More progress on bilateral agreements under EPBC Act, and draft approvals bilateral agreements

Streamlined Federal environmental assessments and approvals are one step closer with the introduction of changes to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 into Federal Parliament, and the release of new draft approvals bilateral agreements for New South Wales and Queensland.

The biggest changes in the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Bilateral Agreement Implementation) Bill 2014 are the removal of the CSG water trigger, and the restriction of the referral process.

Coal seam gas water trigger to be removed

The Bill proposes to remove the "Windsor amendments", so that actions that involve coal seam gas development or large coal mining development that are likely to have a significant impact on a water resource can be subject to an approvals bilateral. This would greatly increase the utility of approvals bilateral agreements, particularly in jurisdictions with a higher number of resources projects.