About half of all EPA Victoria inspections this financial year will be in response to tip-offs and complaints, notifications of pollution incidents and reports from other regulators, while 300 licensed sites will also be targeted.
A tribunal has rejected a quarrying company's arguments that a council could not lawfully impose approval conditions requiring it to consult the community and prepare a closure plan.
The Federal Government should consider conferring power under the EPBC Act for the NSW Government to approve coal mines and for most states to approve wind farms, according to the Business Council of Australia.
Xstrata's Ulan Coal has lost an important legal costs battle, with the NSW Land and Environment Court rejecting its argument that an activist group had acted unreasonably in seeking to overturn or modify approval for the mine's expansion due to increased greenhouse gas emissions.