A CE Daily weekly snapshot for ISO 14001 system managers and environmental and carbon professionals (open access).

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

Upcoming events:

• Sustainable Engineering Society 2015 national conference A September 9 to 10 conference in Adelaide hosted by Engineers Australia and the Sustainable Engineering Society.
• Generating business value through sustainability A September 10 breakfast seminar in Sydney, hosted by UTS and the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce, featuring presentations from Fuji Xerox and Climate Friendly.
• Dangerous goods and Global Harmonised System workshop A September 10 conference in Sydney, hosted by ASBG.
• ERF opportunities for land and sea transport projects A September 11 one-hour webinar hosted by the Clean Energy Regulator.
• 6th international contaminated site remediation conference A September 13 to 16 conference in Melbourne, hosted by CRC CARE.
• Water, stewardship and global supply chains Water Stewardship Australia briefings in Sydney (September 14), Canberra (September 15) and Melbourne (September 16).
• EERS reporting – advanced A September 11 one-hour webinar hosted by the Clean Energy Regulator.
• Global trends in responsible investment A September 16 one-hour webinar hosted by the Asia Investor Group on Climate Change and ASRIA.
• Preparing for the ISO14001: 2015 transition A series of one-day seminars hosted by SAI Global, running through to December 15, in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.
• ISO14001: 2015 training A series of various training courses – awareness briefing, update workshop, preparing for ISO14001: 2015 workshop, ISO14001: 2015 for auditors – offered in several locations by LRQA.

For other events, including seminars on contaminated sites and on water stewardship, see the extensive CE Daily what's on listings.

National:

• Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane has gazetted the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Legislation Amendment (Well Operations) Regulation 2015. The regulation amends the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Resource Management and Administration) Regulations 2011 and the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Regulatory Levies) Regulations 2004 to implement the outcomes of a review of the Wells Regulations.
• Environment Minister Greg Hunt has released long-awaited 'safeguard mechanism' draft rules that will apply to facilities that emit more than 100,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas annually – a threshold that will capture sites such as power plants, mines, large manufacturers and some landfills. The Minister released three documents – a regulation, rule and an amendment to the NGER audit determination – which are open for public comment for less than three weeks. (See source material here and the CE Daily article '140 top emitters learn their short-term fate').
• The Clean Energy Regulator has issued new guidance on registering a project to create credits using the ERF Industrial Electricity and Fuel Efficiency Method.
• The Department of Industry and Science has issued an updated energy statistics dataset.
• Environment Minister Greg Hunt has issued the Leadbeaters Possum action plan.
• Businesses wanting to bid into the second ERF auction, to be held on November 4 and 5, must apply to the Clean Energy Regulator to have their projects registered by September 18. (See source material here and the CE Daily article 'Regulator to hold second ERF auction in November').
• Comment closes on September 11 on the review of the national biodiversity conservation strategy for 2010 to 2030, which is Australia's action plan for fulfilling its obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity.
• The Department of Environment has recovery plans for two WA frog species.

Queensland:

• With the aim of facilitating the development of Galilee Basin coal projects, the Queensland Government has gazetted a regulation that adds just under 80 hectares to the Galilee Basin State Development Area. An explanatory statement says the variation will "provide a continuous infrastructure corridor to transport coal from the Galilee Basin to the Port of Abbot Point, avoid unacceptable impacts on indigenous cultural heritage, improve coordination of rail infrastructure and planning, and assist to resolve any tenure-related issues".
• The Department of Environment and Heritage Protection has issued two new prosecution bulletins. One deals with a $15,000 fine for illegal clearing of 1200 square metres of vegetation imposed by Warwick Magistrates Court on grazier Vincent Boyle. The other details a case in which the holder of a licence to keep wildlife was fined $9,500 for failing to comply with record-keeping and other requirements of the Nature Conservation Act and its regulations.
• The Queensland Supreme Court has rejected a challenge to a Land Court decision that paved the way for GVK Hancock's Alpha coal mine to clear state approval hurdles. The decision means the mine's 'environmental authority' to operate, granted under the Environment Protection Act, remains valid. And it means the Government can proceed to approve the mining lease for the project, once it is convinced that concerns about groundwater impacts have been resolved. (See source material here and the CE Daily article 'Supreme Court rejects bid to block coal mine').
• The State Government has gazetted the Water Resource (Barron) Amendment Plan (No. 1) 2015. The aim of the amendment plan is to improve and streamline the framework for allocating and managing surface water and groundwater in the plan area, according to an explanatory statement.

NSW:

• Planning Minister Rob Stokes has gazetted a code of practice for authorised network operators under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2000. The code deals with the environmental assessment of work on electricity networks.
• A diesel spill into Newcastle Harbour that caused no significant environmental harm has led to a $600,000 fine for a company and an $81,000 penalty for the experienced chief engineer whose actions triggered it. (See source material here and the CE Daily article 'No harm' spill leads to big fines for company and chief engineer).
• The NSW Rural Fire Service has issued a revised code of practice on vegetation clearing.
• The State Government has recommended that residents near the Williamtown RAAF base not use bore water or eat locally caught fish after the Department of Defence notified it that legacy fire-fighting chemicals have been found in nearby surface water, groundwater and fish. Defence used perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in fire-fighting foams until 2008. NSW Health has issued an information sheet on the chemicals.
• The NSW EPA has issued a prevention notice to Mobil, after it failed to properly control odour emissions while remediating a site in Newcastle.
• Submissions close on September 18 on proposed amendments to the Priorities Action Statement, which includes draft recovery and threat abatement strategies for 100 species.
• Grant opportunity: Waste facility operators have until October 9 to apply for round two of the Resource Recovery Facility Expansion and Enhancement Program, dollar-for-dollar matching grants of up to $1 million.
• Grant opportunity: Local government authorities have until September 22 to apply for EPA grants of up to $1.3 million for projects that boost kerbside collection of organic waste.
• Grant opportunity: Organisations have until September 30 to apply for Environmental Trust 'love food, hate waste' grants of up to $70,000 for projects that educate specific groups about organic waste.

ACT:

• The ACT Government has gazetted the Environment Protection Amendment Regulation 2015 (No 1), which aligns the regulation of noise from the construction and maintenance of railways, light rail and dedicated busways with the existing regulation of noise from the construction and maintenance of major roads.

Victoria:

• Parliament last Thursday passed the Local Government Legislation Amendment (Environmental Upgrade Agreements) Bill 2015 that enables commercial and industrial building owners to take advantage of an upgrade financing mechanism currently only available through Melbourne City Council. (See the CE Daily article 'Victoria reveals promised building upgrade bill').
• Planning Minister Richard Wynne has formally declared the Melbourne Metro Rail Project as public works that could have a significant impact on the environment, for the purposes of the Environment Effects Act 1978. The gazettal notice specifies matters to be covered in the environmental effects statement for the project.
• The Planning and Environment Amendment (Infrastructure Contributions) Act 2015 has received Royal Assent from the Victorian Governor.
• Grant opportunity: The Victorian Government has invited applications for funding through a new threatened species grant program. A total of $2 million is available under the Community Volunteer Action grants stream, another $3 million is available through a 'strategic action and critical partnerships' stream and $250,000 is on offer to match crowd-sourced funding for threatened species conservation campaigns.

Western Australia:

• The WA Department of Environment Regulation (DER) has issued long-awaited draft guidance on separation distances, which specifies minimum recommended separation distances between industrial facilities and homes and other sensitive uses. (See source material here and the CE Daily article 'WA regulator issues new advice on buffer zones').
• Comment closes on September 25 on a draft Heritage Bill released by Environment Minister Albert Jacob.

Jobs and appointments:

• Alstom is seeking a Sydney-based environment and sustainability manager to work on a major public transport project.
• The Northern Territory Department of Mines and Energy is seeking a Darwin-based environmental scientist to provide specialist advice on the management of mining and exploration activities, carry out field inspections and audits and participate in activities associated with remediation of legacy mine sites.
• Gladstone Ports Corporation is seeking a sustainability specialist.
• Real estate services company CBRE is seeking a Sydney-based head of sustainability for Australia and New Zealand.
• Glencore is seeking an environmental advisor to work at Mount Isa.
• Griffin Coal is seeking an environmental superintendent for its coal mine near Collie.