WA EPA rejects Margaret River coal mine

'Voluntary NGER audit can reduce risk of mandatory audit'

Tasmanian iron ore project to undergo EPBC Act scrutiny

IEA backs coupling carbon price with renewables support

WA EPA rejects Margaret River coal mine

The Western Australian EPA has signalled it will reject a proposal by Vasse Coal Management to develop an underground coal mine near Margaret River, with the State's Conservation Council urging the Government to also reject other coal projects.

The EPA Board on Friday determined that the mine - which had a target production rate of about 1.2 million tonnes a year of coal over a mine life of 15 to 20 years - posed significant risks for the Leederville and Sues Aquifers, and the surrounding Margaret River region.

EPA Chairman Paul Vogel said that even though some of the impacts or risks had a low probability of occurring, the proposal taken as a whole presented “unacceptable risks to important environmental values”.

"Based on its experience and knowledge of the complexity of matters of this kind, the board also formed the view that more detailed and longer assessment would not alter the position."

Vogel said the EPA will now prepare an assessment report to the WA environment minister recommending against the proposal.

"This EPA Report will be released publicly and will be open for two weeks of public appeals," he said.

Conservation Council Director Piers Verstegen said the EPA decision was "prudent and sensible" and urged Environment Minister Bill Marmion to uphold the authority's advice.

"There is no way to mine coal in an environmentally acceptable way," Verstegan said.

"In Collie, coal mines are having a devastating impact on groundwater and the last thing we want to be doing is replicating these impacts in the Margaret River region.

"Western Australia faces at least two other proposals for new coal mining operations, including in the Kimberley and in the Central West," he said.

"All three of these projects present unacceptable risks to groundwater and other environmental values and we look forward to similar findings against these proposals from the Minister for the Environment."

EPA Determination on Vasse Coal Project, March 21, 2011

'Voluntary NGER audit can reduce risk of mandatory audit'

Companies can significantly reduce the risk that they will be subjected to a mandatory NGER audit by voluntarily commissioning an NGER-accredited auditor to conduct a compliance check, according to Matt Drum of Ndevr Consulting.

Drum told CE Daily that the climate department has indicated in public forums that companies that voluntarily subject their <a href="http://www.climatechange.gov.au/government/initiatives/national-greenhouse-energy-reporting.aspx”target="_blank">NGER data to expert scrutiny are “much less likely” to be targeted in the department's mandatory audit program.

There are other benefits, according to Drum, an NGER-accredited auditor who has clocked up numerous audits in conjunction with fellow auditor Andrew Gunts of CarbonIntel.

One of their joint voluntary audits uncovered an over-report involving fugitive emissions that would have cost the company concerned “hundreds of thousands of dollars” if a carbon price had been in place, he said.

In another audit, examination of an emissions spike at a facility led to the discovery of an equipment fault that was significantly increasing fuel consumption and emissions.

Under-reports constitute a “significant compliance risk” and voluntary audits can identify these ahead of any government intervention, Drum added.

Tasmanian iron ore project to undergo EPBC Act scrutiny

Federal environment minister Tony Burke has announced that an iron ore mine proposed for north western Tasmania will require a full environmental assessment under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity (EPBC) Act.

Burke ruled that the proposal by Shree Minerals to mine magnetite and haematite near Nelson Bay River is a controlled action under the EPBC Act, and should be assessed through an environmental impact statement.

"I have made this decision due to particular sensitivities around matters protected by national environmental law, including the endangered Tasmanian devil," he said.

Shree’s EPBC referral says that while the proposed mine area is foraging habitat for Tasmanian devils and vulnerable spotted tail quolls, the mine’s impact could be minimised by saving large trees and rocks to make potential den sites for the animals outside the limits of the disturbance area.

It says this would “provide new opportunities for the species” and would be undertaken in consultation with ecology experts.

The company acknowledges that ore haulage and transportation could lead to a roadkill risk for the species but this could be minimised by restricting vehicle speeds to 40 kilometres per hour on internal haul roads.

It says the pretty leek orchard was the only flora species of national significance recorded in the study area but this was outside the disturbance footprint.

Shree says the mine would operate for about 10 years and would have a peak production rate of about 400,000 tonnes per annum.

EPBC referral for Nelson Bay River Magnetite and Hematite Mine

IEA backs coupling carbon price with renewables support

Policies to support renewable energy initially deliver abatement at a higher cost than mechanisms such as emissions trading, but there are good reasons not to rely “singlehandedly” on a carbon price, says a new International Energy Agency research paper.

Some economists argue that renewable energy incentives are redundant, or worse, if a carbon price is in place, the paper acknowledges.

But quickly reducing the cost of renewable energy and making a “wide portfolio” of technologies affordable on a large scale is an essential task, it says.

Over a medium to long-term timeframe, having these incentives in place early on is likely to make good economic sense, it says.

“Immediate CO₂ reductions driven by the early deployment of renewable energy may cost more than other options today, but will reduce the costs of mitigating climate change in the future,” it says.

“Incentives for the deployment of not-yet competitive forms of renewable energy are legitimate even if carbon dioxide is appropriately priced, provided policy instruments are well designed and related costs are kept under control.”

With the world watching efforts to prevent a full meltdown at the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant, the paper also carries a timely warning that renewables could end up having to do more of the heavy lifting to avert catastrophic climate change if other options do not live up to expectations.

Under one well known IEA scenario, reducing global CO₂ emissions to 50% below 2005 levels by 2050 will require that renewables provide half the world's electricity.

But if technologies such as nuclear or carbon capture and storage “cannot deliver all that they promise” then renewables might not need to provide up to 75% of global electricity.

Interactions of policies for renewable energy and climate (IEA, March 2011)