A new Queensland bill would stop companies that are in financial difficulty leaving it to the state to manage and clean up their sites, by empowering the environment department to target related businesses and executives.
Queensland's Supreme Court has ruled there is no basis for it to intervene in a dispute between a developer and Gold Coast City Council on the value of a contaminated site.
Fingers are being pointed out at coal gasifier Linc Energy over carbon monoxide in soils that might indicate an underground fire, and activist group Lock the Gate says CSG operations in the region have made the situation worse.
A court has found that emergency services owe a duty of care to site owners when fighting chemical fires, however it ruled against an owner that claimed negligent fire fighting activity at its site caused massive pollution damage.
Developers of contaminated land in Queensland now need to obtain a compliance permit from an approved contaminated land auditor, if their project involves a sensitive use.
NSW is failing to properly enforce laws on underground fuel tanks and the Queensland State Government has abandoned its former role in managing them, says the Australian Institute of Petroleum.