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!