Key Point
- Special agreement act mines may soon have to comply with the same environmental protection legislation that applies to all other mines in Queensland.
In and around the 1960s, numerous special Agreement Acts were passed by the government of the day to give greater certainty to mining companies who were making significant capital investments in times when the economic outlook for the resources industry in Australia was uncertain.
Over the last 50 years, however, the demand for minerals and the scale of mining operations has increased worldwide. At the same time, the community's understanding of environmental issues has intensified. Accordingly, the Queensland Government now believes that it is time to act to ensure that the nine special Agreement Act mines operate under the same environmental standards that apply to the other 1200 (or so) mines in Queensland.
The Queensland Government intends to bring about this change through the Environmental Protection and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2008, which was tabled in State Parliament by the Minister for Sustainability, Climate Change and Innovation, on 11 March 2008.
The Bill amends the Environmental Protection Act 1994 ("EP Act"), the Integrated Planning Act 1997 and the Mineral Resources Act 1989 to provide a process to transition the nine special Agreement Act mines to environmental regulation under the EP Act.
The nine mines subject to special Agreement Acts are Mount Isa, Weipa, Peak Downs, Goonyella, Norwich Park (near Dysart), Saraji (near Moranbah), Moura, Greenvale and Ely (near Weipa).
The Bill will convert the environmental authorities that have existed under the special Agreement Acts into "transitional authorities (SAA)". The "transitional authorities (SAA)" are considered to be non-code compliant authorities issued for a level 1 mining project under chapter 5 of the EP Act. Also, the holder of a "transitional authority (SAA)" has to apply for an environmental authority (mining activities) for a level 1 mining project within three years after the Act, as a result of the Bill, comes into force.
Importantly, the Bill does not affect any other aspects of the special Agreement acts (including the right to mine) but only the environmental regulations. Also, the legislative changes are not retrospective, and will leave existing environmental requirements under the special Agreement Acts in place until the new environmental authority takes effect.
The end result will be uniformity of environmental obligations for all miners and all mining leases across Queensland.
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