Australian coal and CSG projects face new legislation
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Newly appointed federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt on Thursday announced that some 47 large coal and coal seam gas (CSG) projects would now require federal environmental approval under the “water trigger” law.
In June, the Senate passed an amendment to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, which included water resources among the nationally important environmental assets.
This amendment meant that some 50 large coal mine and CSG developments, which were already in the assessment phase, were expected to be reviewed not only at the state level, but also at the federal level.
“The projects left in limbo by the previous Labour government were procedural decisions to decide whether or not to refer a project under the new 'water trigger' legislation,” said Hunt.
“After careful examination, I have determined that 47 of the 50 transitional projects will require federal environmental assessment of their impacts on water resources.”
Hunt said the assessment would include the projects' potential impacts on water resources, in addition to other matters protected under national environmental law, for which they were already being assessed.
Once the assessment process has been completed, Hunt would consider each case and the advice from his department, as well as public comments, before deciding if the proposed projects could go ahead.
Of the remaining three projects, only one has been deemed free and clear of the “water trigger” law, while Hunt was seeking further information on the other two.
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