The NSW Government tabled in parliament the Protection of the Environment Operations Environmental Monitoring Bill 2010 on 24 September 2010. This bill enables the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) to place a levy on Environmental Protection Licence holders for undertaking additional monitoring.
The bill permits the EPA or the Minister to initiate is own investigation for the need for a monitoring program to consider impact on human health by licensed sites. Licence holders whom the EPA considered appropriate are then hit with a monitoring levy to pay for environmental monitoring programs including:
- The costs of investigating the need for a program,
- The development, implementation, operation and administration of,
- Any costs incurred by the EPA before the commencement of this bill
- Payments by the EPA for services provided by a person undertaking environmental monitoring programs for the EPA
Money collected is then placed into the Environmental Monitoring Fund (EMF) for use by the EPA. Any environmental monitoring will be required to have an independent assessment on its efficacy and its economics.
ASBG’s issues with the bill include:
- Inefficient – handing over the implementation and operation of such monitoring to the EPA rather than the current outcome based approach used in Environment Protection Licences
- Redundant — all the monitoring and more can be legally managed under licence conditions
- Undermines Licensed site’s rights of negotiation and appeal on such issues
- Retrospective — s295Z(4)(a) states … including any costs incurred by the EPA before the commencement of this Part.
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 ASBG's Letter on the POEO (EM) Bill | 115 kB |
