Delta Electricity prosecuted over fish kill

In 2022, locals were horrified as over 15,000 fish and rays washed up on the shores of Lake Macquarie.

Now, the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) is prosecuting Delta Electricity, the owner of Vales Point power station, for its role in this mass fish kill. 

The two-week trial is the first EPA prosecution against an NSW coal-fired power station in more than a decade. 

Delta prosecuted over fish kill

When rotting fish and rays lined the shores of Lake Macquarie, residents were suspicious that Delta Electricity’s nearby coal fired power station, Vales Point, was to blame.  

After an investigation by the state’s environmental watchdog, the EPA concluded there was evidence to show that pollution from Vales Point may have caused the mass deaths. The EPA alleged that Delta “could have prevented the fish kill”. 

The EPA is prosecuting Delta for its alleged failure to maintain its chlorine dosing plant in a proper and efficient condition, resulting in a faulty valve that caused a discharge of concentrated sodium hypochlorite into waters leading to Wyee Bay, at Lake Macquarie. 

As a result, thousands of fish and whitespotted eagle rays were killed. The prosecution comes after sustained community campaigning against numerous pollution issues from Delta’s Vales Point – including its impact on community health from toxic air pollution, contamination of groundwater from its coal ash dump and its non-compliance with NSW air pollution laws. 

The only other EPA prosecution against an NSW coal-fired power station was against Delta Electricity in 2009 for its operations at Wallerawang power station, which has since closed.  

Vales Point is the oldest power station in NSW. 

“The EPA’s investigation and prosecution has been a big win for the community, regardless of the outcome. It comes after sustained campaigning around Lake Macquarie against numerous pollution issues from Vales Point.” 

— Isabella Farrell-Hallegraeff, EJA Lawyer