Environment law and policy tracker

Tuesday, 23 August 2016 2:41pm

Law and policy changes in all jurisdictions, and a round-up of jobs, grants, awards and seminars.

Upcoming events
Jurisdictional round-up (national, states and territories)
Jobs and appointments

** Featured vacancy ** Melbourne's Moreland Energy Foundation is seeking a renewables broker to develop a strategy to roll-out medium-sized solar across Moreland.

Upcoming events:

Health, safety, environment and community conference An August 29 to30 conference in the Hunter Valley, hosted by the NSW Mining Council.
Disruption and the energy industry An August 30 conference in Sydney, hosted by Informa.
Environment management practitioners workshop An August 30 to 31 workshop in Sydney, hosted by the Australian Sustainable Business Group.
Power industry – challenges ahead A September 6 seminar by Dr Paul Simshauser, director-general of Queensland's Department of Energy and Water Supply.
Smart lighting summit A September 6 to 7 conference in Melbourne.
The future of HVAC A September 7 to 8 conference in Brisbane, hosted by AIRAH.
Unlocking shared value A September 7 to 8 workshop in Sydney hosted by the Australian Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility.
Environmental law and compliance workshop A September 9 workshop in Sydney hosted by the Australian Sustainable Business Group.

For other events, including a waste and recycling conference in Fremantle, see the extensive Footprint what's on listings.

National:

NOPSEMA, which regulates the offshore oil and gas industry, is seeking comments by October 16 on its proposed compliance strategy.
The COAG Energy Council has issued publications and consultation documents following last Friday's meeting, dealing with matters including energy market transformation and gas market reform (related article for subscribers only).
The Department of Agriculture is consulting on imported food safety reforms.
The Australian Energy Regulator is organising a September 20 workshop on demand management incentives.
Proponents of carbon offset projects have until midnight on October 4 to apply to register them, if they want to participate in the November 16-17 ERF auction.
The Department of Environment has issued threatened species guides for the temperate grasslands of the south-eastern highlands and the Central Hunter Valley eucalypt forest and woodland.
Comment closes October 14 on a paper from the Clean Energy Regulator on direct purchasing of abatement from large-scale projects (related article for subscribers only).
National Pollutant Inventory reporters that report emissions on a financial year basis have until September 30 to submit their data.
All NGER reporters must submit their emissions and energy reports by midnight, October 31.
Award nominations invited: Nominations close on August 31 for the Energy Efficiency Council's national energy efficiency awards.
Award nominations invited: Nominations for the independent Banksia foundation awards close on August 26.

Queensland:

By 44 votes to 42, state parliament has defeated a government bill to reimpose controls on large-scale land clearing (related article for subscribers only).
Comment is due by September 2 on the Palaszczuk Government's climate change discussion paper.

NSW:

The administrator of the Energy Savings Scheme has released its latest annual report (related article for subscribers only).
A judge has found that a Centennial Coal subsidiary was criminally negligent when it chose to build a haul road in the wrong location (related article for subscribers only).
The NSW Resources Regulator and Young Mining Pty Ltd are in the Land and Environment Court over the Regulator's decision to suspend the company's licence because of its failure to provide a security payment (related article for subscribers only).
The Department of Defence has issued an update about contamination on and near Williamtown RAAF base.
Comment closes on September 16 on draft documents on the assessment and approval of wind farms (related article for subscribers only).
Grant opportunity: The NSW Office of Environment and Heritage and the state's Local Government Association have invited councils to apply for funding under a new 'building resilience to climate change' grant round.

ACT:

The ACT has announced the winning tenders of its most recent reverse auction - the Crookwell 2 wind farm (NSW) and the third stage of the Hornsdale wind farm (SA). The energy provided by the two projects means the ACT will now meet its target of sourcing 100% of its energy from renewables by 2020.

Victoria:

The Andrews government will use green bond proceeds to help reinstate an energy efficiency program for public infrastructure that was axed by its predecessor (related article for subscribers only).
Comment closes on August 31 on a discussion paper on the state government's proposed renewable energy auction scheme (related article for subscribers only).
Comment closes on August 22 on proposed changes to the general exemption order that would affect signatories to power purchase agreements and those supplying energy to facilities such as shopping centres and apartment blocks.

Tasmania:

The state government has issued the Environmental Management and Pollution Control (Noise) Regulations 2016.

South Australia:

The Essential Services Commission of SA has launched its inquiry into regulatory arrangements for small-scale and off-grid water, gas and electricity services.
The state government has awarded three contracts to install solar photovoltaic systems on a total of 400 public housing properties, of which half will be in metropolitan Adelaide.
Grant opportunity: The Green Industries Office is offering subsidised resource productivity assessments, with up to 50% of assessment costs covered. Applications close October 31.
Grant opportunity: The office is also offering food and beverage implementation grants of up to $300,000 to subsidise trade waste reduction initiatives.
Nominations close on September 5 for the women in waste leadership award, which provides up to $5,000 for travel, accommodation and conference costs. The award honours the memory of the late Pam Keating.
Entries close on September 9 for the inaugural SA Climate Leaders Awards.

Western Australia:

A company that had its environmental licence revoked in 2014 due to contamination concerns has gained planning consent to carry out different activities on the same site (related article for subscribers only).
Comment closes August 26 on proposed changes to the Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Regulations 2008 to strengthen record-keeping requirements (related article for subscribers only).

Jobs and appointments:

The City of Perth is seeking a sustainability officer.
The University of Wollongong is seeking a sustainability project engineer to work in its facilities management division.
Woolworths is seeking a Sydney-based sustainability/responsible sourcing manager.
The City of Melbourne is seeking a climate resilience officer.
Cessnock City Council (NSW) is seeking a sustainability officer.
The WA Department of Environment Regulation is seeking a principal policy officer.
Queensland's Department of Environment and Heritage Protection is seeking a Toowoomba-based environmental officer (assessment).
The Clean Energy Regulator is seeking a senior regulatory officer.
EPA Victoria is seeking a Melbourne-based planning assessment officer.
Public Transport Victoria is seeking a Melbourne-based manager of integrated environmental and safety systems.
Victoria's Bass Coast Shire is seeking a coordinator of waste services.
The Nature Conservancy is seeking a Melbourne-based fund-raiser.
The NSW Nature Conservation Council is seeking a Sydney-based energy and climate senior campaigner.