Wickham: Newcastle Ampol Fuel terminal

In 2016 and 2019, respectively, part of the terminal site and an adjacent parcel of land at 33 Annie Street (the former Wickham Woolstore property) were declared as significantly contaminated land under the Contaminated Land Management Act.

We issued a notice to extend the declaration to cover the whole terminal after proactive investigations, instigated by the EPA’s ongoing remediation work at the site, found historical groundwater contamination across the site.

We’ve been regulating and overseeing the clean-up of contamination at various locations at the terminal site and during this work we investigated the possibility of more widespread contamination of the site.

All neighbouring properties are being notified and advised that investigations to date have found no risk to their land.  They have also been advised ongoing clean-up of existing declared land on the site may generate hydrocarbon odours.

Ampol’s clean-up activities will be managed carefully to minimise odours and be completed as quickly as possible to reduce any impacts on residents.

Ampol will do further investigations to determine if more clean-up work is needed and has a plan for the site including assessment, monitoring, remediation and keeping the community informed.

We will oversee the management of contamination and ensure any necessary remediation is done in a timely manner and has minimal impact on nearby residents.

Our number one priority is the health and safety of the community and we thank the residents of Wickham for their patience as we work with Ampol to resolve these issues.