Rio Tinto Alcan Petrol Spill Incident Inquiry

The EPA’s report of its inquiry, released in February 2011, provides advice to the Minister and the community on the effectiveness of the Department of Resources’ response to the incident, and the way in which the response was coordinated.

The June 2010 incident at the Rio Tinto mine site at Gove resulted in 75 000 litres of unleaded fuel leaking into the environment from a 1968 vintage storage tank.

The EPA worked alongside relevant  agencies to assess the effectiveness of their procedures and to uncover gaps or discrepancies in the way the incident response was  managed and coordinated.

The EPA sought information from the Department of Resources on the extent to which its recommendations have been implemented. The department’s response is available below. The EPA has recently provided a submission to the department on the proposed amendments to the Mining Management Act.

The following documents relate to the EPA’s Inquiry:

EPA Final Report: Rio Tinto Alcan Petrol Spill Incident

Submission from Department of Resources

Submission from Department of Resources, following second consultation

Advice from Department of Resources on implementation of recommendations