Reform of Environmental Impact Assessment in Western Australia ‘Environmental Assessment in Federations: Current Dynamics and Emerging Issues’ Ottawa, Canada 13-15 September 2009 Dr Paul Vogel Chairman WA Environmental Protection Authority
Jan 16, 2016
Reform of Environmental Impact Assessment in Western Australia
‘Environmental Assessment in Federations: Current Dynamics and Emerging Issues’
Ottawa, Canada13-15 September 2009
Dr Paul VogelChairman
WA Environmental Protection Authority
Economic and Environmental Context
i) Western Australia - big and still growing!
• Western Australia 2.5M sq km; pop 2.2M – Australia 7.6M sq km; pop 21M
– Canada 9M sq km; pop 33M
• WA consistently fastest population growth in Australia– WA 3.1%; Australia 1.9% (Dec 2008)
– Perth 9% 06/07; 10.8% June 2008
ii) Advanced Energy and Mineral Projects (cap cost)¹
WA ($A billion)
Australia ($A billion)
%WA
Energy 27 43 63 Mineral 27 29 93
TOTAL 57 80 71
[Not including Gorgon, Wheatstone and Browse LNG (approximately $A 100 billion) and new and expanded iron ore projects, eg Mineralogy $A 20 billion]
¹ABARE May 2009
iii) Environmental Values, Threats and Challenges
Values• Huge range of terrestrial and marine ecosystems – temperate to
tropical
• Home to some of most unusual and unique biodiversity on the planet– 11,500 known taxa plants (50% of Australia)
– 8 of 12 national ‘biodiversity hotspots’
– 1 of 18 marine biodiversity global ‘hotspots’
– 3,747 islands important for species refuges (13 fauna taxa found only on islands, eg Barrow Island)
– SW of WA one of world’s 34 ‘biodiversity hotspots’
– Pilbara region recently identified as ‘hotspot’
Threats and Challenges
• Climate change, fire, disease, plant and animal pests, population pressure, land-use change
• Institutional as well as biological and physical• Frequent coincidence of high biodiversity values with
high mineral and oil/gas prospectivity• EIA is predictive tool but knowledge of ecosystems
and interactions inadequate• Decision-making in the face of uncertainty• Politics of EIA
Key Characteristics of Environmental Impact Assessment in Western Australia
• ‘Significant’ proposals assessed: mining, energy, industrial, infrastructure, planning schemes
• Statutory assessment process with statutory approval decision
• EPA advises; government decides • Legally-binding conditions with penalties for non-
compliance• EPA ‘call in’ powers• Primacy of the EP Act and Minister for Environment’s
whole-of-government decision, ie all other decision-makers constrained
• Independence of the EPA– independent Board – not subject to direction by Government– public advice to Government
• Many appeal points (inc third party appeals)• Environmental policy framework• Strategic environmental advice and assessment – ‘derived’
proposals• Bilateral Agreement with Australian Government for matters of
National Environmental Significance (but a subset of state-based assessment)
• Statutory process for changes to proposals and conditions after implementation approval
Key Characteristics (continued)
EIA Reform
• Criticisms: timeliness, certainty, information requirements, effectiveness, cost
• Strengths: independent, public, transparent, participatory, evidence-based
• Review commenced February 2008; completed March 2009
• Stakeholder Reference Group• Government support of recommendations
Key Reform Elements
• Focus conditions on outcomes – fewer EMPs, integration with regulation, accountability and auditability
• Improve timeliness – ‘right of review’, project management, admin procedures with timelines and LoA
reduced from 5 to 2
• Improve environmental policy framework – new framework, priorities (eg marine habitat, greenhouse)
• Risk-based approach – novel, trialling, tailoring
• Increase parallel processing– align with EP Act, MoUs, DMA clarification
• Increase use of strategic assessment– strategic public advice followed by formal assessment, streamlined downstream
approval, policy in advance of development
• Manage performance– ‘measure and manage’, performance reporting, project tracking, escalation
Current & Emerging Issues
• Environmental approval on critical path for FID – project financing, market access, royalty streams
• Managing the politics of EIA – socio-political as much as science and ‘art’
• Across-govt approvals reform– Short term legislative amendments– Lead agency/case management– Longer term legislative reforms: major project declaration, appeals,
DMAs, public submissions on draft EPA report and conditions– EPA governance changes – independent admin entity
• Working with the Australian Govt – strategic approaches and early intervention to meet state and federal objectives
Current & Emerging Issues (ctd)
• Effectiveness of EIA – monitoring impact avoidance and risk reduction measures; collection of stories?
• EIA and sustainability decision-making– environmental offsets, trade-offs and CSR
• Strategic assessment, cumulative impacts and regional planning– knowledge of economic resources > environmental assets– ‘Sharing Environmental Assessment Knowledge’ project– assessment of alternatives, eg Kimberley LNG precinct
Thank you
……and again!