period early on July 12, 2013.
![Fire and Rescue officer Ron Morasso was awarded the force's highest honour for his bravery.](/web/20170222180858im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/h/0/p/0/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gugrop.png/1487660471367.jpg)
The court noted the fuel escaped vertically, like a "geyser", showering the fuel into a bunded area on the site, while also creating a vapour cloud of petroleum.
The fine covered two charges, one of them a so-called tier-one offence reserved for the most serious environmental incidents.
Caltex was also ordered to pay the prosecutor's legal costs of $450,000.
Caltex will pay half of the fine - in the form of an environmental service order - to the City of Botany Bay's bushland project at Sir Joseph Banks Park, and the remainder to a fund supporting fishing in the bay.
While Justice Terry Sheahan determined there was no lasting or significant environmental harm from the incident, he noted the spill created "the risk of ignition and the consequent risk of a major fire".
The NSW Environment Protection Authority said the fine was a record amount for a single offence.
"It is the role of companies within our community to ensure that they are operating in an environmentally safe and responsible manner, and in this instance that was unfortunately not the case," Barry Buffier, EPA chair and chief executive, said.
"Had Caltex applied their own required processes, then checks would have been in place to prevent an incident as serious as this from occurring."
For its part, Caltex said it had undertaken an "extensive investigation" following the incident.
"While no one was seriously injured, the fuel was fully-contained and there was no harm to the environment, this was nevertheless an extremely rare and highly-regrettable event in our long history serving Australian motorists and businesses," the company said.
'Horrifying'
Jeff Angel, executive director of the Total Environment Centre, said "the potential for an appalling environmental disaster was horrifying".
"That the leak was contained mitigated the harm, and the large fine plus legal costs should encourage Caltex to improve its procedures," he said.
Ron Morasso, a NSW Fire and Rescue officer, waded knee-deep through the pool of fuel and fire-retardant foam to close the valve from a 2 million litre-sized tank.
For his bravery, the now retired fire officer received the force's highest honour – the Medal for Conspicuous Bravery – in May 2014.
The court heard that one of the staff on site, Pasquale Crisafulli, a contractor worker, was found to have been intoxicated at the time of the incident, and had been consuming alcohol during his shift.
Mr Crisafulli was doused by the leaking fuel, ingesting some of it. Shortly after the incident, Mr Crisafulli was tested at the Prince of Wales Hospital and found to have a blood alcohol level of 0.267 per cent, according to the court's judgment.