Pragmatism rules the day
The recent decision of The Minister for the Environment
– v – Eclipse Resources Pty ltd (administrator
appointed) handed down in the Supreme Court of Western
Australia, is a fine display of pragmatism and a reminder of the
voluntary administration regime's effectiveness.
Background
The Minister claimed that Eclipse Resources failed to pay a
waste disposal levy over a six-year period. Eclipse's business
was mining land (it owned or leased) to recover and sell limestone
and virgin soil. It accepted a fee for "waste" soils from
parties such as land developers seeking to dispose of unwanted or
excess soils. Some of these soils were blended with other soils to
create water retentive soils, which it then resold to land
developers for large scale landscaping projects. Whatever soils
were not blended and resold were buried in the void created from
the original mining activities. Ultimately, over many decades,
Eclipse intended to fill the void
