Sally Legg (PhD Student)
University of South Australia

Project title
Legal and Policy Implications of Risk Assessment in relation to the Assessment and Remediation of Contaminated Sites

Biography
Sally has completed a Bachelor of Science (Biochemistry/Chemistry Double Major) at Flinders University in 2001 a Bachelor of Science Honours (Biochemistry) from Adelaide University in 2003.

Sally has also completed a Bachelor of Law and Legal Practice at Flinders University in 2005 and was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of South Australia in October 2005. 
 

Start date
July 2006

Project details
Contaminated sites are recognised as a major environmental issue for Australia.  Such sites not only pose a possible threat to public health and the environment but also impose an additional burden on society through having significant economic, legal and planning implications. Risk assessment plays a fundamental role in the assessment of these sites, in particular as a means of determining whether remediation of a particular site is required.

Historically, there has been a conservative legal and policy approach to the assessment and remediation of contaminated sites. While generic standards were developed as assessment criteria, these standards often have been misused as remediation standards. These standards were established using highly conservative values since the process underpinning their establishment contains a large element of scientific uncertainty and hence their application as remedial standards has led to criticisms concerning excessive and overly expensive clean-up strategies in Australia.

The trend is to adopt a site based risk assessment approach rather than applying the current generic approach. The result of this trend is a greater reliance upon the in-situ retention of contaminants often by employing institutional controls that gives rise to issues such as long-term stewardship of sites and the finality of this type of cleanup. 

This research will examine the legal and policy implications of risk assessment in relation to both the assessment and remediation of contaminated sites. Part of this examination will involve a discussion of the strength of the relationship between the science that underpins the risk assessment process and the legal and policy frameworks governing the control of sites. The aim of this research is to develop a potential new and improved legal and policy framework applicable to both assessment and remediation of contaminated sites.