Page 451 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 8 March 2011
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longer than one year and at least once in the period of five years. The bill seeks to maintain the safeguards incorporated within the Environment Protection Act 1997 while, where appropriate, removing unnecessary regulatory burdens on industry and business.
The Environment Protection Act 1997 is an important piece of legislation which provides the regulatory framework to help reduce and eliminate the discharge of pollutants into the environment. Overall, the desired outcome of the act is a healthy environment, achieved in a sustainable way with appropriate regard to economic and social considerations.
Schedule 1 of the act lists class A activities which have the potential to cause environmental harm. Due to the potential for significant environmental harm of these activities, the act requires that such activities be regulated by an environmental authorisation. These activities vary in their nature and impacts. For example, quarrying activities have potential adverse impacts on air quality as they release particulates. They have the potential to disturb surrounding ecological communities and water discharges from quarrying sites have the potential to impact on the local ecology and water quality.
The operation of concrete batch plants can also have adverse impacts as discharges from the operation site have the potential to degrade air and water quality and increase sedimentation of receiving waterways. An environmental authorisation is one of the most important regulatory tools utilised by the Environment Protection Authority, the EPA. It is a form of licence which allows a person or business belonging to an industry to conduct class A activities that are regulated to the highest level in the act. The authorisation itself imposes strict requirements to ensure that the potential environmental risks associated in conducting the activity are minimised.
This may include regular reporting of activity levels, reporting of environmental changes observed as prescribed in legislative standards and remediation of any disturbed environment. Along with the offence and penalty provisions for environmental breaches, the environmental authorisation sets out strict conditions, parameters and standards under which the activity can be conducted. Under the act there are three classes of environmental authorisations: standard, accredited and special environmental authorisations.
A standard authorisation, which can be issued for an unlimited period or a period of up to three years, is the most common authorisation issued by the EPA. An accredited authorisation can be issued to a person who is applying for an environmental improvement initiative as specified by the act, while a special authorisation of up to three years can be issued for research and development, including the trialling of experimental equipment.
Due to the potential risks inherent in conducting class A activities, the EPA assesses each individual application for an environmental authorisation prior to granting the authorisation and throughout the lifespan of the authorisation. Before granting an environmental authorisation, the EPA assesses a number of factors relevant to it. These may include the risk of environmental harm posed by the activity, the economic
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